Day 3: Loch Garry to Invermill campsite, Dunkeld

Well,  eventually you'll hear more from the children,  but the days are long,  and there's so much else to do when we stop, that writing in a blog doesn't take the highest priority! 64km today - the longest day of the journey and the tiredest day.  And still an amazing effort and spirits generally still high. I was the one trailing at the back!

We woke up at Loch Garry to gorgeous sunshine and not too many midges,  so we weren't the fastest leaving our peaceful wild campsite. We managed to make the time for a morning swim. 

And Freya,  Olly and Heather continued building their pier - an impressive feat of engineering..

Note to self: remember to check bikes for loose bits after cycling on jiggly tracks.. When we finally set off, a sudden scraping noise from the back of the trailer revealed that a nut had popped off and the 'boot' full of heavy bags of food was trailing along on the ground. Luckily I'd just passed a couple of guys working on the estate who had some bits of kit in their trailer. No nuts that fitted,  but I spotted a bit of wire which they let me use for a botch job fix up. Glad I brought pliers!

Meanwhile, the rest of the group waited for me at the level crossing getting snacks. Heather and Lente got to sing happy birthday to their uncle,  and Olly and Freya got to leave a birthday message for their dad. 

So it was pretty late by the time we finally left.  But a fantastic smooth tarmac bike track winding it's way a lot of the way to Blair Atholl helped us fly through the first 20km. 

You get a very different perspective following this route south by bike. I was noticing bits of scenery I've never noticed before when travelling there by train or car. Some more trees would make it perfect...

The House of Bruar was a bit of a shock to the system. A huge sprawling car park completely full. We nipped round the back and had lunch by the river.

We managed to defer the ice cream stop to Pitlochry, where we sat in the shade on the pavement while crowds of people wandered past. We've decided our ice creams should be tub or cornetto - too much plastic packaging else. And this was a proper 'scoops' ice cream shop.

A man from a climate action group in Huntly got chatting to us, and wished us luck in our journey. It made me realise how separated you can feel when it seems as if the majority of people are completely uninterested in their effect on the environment. Working with nature should be the norm. Sometimes I feel pretty dismayed at how separated from nature we've become. 

The children made a great litter picking effort at a layby where we had a snack stop, and managed to fill a whole bag. But the bottles, cans, crisp packets, plastic containers etc that line the roads seem neverending. The children spotted a girl throwing her Skittles packet on the ground by a river near Dunkeld, so I gave it back to her and explained about our journey. I'm wondering what went through her head and if it'll make any difference to her. 

A quiet, slightly hilly road took us away from the A9, with lovely views down to the Tay. We came from somewhere up that way..

Luckily, wild food is also starting to appear by the roads. Raspberries!!

Flapjack break a few km out of Dunkeld:

We made it to Dunkeld, finally, and had dinner in the Atholl Arms Hotel before finding our campsite, with its extremely welcoming owners,  and a spot by the river. 

Slightly shorter day tomorrow,  and we're hoping to meet Jim Fairlie, SNP MSP for Perth and Kinross, for the children to be able to raise their environmental concerns. 

Kristina

Our day 3 route: