Task completed - Bannockburn to Culloden Moor

Well, I made it! About 190 miles from Bannockburn to Culloden Moor on a bicycle. I can recommend the cycle routes through Scotland to anyone. They are on old railway lines, forestry tracks, minor roads and some dedicated cycle tracks. Away from the traffic there is masses of wildlife, and at this time of year primroses and wild hyacinths everywhere. I felt like a bit of a fraud on my first full day, cycling through such lovely countryside and being sponsored for doing so. However on Day Two I probably earned my money as the wind and rain were in my face as I toiled over remote the Pass of Drumochter in the middle of what ended up as an 80 mile day. The total raised now stands at over GBP 800 which will pay for board, lodging, education and clothing for a child in Dr Graham's Homes in Kalimpong, India for a year and a bit.

This spring the choir from the Homes were in the UK and sang quite beautifully. But it was seeing smart, enthusiastic, children who clearly loved singing and loved life that was most impressive - especially in the knowledge that many would probably be on the bread line, or below it, were it not for this school. The sore bum and stiffness seem like a small price to pay.

I took a little time off as I went to visit Doune Castle and the McNab burial ground at Killin. Of these more later, (even after a couple of days, I still feel like heading to bed a bit earlier than usual!)

Many thanks to all those who sponsored me and also to those who provided food and accommodation en route.

Bannockburn to Culloden Moor

Why, I am asked with reference to my last post, is an apparently sane man bicycling 48 miles round the Highlands? Some may say that I am not actually sane, since in May I am bicycling even further - from Bannockburn to Culloden Moor (about 180 miles) in aid of Dr Graham's Homes in Kalimpong. I hope to raise £650 which will keep an orphaned Indian child at a boarding school for a year. Here is the link!

'A Hundred Years in the Highlands' by Osgood Mackenzie

My wife's great grandfather was Moderator of the Church of Scotland and his name lives on in Dr Graham's homes in Northern India founded to care for orphaned Anglo Indian children. Through the energies of a small number of dedicated people the homes still care for eight hundred neglected children today. I was looking for things to sell at a fundraising event and came upon one of my father's old books: 'A Hundred Years in the Highlands' by Osgood Mackenzie, who founded the remarkable Inverewe Gardens near Ullapool - created from a barren peninsular which he inherited in 1862. I opened up the book and, glancing at the early pages, I see that the Mackenzie family used to make an annual trek up Strathconon each spring. A convoy of horses, cattle and dog carts made their way from Conon Bridge north of Inverness, through to Gairloch on the west coast. I found that they had followed the same track past Loch Beannacharain that I was walking on just a couple of weeks ago. I look forward to reading further.