My stop in a lay-bye on the A86 near Loch Laggan was even more midge ridden than last night. I needed to have the door window slightly open for ventilation but that meant they flooded into the car. After making a cup of coffee I set off around 6am under gloomy skies. As I continued NE the rain began and shortly after rurnin right on to the A889 it became torrential for a while. The road follows the line of the original General Wade road built in the early 1700s. It goes through an unbelievably bleak area with nothing to see for miles. After passing the huge distillery at Dalwhinnie I could see the busy traffic on the main A9 ahead. It was still rain and very gloomy and most of the vehicles on the road were heavy lorries. I continued past Pitlochry and on to Perth where I left the A9 to fill up with diesel at Broxden.

crossing the Forth Road Bridge

I now joined the M90 motorway to continue south. The weather improved for a while as I crossed overt he Forth Road Bridge. To my left was the Forth Railway Bridge partly encased in protective material as it looks like extensive maintenance work is being done. Immediately on my left was the cycle way on the bridge which is how I crossed it the last time I was here on my bike in 1965. South of Queensferry I saw that my car satnav GPS was out of date as there was no access to the M9 as shown. I drove through Kirkliston to pick up the M9 at junction 1 but I missed the turn and finished up on the A9 heading east. It was almost 4 miles before I could turn round and pick up the motorway access. I soon left the motorway to join the A702 and head through the lowlands in a SW direction. The rain returned and wind got up. At Abington I joined the M74 south then to the M6 and an uneventful drive home.