Today's plan was to cycle from Dunoon to Colintraive, get the ferry across on to Bute and then cycle round to Rothesay where we would get the ferry back to Wemyss Bay. The weather on the way down to Dunoon didn't look promising; in fact it looked down right miserable at times. With the trip to Sweden just under 3 weeks away we decided to press on regardless. As someone once remarked, "If you don't like the weather in Scotland, just wait 20 minutes." We hoped that today would be no different.
Our journey started in Gourock where we got the ferry across to Dunoon. From there we headed North before turning left on to the B836 road to Colintraive. The sign said 16 miles which doesn't seem like much but, trust me, felt an awful lot longer by the time we reached the end. The road is largely single track which can be tricky when there is traffic around. However, it being a Sunday afternoon it wasn't so bad. Luckily the weather cleared up a lot which meant that we could admire the scenery.
The trip we did from Balloch to Aberfoyle and back, a couple of months ago, had some pretty long climbs up some fairly steep hills. Looking back now they were pretty tame compared to what we faced today. At one point we all had to push the bikes up part of one of the climbs. Even first gear was pretty useless. In fact, it's not a good gear to use for climbing. The amount of effort you put into just isn't returned in terms of forward motion. Sometimes you just have to get up off of the saddle, go up a gear or two and just grit your teeth. This was one of those occasions.
On the other hand though, once the summit was reached there was some fantastic downhill stretches. A few years ago I nearly hit 50mph going down a hill just outside Plockton. Ever since then I've been trying to better that. Unfortunately it wasn't going to be today. At my fastest point I was doing just over 40. Still, it was more than enough to put a smile on all our faces... for about 5 seconds, just before another hill arrived. It's all good though. Every little piece of effort you put in means that you get that little bit fitter; that little bit more able to cope with anything you might come across.
When we finally reached Colintraive, we decided to have a spot of lunch in the Colintraive Hotel. The food was absolutely superb and we probably ate more than was sensible for cycling. There's nothing like local seafood to bring out a healthy appetite. I'd thoroughly recommend a visit there.
After lunch it was the shortest ferry crossing in history across on to Mull. The journey probably didn't even last 5 minutes. We were fully expecting the journey to Rothesay to be another fairly lengthy affair but in the end it was only a few miles down the road. There were another couple of hills, of course, but nothing compared to what we had endured earlier on. I remember seeing a town looking ahead and thinking, "We can't be there already." We passed through Port Bannatyne and arrived in Rothesay just as the ferry was about to leave. We only had a half hour wait for the next one so we decided to stop off at Zavaroni's and have an ice cream (instead of a drink). Just what the doctor ordered!
When we got back to Wemyss Bay we had just missed the train back to Glasgow and the next one wasn't due for about another 50 minutes. Someone had the bright idea of cycling on to Inverkip and picking the train up from there. When we finally discovered where the station was I couldn't believe our luck when it was at the top of another steep hill. C'est la vie! Anyway, if there is one thing that is ten times worse than steep hills it's midgies. The platform was crawling in them and most of them saw me as a food source. Next time I am going to buy some of Avon's "Skin So Soft" which is the only midgie repellent that I know works.
All in all it was another great day. The rain held off in the main with only some drizzle from time to time. Just under 3 weeks to go now till we head off to Gothenburg. Planning on doing one or two more trips before we go but hopefully something with a few less hills and more distance.
1 comment:
That which does not kill you leaves you in a persistent vegetative state!
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