Tuesday and Wednesday

  Tuesday brought us from Pebbles (Scotland) to Perth a distance of 70 miles (of course mostly up hill).  The highlight of the ride was crossing the Forth Bride over the Firth River.   We enjoyed a wonderful Italian meal, lots of carbs to get ready to tackle the hills on today's ride.

Today (Wednesday) was a ride of 68 miles.  It was one of the more challenging rides of the tour, but it was also one of the most beautiful.  The scenery though the Caringroms National Park was spectacular.  About 20 miles into the ride we started up and at mile 43 (with 3 miles of an 8-13% grade climb) we had lunch at the base of a ski area.  The ride down to Ballater was awesome....  We started out with an 8 mile downhill where we reached speeds in excess of 40mph.  After the downhill we rode through Balmoral (the summer home of the Royal family).  A trucker we met said to keep our eyes out for three Range Rovers as Charles was in the area hunting.  We reached Ballater at 3:30, showered and then roamed through the cute Scotish town.  We're currently in the Balmoral Bar having a Pint and watching the rugby match between Australia and Fiji.  People in Scotland take their drinking and rugby seriously.