Day 15 Inverness to Helmsdale

71.8 miles in 365 mins

Today was the day of the puncture. Bit of a dismal day in terms of weather, but we avoided the rain that was supposed to be hitting Inverness later in the morning. Bought an allan key in a local bike shop (because one never knows when an allan key will come in handy) and made our way across the Moray Firth, Cromarty Firth and then the other firth (whose name I forget). Oliver seemed to be finding the going particularly difficult, which was uncharacteristic and it was discovered at the top of one hill that his back tyre was flat. We assumed it was a puncture and it was thought that it was probably quicker to change tyres and ask questions later (whereupon no trace of a puncture could actually be found, so perhaps it was just a leaky valve or even just a figment of our imaginations). The change wasted quite a bit of time and got us quite oily and we thought it was terribly rotten luck to get a puncture on the penultimate day. The last ten miles to Helmsdale was quite hilly too, but we were able to meet mum there for a meal (as she was on her way up to meet us at the end on the following day) and stay in quite a cheap B&B.