Day 47. Crask Inn. - Melvick 45.58 miles
I left the Crask Inn with the intention of going as far as Bettyhill, about 30 miles away. After a short climb I then had a long stretch of down hill which continued as far as Altnaharra about 10 miles away. In all this time I didn't pass a single house, tree, sheep or cow, just open moorland. I then turned right and for 23 miles the road followed alongside Naver Loch and then Naver river. The moorland continued but there where now a few sheep. After I had cycled on this road for about two hours I met up with Richard for a brew before continuing to Bettyhill.
I reached Bettyhill by about 2 o’clock. It was like a ghost town as everything was closed including the hotel we had hoped to stay in. There was nothing for it but to continue, the next possible place was about another 10 miles along the road at Strathy. It was a long and tiring ride. I now had a cross wind and it was a long stretch of up hill. So I was not happy to find another ghost village, the Inn where we hoped to stay was shut up and the Bed and Breakfast next door looked it had like it had been abandoned although I think there was someone living there. So again I had to continue for a further 3 miles up the hill to Melvich.
Richard finally found a place to stay, the local inn had some chalets which we could stay in. We walked in and that was when I hit my all time low. The place was far from welcoming, it was cold and smelt damp, but at least it was clean and we could get a meal at the Inn. After I had showered and felt a little warmer, we headed for our meal. It was still early when we returned so we huddled up together on the hard plastic sofa with a duvet over our knees to keep warm and watched the television. We both decided to sleep in our sleeping bags as we thought we would be warmer.
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