Some photos from the bike trip so far

Yes I know, it's like 10 posts in one day but I am making use of the internet connection (and comfortable chair) while I've got it. I won't write about our bike trip yet since I've provided a week's worth of reading already; suffice to say it's been just over a week so far and mostly wonderful. We had a busy 1.5 days in Edinburgh after returning from Turkey, with lots of cleaning and packing and a couple of farewells of course, which was sad. It's even sadder than leaving Oz, because we are not sure when we will see these friends again. We have done a big loop so far, which looks a bit like this:

The red part is what we've done; we have spent the past few days resting, recovering and buying more supplies at Margaret's lovely house in Oxford. The blue is what we will start tomorrow. By Tuesday night we will hopefully be safely ensconced in a picturesque French camping ground. That's the plan, anyway. Camping in France is by all accounts a great experience so we are hopeful. It can't be any worse than England (Scotland on the other hand was a dream). Here are some photos, to prove we are actually on a bike and camping, in case anyone doubted us.

Washing day in Pitlochry (our first stop and a lovely campsite with a shop being run by a girl from Western Australia)

Let it be said that using a bike as transport is much harder work than a car, on all sorts of levels. This is Toby in a little village on the Black Isle, using a hack saw to take some knobs off the back tray on the bike so our big bag sits better. I bought the hack saw from a hardware shop over the road and returned it 10 minutes later in case someone else ever needed one. We bikers are a considerate lot. Did you know they even acknowledge each other on the roads? I finally feel like I am part of a gang. Sort of.

We finally saw Loch Ness.

We spent a night in a wig wam near Loch Lomond.

Had a lovely couple of days on Skye, enjoying views like this.

Our final night in Scotland was spent in the grounds of a castle. Very cool.

And for dad's benefit, a picture of the bike (and me) loaded up. Clothes, shoes, toiletries and some cooking gear goes in the panniers. Tent, mats, sleeping bags, pillows and whatever else is left goes in the sports bag. Wallets, phones etc go in jacket pockets. We both have camel backs on our backs for water and other bits and pieces. We have a tank bag too, that holds valuables like the tiny laptop and GPS, and snacks. The key is being organised, and knowing what you have put where (yes Toby, I'm talking to you).