It was fun to stay in the van last night. A different 4 walls to look at and a different routine. Waking this morning, after a surprisingly good night’s sleep, I had almost forgotten about the COVID crisis.
And that’s not all I have apparently forgotten! It is funny how a change of routine can upset things. I have managed to forget to pack my portable battery to charge my phone, a second warmer top for the cooler mornings, a spare inner tube (not a good idea when you plan to cycle a long distance), the curry paste I was going to use to cook the green thai curry. I am sure I will discover more as the weekend goes on.
We set off early today for a bike ride. We had planned to cycle out to Loch Eanaich as we thought that the long out and back route would be much quieter as it is a less popular. Well we couldn’t have been more wrong. We did the first 10k without seeing a soul but then a large group of cyclists, clearly on a day out with a guide, passed us as we had stopped to take some video footage. After a few miles of us passing them, and then them passing us, we decided to circle back and change our route as we really didn’t want the company.
After filming the great singletrack back along the start of Gleann Eanaich, we headed over to some fun trails we had discovered a while back just South of Loch Morlich. We enjoyed cheese rolls on the beach and then headed back West on the South side of the loch and through the Rothiemurchus estate trying to keep to the quieter trails. We did notice a lot of “new cyclists”. Family groups with new bikes and who seem a bit less confident but were out to have a go. This was nice to see.
We did 43k over 5.5 hrs and it was great to be out. After all this time you see everything with new perspective. I always thought this area was beautiful but it looked even more so today. Stunning. And it felt so good to be back on the fat bike.
After a shower in the van we wandered up to the town centre, interested to see how Aviemore had survived after such a long period. We had read that some stores had permanently closed but luckily quite a few seem to have survived and are just re-opening. One shopkeeper said to us that they had been open only 1 week but were making up for lost sales as everyone seemed to have worn out their footwear in the last 3 months. Nice to hear and hope this allows many local businesses to recover.
When we got back we had a few beers in the sun. This was the first time we had done this as we bought the van last November and so have not been out in the warmer weather yet as the first few months it was winter and then we have had four months of COVID restrictions in Scotland.
Illya is cooking tonight. When we were at university (a long long time ago), Illya invented the fish finger curry. Although this may sound odd it is actually really good. It is just like a fish curry but the fish coating melts to create a thick and tasty sauce. Genius.
Wee Van Tour 