Aviemore to Tomintoul

     We started with deliciously dry shoes from the fabulous drying room at the Aviemore Youth Hostel. One of the things that we have learned from this trip that we will certainly take home with us is the use of newspapers to dry your shoes. Stuff them full of newspapers and change every few hours until you go to bed and in the morning you'll have dry shoes! Of course the dry air of the drying room certainly helps..

     Heading out of Aviemore we rode through park like settings on the local bike paths that joined one village to another....

     and then eventually onto an extended forested double track. Winding up and through the forest, crossroads were marked with signs and we would occasionally meet other traveling cyclists.
  

Down and out of the forest we crossed a river and entered out into the open meadows sprinkled with blooming fireweed.

Climbing up and out of the meadows we ascended into high hills of heather that we passed through on decomposed granite single track.

As is the norm on every day of the Scotland Coast to Coast, river crossings were included in all their various forms..








 ( Thereby the necessity of drying rooms and newspaper stuffed shoes!)

 ..and we continued up and down through all the landscapes that Scotland has to offer.






  
The fabulous weather held until we reached our destination in Tomintoul and we had moved along so well on this day that we arrived early to our destination and had to avail ourselves of the local pub until the hostel opened.