Friday 24 May 2013

Day 14 Crask Inn to John o'Groats (83 Miles)

Its the last day of our trip today, we stayed in the Crask Inn bunkhouse last night. The Inn now offers B&B and we had fish pie and haggis with some hill walkers and a few fishermen.
The heavy overnight rain had now disappeared and dull skies with a 10 mph head wind had arrived. Our coal fire had lasted through the night but we had no power as the generator had packed in. We managed to get the gas stove lit and made our usual morning coffee and porridge.
Leaving Crask was a uphill climb followed by a downhill track to Altnaharra where Britain's coldest temperature was ever recorded.

The single track roads from Altnaharra started to level out slightly as we headed north east along the Loch Naver valley, heather and birch Moorland gave way to grazed fields of sheep and beef cattle. Several fisherman cast their flies into the river as we cycled quickly past Torrisdale Bay.

Our first stop of the day was Bettyhill Cafe, where we met a team of 50 charity cyclists that were cycling from Thurso to Aberdeen. After a quick chat with some of the lads we grabbed a coffee and headed into our first steep hill of the day. The roads continued to climb higher giving spectacular coastal views of the North Atlantic.
As we headed eastwards we glimpsed the rocky cliffs of  Orkney through the clearing mist, the road undulated for some distance but gradually flattened out. The weather also quickly started improving and we could finally see some blue skies appearing on the horizon. By the time we got to Thurso the sun was fully out and we purchased a celebratory peuter quaich. 

We also called into see Ken Wilson of Thurso Vets and met his other colleagues who had kindly put together a survival pack consisting of a large calf stomach tube, Isotonic drink, Red Bull, muesli bars, Sudacreme, Whisky and Ibuprofen.
Suitably refreshed and now with wings we flew the remaining twenty miles east to John O'Groats past Dunnet Bay and the Castle of Mey basking in sunshine.

The road to John o'Groats was fairly level and we could see the new flat roofed Eco pods that surrounded the finishing point. At the infamous white and black way marker post we had our photo's taken and were soon joined by Ian Millar of Wick Vets with two beers he had kindly come to pick us up and put us up for the night.

Well there ends our 14 day cycle which took exactly 1,013 miles end to end. 

Many thanks to all who have followed us on our journey and kindly sponsored us throughout this time it's been a huge inspiration to both of us and one which we shall remember forever.


















Day 13 Drumnadrochit to Crask Inn, near Altnaharra (74 Miles)

We left our Loch Ness Inn after a superb breakfast, packed up we headed 2 miles up the road till we hit our first steep hill of the day a 1:4 gradient, we pushed hard to get up this hill in the granny gear with logging trucks a plenty. It wasn't long before we encountered our first winters showers which was going to become the norm for the rest of the day.

Our first I stop off was at the village of Beauly and the Corner Coffee and deli shop. Suitably defrosted and refreshed we headed north east to Dingwall where we briefly spied two other end to end cyclists. The pedestrianised Dingwall High Street was near deserted so we turned round and attacked our second big ascent of the day climbing due north leaving the Cromerty Firth to High Moors with gale force artic winds laden with squally hail showers. Neighbouring fields had just been ridge and furrowed for tatties, the soil look very fertile on the south slopes to the Cromerty Firth. The going was tough and relentless as the wind did not abate and the hail felt like needles and pins on your face and legs.
We were however blessed with views of the Dornoch Firth and Ben More Assynt covered in fresh snow. 
A steep decent into the valley lay ahead but we still needed to pedal hard as the ferocious winds were not for giving up so easily.
We stopped for a late lunch in Bonar Bridge before our last ascent to the Crask Inn. Refuelled we attacked that last 25 miles head on into the gusting winds and winter showers. It was tough going on the single track road but morale was high and the legs strong as we knew our final goal of an evening meal was just round the next corner. 
As we approached our final destination the sleet turned to snow and we entered the old inn to see a peat burning fire and welcoming faces.
After a hot pot of tea and ginger bread we began we were shown to our bunk house and set the fire. Hot showers we a very welcomed treat from the days cycling and we heEd back across the road to he Crask Inn to join fellow travellers. Dinner was haddock and scrambled egg on toast and haggis and seasonal veg , followed by desert of Oakes and Scottish cheeses









Wednesday 22 May 2013

Day 12 Port Appin to Drumnadrochit (Loch Ness) 80 Miles !

Well we were first up for breakfast this morning, the smell of fresh croissants and freshly baked scones drifted through the hotel. 
After breakfasting in style with scrambled eggs and Loch Awe salmon, we made the most of the early morning sun and headed off on our 12th day towards Glencoe and Castle Stalker. 
The broken cloud and morning sunlight shone across Loch Lynnhe as the fisherman started out on their days work.
We soon crossed the Balahulish steel bridge over Loch Leven with awesome views up to Glencoe and then quickly sped on towards Fort William overtaking two other End to End cyclists we had previously passed in Dartmoor! The buggers had caught us up lol.

The purpose built cycle ways which run alongside the A82 were a great way of getting away from the busy road and as the trees are later into leaf this far north, you get a better view of the lochs and mountains beyond at this time of the year. 
Unfortunately the cycle paths are not yet connected into Fort William but a new route is planned soon so this will make a big difference to future end to end cyclists.
As we passed through Fort William, we cycled to Morrison's supermarket for lunch supplies and then headed out towards the Caledonian Canal and Neptune steps. The canal has a series of loch gates which allow sailboats to safely navigate from the west coast of Scotland via lochs and waterways to the east coast rather than around the top of Scotland.
We watched several boats enter the loch gates and then be gently lifted to the next level, the view to the south was of Britain's highest mountain Ben Nevis, still topped in snow from winter. 
As we cycled east along the gravel footpaths we were joined by Canadian canoeists. At Loch Lagan we were now cycling along the Great Glen Way which followed the loch side with stunning views back to the snow capped mountains of Lochaber.

The hillsides were of mixed evergreen and deciduous forest, single specimens of giant sequoia and western red cedar were planted at sharp beds in the forests and we passed many walkers on great glen walk. The gravel paths were difficult to cycle with 20kg of panniers, the back wheels soon lost grip but we pushed on regardless.

The rain and gusting winds meant we needed to push on along the canal and so we headed for Loch Ness the deepest of all the freshwater lochs. The hill climbs were the steepest of the day and not much freewheeling here. the traffic became heavier towards rush hour so we stopped off at Castle Urquhart for a quick viewpoint.
With no sight of Nessie, onwards we headed into Drumnadrochit for our next accommodation at the Loch Ness Inn,, just in time to waterproof the jackets. Tomorrows forecast is for hill snow and a north head wind, coupled with high climbing roads it's going to be a tough day ahead...










Tuesday 21 May 2013

Day 11 Ardrishaig to Port Appin

Wot a day, the weather forecast looked amazing, early sunrise so got on the road sharpish.

Headed for Ardfern where our friends  Annie and Peter were staying and got a photo at the famous wooden pointing hand!. Then headed up some Steep hills before reaching Oban. Scott's Achilles was causing a lot of pain so we stopped at the local pharmacy to take on some ibuprophen and paracetamol.

We Grabbed  some mackerel sandwiches from the local co-op and headed to the harbour for lunch, coach loads of tourists seem to appear from nowhere eating chips and crayfish !

The road out of Oban is narrow and climbs quite steeply but soon we reached the iron Connell Bridge. An impressive metal structure that spans the Loch Etive river, the changing tides are quite impressive and lots of kayakers make the most of the turbulent rip tides.

We headed onto Benderloch towards Port Appin along some single track lanes. The views to Mull were quite breath taking with impressive views to the island of Lismore.

The small village of Appin has a narrow jetty which many sail boats head for to frequent the amazing Hotel and restaurant called the Pier House Hotel renown for its fine fish cuisine. We had the mussels and Pier platter which was a real treat. The locals and visitors were very friendly and the owner made us quite at home with tales of other travellers that had passed through raising money for charity.

Well as you will see the food and company was amazing so we're now heading to bed we've a long day to Loch Ness staying at Drumnadrochit.









Monday 20 May 2013

Day 10 Mauchline to Ardrishaig

We left the Mauchline Armour vets early doors and headed to Kilmarnock and Halfords to try and source yet another tyre for Charlie's much troubled bike. We Arrived early and staff soon sorted the wheel by retentioning the spokes and this seemed to finally sort the problem.

We left Kilmarnock behind us and joined the busy dual carriageway to Irvine and onto Ardrossan. As we arrived early we stopped and chatted to a German cyclist called Albert from Bavaria who was touring Scotland on his own. He was on a three week tour of Scotland and had previously toured most of Europe as well, a source of much inspiration!.

As the ferry had now arrived we quickly boarded and made good speed to Arran, the journey only taking 55 mins. The last time I travelled this route was with  Ros and Fiona coming back from a New Year in Arran with lot of other good friends...where has the time gone.

Sailing across, the sun finally came out and the hills on Arran came to life, we said farewell to Albert and took the road to Lochranza. The wind was in our face but the sun on our backs so we started our hill climb north. We made good progress as many of the roads had recently been resurfaced, we soon reached the top and enjoyed a long downhill decent to Lochranza. Ahead of schedule we sat and sunbathed waiting for the Cloanaig ferry to dock.

The crossing back to the mainland took just 30 mins and we stayed up on the top deck hopeful we might spot a basking shark or two.. but not today! no such luck!. The road to Tarbet was winding and Tarbet harbour itself was full of yachts and sail boats and nice restaurants which if we had time would have been great to explore.

We climbed onwards heading for Ardrishaig for our final stop of the night at the Argyl Arms, fish and chips was the only thing on the menu as they don't normal serve food on a Monday! Good job we weren't fussy lol. 

Tomorrow we head for Oban and on to Port Appin the forecast is still looking good, we may even have to apply some slap!