Day 03 to Day 05

Day 03 - the coast to coast (by Alex)

Three days into our ride, and we have already experienced glorious sunshine and cold, wet weather. Today, May the 1^st, sees us ride from Dingwall on the Eastern coast to Fort William on the Western coast of Scotland. The coast to coast in seventy miles – as easy as you can!

It's doesn't start so convincingly. It might not be all that warm at the moment, but it is certainly light early. The dawn chorus starts at 4 in the morning – a fact I know because that's when I woke up. I manage to toss and turn until quarter to seven (and, I hope, sleep) before opening the tent flap to see what greets us¹.

Fortunately, it's not rain. It's grey, cold and slightly breezy – a significant improvement on last afternoon! We can deal with grey and cold. Appropriate clothing applied, a big bowl of porridge consumed, a nice hot cup of tea drunk and we are ready to go. 132 miles to this point – aside from a little soreness in the nether regions, we are feeling good!

The grand depart (well today anyway)

We start by going south to the Muir of Ord. Stuart and I face a moral dilemma as we pass the Glen Ord distillery – do we cut our losses for the day and divert towards temptation, or honour our commitment and continue south to Drumnadrochit? It was a tough call, but somehow we managed to resist the siren song of the whisky distillery².

As we (regretfully) leave the Muir of Ord (via Beauly) the road begins to kick. I'm going to make a slight stretch of the imagination at this point and claim that the hill training in and around Royston³ helped with the hill climbing. It kept going for a long time (about four miles), but Stuart and I got to the top without stopping⁴. Our reward was a fantastic descent into Drumnadrochit, pushing 40 mph on the best sections.

For those who don't know (or haven't yet got a google maps tab open), Drumnadrochit is on Loch Ness, about one third of the way down. It doesn't sound much until you think that Loch Ness is about 25 miles long. That's longer than the English Channel at it's narrowest point. We're 18 miles of cycling from Fort Augustus, as near as makes no difference the most south-westerly point on this great Loch. It took us about an hour and a half to cross that distance.

And we didn't even get a glimpse of Nessy!

By this point, the weather is starting to clear – the grey is making way for blue and the emerging sun is gradually increasing the temperature. A fact very greatly received, since by this point it feels like someone has replace my toes with blocks of ice!

A steamer chuffs though one of the swing bridges

We meet the support crew⁵ in Fort Augustus. We decide that instead of stopping there, we are going to cycle five miles to a cafe overlooking the caledonian canal to have a slice of cake and a cup of tea. We will then cycle another ten miles and meet up on the shores of Loch Lochy for a lunch break.

Except the cafe was closed.

This might not be seen as much of a problem, but things can be pretty thinly spread in this part of the world. Stuart and I are running somewhat low on energy at this point, so the sight of the 'closed' sign causes our shoulders to slump. We know that the only options for a bit of energy recovery are five miles back or ten miles on. Stoicly, we decide to cycle on.

This turns out to have been both a good thing and a bad thing. About three miles away from our lunch stop (aided by an unexpected but nonetheless gratefully received tailwind), we catch up with Jess and Cath, our companions by happy coincidence on their tandem 'the Violet Beast'. A good bit of banter, celebrating finding a section of road that was not as rough as a badgers⁶ arse, navigating road works, all whilst dodging logging trucks with questionable intentions ensued⁷.

This was all cut short quarter of a mile from our lunch stop. A pothole not properly seen in the shade sneaks up on me, with the following sounds (converted to text) – Bang! Ouch! Hisssssssss . . . It's taken one hundred and seventy miles, but I have my first (and hopefully last) puncture.

Gin'll fix it - Jess and Cath

Jess and Cath apply a 'Gin'll fix it' sticker. Though this does much to mend my spirits, it doesn't reinflate my front tyre. I've got the kit to repair it, but since the support crew are only a short walk away, we wave goodbye to the Violet Beast and I trudge off to get a new inner tube and some much needed nourishment.

We leave, refreshed, to tackle the last twenty miles of the day. And what a twenty miles they were! The sky is mostly blue, with temperatures of twenty degrees forcing Stuart and I to shed our thermals. The tragedy! The icing on the cake, as far as we are concerned, is a strong tailwind pushing us along at 20-25 mph down some of the most fantastic scenery we have seen all trip.

We get to the campsite twenty minutes ahead of mum and dad, who turn up to find us sitting in the sun eating ice creams. Champion!

Chilling out in the campsite at Fort William...

...where there are views of Ben Nevis

1 Mostly rabbits. The campsite was overrun with them!

2 Visting the Dalmore distillery the night before probably helped. We talked our way into a tasting session, which ended in us walking out with three (more) bottles of whisky.

3 It's not flat, dammit, it's just very good at giving a flattish impression!

4 Except to recover a runaway drink bottle. And to answer a call of nature. Any weight reduction is appreciated!

5 Mum, dad and the campervan. A better support crew cannot be found.

6 What's the steady state size of a badger? This question has two answers. One is 'check the front of my civic' (I didn't mean to hit the stupid thing). The other will make no sense to any but a few crazy individuals (It's thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis big).

7 We don't- know if he was trying to kill us, Jess and Cath or the car coming the other way, but fortunately he failed on all counts – we still don't know how.

Day 04 - the longest ride (by Stuart)

That's right folks, today is the longest single ride of the whole John O'Groats to Lands End adventure. 107 miles in all, a fair whopper of a ride. We know this one is going to be a toughie, but thankfully we have a rather splendid weather forecast for the ride. It's wall to wall sunshine predicted all day, and sure enough we are woken up in the tent by the sun shining through the canvas.

Mum and Dad are off to the rescue this morning. Jess and Cath had more problems on the way into Fort William (breaking another spoke and bursting an inner tube in the rear tyre) and were clearly in difficulty. Their plan was to get to Glencoe, however they never managed to get past Fort William. Aborting the ride early they found a bunk house alongside one of the bike shops and hit the pub.

A few tweets later we managed to convince them to call, and Mum and Dad offered to take some of their kit off them. A trip to the bike mechanic in the morning, and they managed to get their wheels sorted, and with a lighter bike they managed to carry on cycling (wheely happy as they put it).

A somewhat... special depart

Alex and I on the other hand managed to get out of Fort William early. Knowing Mum and Dad would have to go and pick up some kit, we wanted to pack up, but we also wanted to get as many miles done as early as possible. The ride out of Fort William was relatively straightforward riding alongside the loch and cross the bridge where the main road heads to Glencoe on the way to Glasgow. We on the other hand were carrying on by the coast, but thankfully there are cycle paths from this point onwards, so we managed to turn off the roads and follow a tarmacked path following the route of an old railway. Brilliant.... or at least we thought. Most of the cycle paths were great, although on occasion it would veer off sending us down almost dirt track farm roads, or would sometimes be covered in gravel. Not ideal for bikes with narrow road tyres!

I told them we already got one...

Still we managed to follow these most of the way down to Oban Airport, where we crossed the bridge to Conel. A few miles later we met the van for a short break of hot chocolate and cake. We are at 46 miles at this point and both Alex and I are feeling fine. We agreed to stop for lunch in the next 20 miles at the top of the first major climb. 

The ride up to Lock Awe was however somewhat torturous. We have a gradual incline however there is a rather strong head wind. Not fun indeed. Headwinds can sometimes make it feel like you are not making any progress at all. Alex and I try and swap over to share the work, but it's a hard slog (and we haven't even started climbing yet). We eventually round the lock although our spirits are taking quite a beating. What with the headwind, the roads are also terrible. Alex and I liken the roads to being as 'rough as a badgers arse', not good for the cheeks!

Then we hit the climb up Glen Aray. This is a hard slog over a couple of miles, but to make matters worse the sun is baking down, but eventually we make our lunch stop. We are at 68 miles, so a lunch break here is most welcome. More sun cream is required and we are ready. I'm hoping that I can enjoy the descent down to Inverary, but the wind is beating up the valley and irritatingly enough we have to pedal.

Stuart and Alex discover the fruit pastels in the van!

Oh and yes did I mention that this was our first major climb?

Twenty miles later and we hit the next one, the long ascent up the pass over to Loch Lomond. We rise up from sea level to the top (somewhat ironically) called 'rest and be thankful' at a height of 246 meters. We have managed much bigger in the Alps, but we have never done something like this where we have ridden 80 miles previously. Oh that and the badgers arse of a road doesn't help.

97 miles done, the last 6 uphill... oh how appropriate the sign is

After an energy drink at the top, it's a quick descent to the bottom and then a flat ride alongside the lake to our destination. I mention that we should free-wheel down, but Alex and I can't resist the urge to go quickly, so sure enough we adopt our position of 'sling shot slip streaming' whereby two riders can descend quicker by using the slip stream of the rider in front to speed up and over take, and then the rider behind does the same thing. 

I get near to the bottom and Alex passes me. I try to grab his back wheel to move ahead but the tanks register empty. I have a problem. I have to fight just to catch Alex's rear wheel, and that's the fun over. We both clock 100 alongside Loch Lomond, but it's a mercifully flat and easy ride alongside the loch using a cycle path all the way to the campsite. 

I'm supposed to be writing an article tonight. I'm far too tired. We have beer and a BBQ, and Alex and I struggle to keep our eyes open. It'll be an early night no doubt, but thankfully it's a short ride tomorrow, so it's a blessing to go to bed, knowing that we don't have to get up early the next morning. The nether regions ache, and my heel is starting to rub so the miles are beginning to show.

And tomorrow we ride across a city.


Day 05 - another sunny day in paradise (by Alex)

After yesterdays mammoth ride, we all decided that the ride today would be a much more sedate affair. We'd have an early night, a good lie in, a leisurely breakfast and a later depart.

We go which way?

Fat chance. Yet again, I wake up at 6 in the morning – a combination of sleeping near a major road and canvas not being particularly effective at blocking the sun does not allow me a lie in¹. Nuts.

After a couple of sleepless hours, I open the tent flap (much to my brothers annoyance) to see what awaits us². Mostly, as it turns out, cold and grey. As promised, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of poached egg on toast³ with the requisite mug of tea. We've decided to wait until after 9 to set off to avoid the rush hour.

On the itinerary today is a relaxing 50 mile ride through Glasgow.

I guess at this point most of you will be laughing in disbelief.

To answer the first set of disbelievers: Yes, a fifty mile ride is relaxing. After cycling 107 miles yesterday over two large mountain passes, 50 miles is the proverbial walk in the park, considering how (largely) flat they were.

To answer the second set, our ride through Glasgow mostly followed canals, disused railways and the river Clyde, so for the most part our route was both quiet⁴ and flat, thus making cycling through the centre of a major city, somewhat paradoxically, the ride with probably the least traffic!

The ride started on the shores of Loch Lomond. It was a somewhat chilly start, so thermals were donned. We worked our way to Alexandria, where we joined the canal taking us through to Renton and Dumbarton. From here, it was mostly following disused railways (then more canals) to the banks of the Clyde. By this point, the sun was most definitely in the sky, so our ride along the banks of the Clyde towards the centre of Glasgow was certainly pleasant⁵.

Look sun... oh and yeah the Clyde

Lunch was a mixed affair. Our intent was to go to the Peoples Palace⁶ and Winter Gardens in Glasgow Green⁷, where a café awaited us.

This time, unfortunately, it wasn't closed. Stuart waited out with the bikes whilst I went in to order food.

I phoned him twenty five minutes later with the bad news. They were out of burgers.

Ten minutes later I emerged with some somewhat overpriced and anaemic looking sandwiches. Feeling sort of refreshed, we continued our jaunt along the Clyde – except for the bits where diversions had us going through some decidedly rough neighbourhoods.

We finally crossed over the river near Newton, and from this point on we were mostly consigned to roads through High Blantyre and onwards to Strathaven. We rediscovered hills, much to our dismay, but it's not like we won't be seeing enough of them over the coming days.

We are now ensconced in the Rissons at Springvale, having had possibly the best sticky toffee pudding this side of, well, anywhere!

Not sticky toffee pudding (yet), but a pleasant arrival at Rissons

The support crew doesn't get better than this!

Onwards to England!

Eventually . . .

(The Violet Beast also continues South, apparently trouble free today. Onwards, to Champagne! And Lands End!)

1 Alcohol and its effects on the bladder during the night played no part in this. Honest.

2 It's not just rabbits this time. This campsite was overrun by ducks.

3 Hey, it's a change from porridge.

4 Except for the dog walkers. And joggers. And walkers. And horse riders. Though admittedly, they are much less likely to kill you than car drivers. (Well, maybe not so much the horses. Have you seen what half a tonne of twitching horse can do to a person?)

5 Aside from the intense concentration needed to dodge all that broken glass.

6 Which we renamed the Comrade Centre, Because my mind works that way.

7 Very pretty in the sun, especially the giant bouncy Stonehenge and Nelsons Monument (Very big and, as these monuments go, phallic. Was the artist compensating?)

Cheers (Stuart and Alex)