18/05/08

I may be under the influence of a few cans but even Daniel the driver
agrees, we have officially found our bestest parking spot ever! We are
near Braemar in the Cairngorms National Park overlooking the Linn of
Dee (that's a river) and Glen Lui (that's a valley I think). We have
just eaten a fantastic dinner of bbq'd steak and I'm now enjoying the
sunset over the still snow capped mountains, whilst Daniel does the
washing up.
We have had a fabulously sunny but chilly day, starting at 0630,
getting up to wish Brent well for his Etape Caledonia 81 mile cycle
race. This was a timed race so we were there to see Brent off for
0720. We then circumvented the race route to a vantage point where we
could cheer on the approx 2000 competitors as they reached the top of
the hill climb. Due to the necessary road closures there were very
few viewing points along the race route and the guys and gals were
very appreciative of our encouraging cheers. We missed getting back
for Brent's finish in Pitlorchy because he finished almost an hour
faster than he thought he might (Well done!) and we also we got held
up by a couple of buses who couldn't figure out how to give way to
each other on a narrow bend. I eventually got out of the van, banged
the two drivers' heads together, got abused by a Scottish car driver
because a foreigner dared to tell him to back off, and got cheered by
a bus full of passengers when we finally got on our way again:-)
We finally caught up with Brent and joined him for a few beers back at
their campsite after which Pat transported their entire cycling team
(of 11) to the pub and we continued on our merry way.