There and back again (nearly) - Molly's Hebridean Adventure Day 14

Another short blog as most of the day was driving today. Not too many photos either because I was pushed for time and just wanted to enjoy the drive rather than stopping loads of times - the views were stunning and my photos probably wouldn't have done them justice anyway.

I had a nice walk along the river by the Invergarry Castle Hotel before breakfast, including the ruin of Glengarry Castle.

Then I set off for my drive to Duns.

Although overcast, I managed all 220 miles with the roof down, so still only the one wet Tuesday during the trip when the roof was up. It was a long way but what a cracking drive! The first part on the A82 was along the banks of Loch Lochy which is in the Great Glen of which Loch Ness forms part.

Then onto the A86 and the A889 which took me through the Cairngorm National Park. It was then the A9 next down to Perth, passing by Pitlochry. To avoid too much motorway driving, I headed over to Gleneagles (with much Ryder Cup signage ready for next week) and picked up the A823 which was a nice driving road. The Bentley Owners Club obviously think so too as about 25 old Bentleys were going the opposite way to me with much enthusiastic waving as we passed.

I then picked up on the motorway and the Edinburgh bypass, then some nice roads through the Borders to take me to the small town of Duns.

The Jim Clark Room in Duns is a very understated and dignified memorial to a shy man who many believe (me included) was the greatest racing driving there has ever been. Equally adept at driving a Lotus Cortina on 3 wheels, or a single seater Grand Prix car, he had an amazing record of 25 GP wins from 72 starts. He won Two world championships and an Indy 500 but it was all cut tragically short  in a wet Formula 2 race at Hockenheim on 7th April 1968. He was a Borders farmer who didn't like the limelight and was famously indecisive, until he stepped into a racing car.

I saw him win the Britsh Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1967 as a 7 year old. I remember very clearly hearing the news that he had been killed the following year.

The "room" is actually two rooms; one with loads of his trophies, memorabilia and history, the other just with some stunning photographs and a brilliant video running.

I went from Duns onto Chirnside to the churchyard where he is buried and was close to the family farm.

I was really pleased to have added this extra journey and night to my plan, Jim Clark has been my hero for 50 years and the visits meant a lot to me.

My resting place for the night, the Allanton Inn, is only a mile from Chirnside. According to the curator at the museum, this was Jim's local as well, which I didn't know when I booked it.

A very moving day - and a great way to finish an extraordinary couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to seeing my old chum Nigel for coffee on the way home tomorrow, and can't wait to see the loonies at Goose Farm sometime late in the day after a long drive to see if the Bribery Act needs to be invoked when the presents come out.