An utterly miserable day. The wind was howling from the north through the passes of the Cairngorms (which I could hardly see). It rained as hard as I have ever seen, all day. The roads were treacherous and it took forever to cover the first 35 miles. Some of this was on the A9 with the added danger of oil tankers and lorries. The surface water was horrendous and when I stopped for lunch, was completely drenched through my waterproofs. I thought there would be another 4/5 hours to cover the final 45 miles.
Luckily the winds changed direction at lunchtime and started blowing from the South West (the supposed prevailing wind) - the first time it had actually blown in this direction. The result was an average speed increase of 8-9 mph in the morning to 20 mph that afternoon.
The rain didn't stop but that didn't matter as I managed to get to Carrbridge via Aviemore very quickly. The only regret was not seeing the mountain scenery due to the conditions. Forecast is better for tomorrow.
