Turret Bridge

There are some very fit folk on blip. You know the type, for fun they jump on the bike, do 50 km, come home then have their breakfast before going to work. We had some chores today but Bruce and Caley got quite a decent walk this morning. Our frequently used Upper Inverroy track has been extended considerably to accommodate more harvesting of the commercial woodland. The chores followed.

I fancied a wee trip on the bike and headed up the Bohuntin road and then on up to Braeroy. The Glen Roy road is quiet and little used. While my outing was probably a wimpish (to these fit folk) eighteen miles the real energy sapper is the punishing gradients. Net ascent of about 150 metres doesn't tell the story because the winding glen road soars and plunges repeatedly and nearing these crests, with all momentum lost, I repeatedly found myself prodding the lever for a non existent lower gear.
Glen Roy is a beautiful valley and its flanks are dominated by the three parallel roads, shore lines formed by ice age glacial dammed lagoons. You could think of them as tide lines left in a giant bathtub after someone taking an over due wash.

The weather forecast has been all to pot today. I set off in lightly overcast sunshine and it was very hot indeed. Unsettled and very wet had been predicted.

At Braeroy two glens meet, the upper reaches of Glen Roy extend to the water shed beyond which the River Spey rises and Glen Turret comes in from the north. A lovely stone bridge spans the Turret just above the confluence with the Roy. This was my intended turning point and blip subject. Seconds after the photo was taken the heavens opened and it poured. I was at my furthest point from home and not really attired for the wet. I trundled off back down the glen getting well wet. To my surprise the rain stopped and I came upon dry road half way home. I felt like it was more uphill on the way back though clearly it isn't.

The legs felt really shaky as I dismounted at the garden gate.

I don't think I'll do this outing before breakfast tomorrow.