Travel Reference
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were all three. The lady didn't really understand the concept of our bike ride, but agreed to
let us have a look around the exhibition free of charge.
It really was one of the strangest museums I have ever been to. And this is coming from
someone who has visited The Pencil Museum in Keswick. Although seemingly a perman-
ent exhibition, all of the 'Entrance', 'Exit' and 'Toilet' signs were written on bits of paper,
in pen, and sellotaped to the doors as though they had been made the day before. Perhaps
this is how the museums of the future will look.
The exhibition itself consisted of an eclectic mix of framed photos of OFFICIAL sight-
ings, documentation that PROVED Nessie's existence and a half hour video featuring
EXPERTSconfirmingthatNessiedidUNDOUBTEDLYexist.Variousscientistsalsogave
scientific PROOF that the monster was genuine. I was more of a believer in the Loch Ness
Monster before I visited the museum, than I was afterwards.
We ate another banana sandwich as we perched on the wall in the car park. It was
6.30pm and we debated calling it a night, but we (I) decided to try and reach the slightly
larger town of Beauly before dark.
We left Drumnadrochit on the A831 before turning off onto the A833. The next three
miles were some of the toughest of the entire trip. The road climbed very steeply and The
Falcon's lack of low gears caused problems. Even in its lowest gear it required a huge
amount of force to complete one rotation of the pedals. I was determined not to be beaten
by the hill, so persevered. Ben, on the other hand, with his endless number of gears, de-
cided to dismount as soon as he caught sight of the hill.
'Bollocks to this. I can't be bothered to cycle up,' he said.
'You loser,' I panted. 'I... will... not... be... beaten... by... a... hill.' I made it all the way
to the top without stopping, but Ben had beaten me by several minutes and he had walked
the entire way.
'You're such a stubborn idiot,' he said. 'Well done. What have you proved by doing
that? You were slower than me and you'll be ten times more knackered.'
'It'sa...it'sa...good...sense...of...achievement,' Isaid,collapsing ontothevergetotry
and ease the pain in my thighs.
'Do you have a sense of achievement?'
'None whatsoever. Just pain.'
We were rewarded with an easy nine mile descent, past fields of inquisitive Highland
cattle, down into Beauly. On the outskirts of town we called into Lovat Bridge Camping
andCaravansite,buttheladywhorantheplace-despitebeingverypleasant-wasunable
to help us out.
It was almost dark by the time we reached Beauly, and we received two rejections from
B&Bs on the main street in quick succession.
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