Beasts do live in Scotland

Wanted to share some photos from a trip to Scotland. My training friends and I stayed in Inverness at my Mothers home. Granny Madge makes the best home Scottish food, matching the calories we all burned up the great smooth roads. What a session we had and it challenged France for its beauty and challenging climbs. Ask any proper "roady" and they will all have heard of Bealach na Ba. A 2000ft climb on the West coast, supplying stunning views across to the Isle of Skye and beyond to the Outer Hebrides. We will be arranging another session in 2010 if you fancy it? Difficulty is variable and along with the running, mountain biking, hiking, swimming and big food, there's always an alternative.

Lessons learned on this trip as follows;

It is obvious when someone "bonks" on the bike - sense of humour goes walkies, pace picks up as the individual starts to make a beeline for the nearest "carb" selling garage before it's too late and last but not least, the rest of the group drop back for fear of getting their heads chewed off.

If you have not been sleeping well then take yourself for a 60 min swim, 4 hour bike and a half marathon. You will not only sleep like a log, you will believe you are the log.

Always stop at the top of a heavy climb before departing down the other side. That way you can make an informed decision whether or not it is wise to crack on or return from whence you came. Gladly we chose the latter after the effort of getting up Bealach. If it hadn't started to rain ferociously 30 minutes later I would have argued we were just being soft -Thank goodness I just nodded in agreement and returned to the sanctuary of the cafe!