Delivery and Collection of Bikes in Inverness

An pre-breakfast walk covering a little new ground doubled as a food shopping trip. The campsite management lent me a bicycle pump to make the tyres on the temporary bike rideable to New Start Highland to leave it for them to make ready for the next purchaser. It was convenient to have the coffee of the Inverness Coffee Roasting Company again before spending time in the library while waiting for a communication from Highland Bikes.

A full-sized computer screen was so much better than the hand-held devices for viewing clearly maps showing a large area to get the feel of any extra distances being covered. There are several possibilities for getting to see cousin Herbert and one uses the Sustrans Route 7 followed by 754 and then a shortish ride south on the A879 road. The campsite at Blanefield could be the best option. Several photos of maps on screen should help navigation.

After a late light lunch at Cafe de Paulo (often quiet and relaxed perhaps because of limited parking nearby) a phonecall from Highland Bikes established that a new chain should be fitted if the existing one was damaged (which it was) and that although the rest of the bike could do with some attention it should get me back to Dumfries. There, Andrew Grant at DG2 is less busy and deserves some more repair business.

During the repair there was time to enjoy a visit to the Riverside Gallery and learn much about it but the paintings that really grabbed me were outside my price range. I was not surprised that famous people, often very knowledgeable, frequent it and buy valuable works.

Back at the campsite after eating and fixing stuff back on the bike it was getting too late to set off and with 17500 steps today plus some cycling it made sense to have another night here before setting off early tomorrow.