London

Back at Euston. This is an extreme contrast.

Last day

After a substantial breakfast, we are on the train home, wondering how to burn up all those calories and counting up the bruises from the pony track.

Laggan to Pitlochry

Woke up stiff as a board due to mattress with no padding. Ian cooked up a big pot of porridge and Jackie made toast from the free food store.

Night before - Couple of pints and dinner on the Eagle Barge Pub on the Macedonia canal.

Took Great Glenn bike track on west side of Loch Lochy and swung round to Spean Bridge.

Train to Rannoch and road to Pitlochry. Jack met us at Kinloch Rannoch, where we had tea and cakes.

Dinner with Jack at Pitlochry.

Lovely sunny day :-)

Glenn Garry

Huge climb out of Kinloch Horne before crossing into Glenn Garry. Lots of wildlife to see, buzzards, eagles, deer and highland cattle standing in the road. Tea at Invergarry before arriving at the Great Glenn hostel at 5.

Kinloch Horne Farm, Saturday evening

 No mains anything, no internet or mobile phone. Very cosy and welcoming. Home cooked evening meal and a huge breakfast the next morning.

Pony track to Kinloch Horne, Saturday afternoon

 It's hard to describe just how head this was. 8 miles in 5 hours. The path was often so rough and steep that we often had to remove the panniers and carry the bikes separately.  Most of the time we just pushed the bikes the best we could. The hardest part was probably the descent into Kinloch Horne itself, a very steep and rough path straight down the hill.

Sheena's Tea Hut, Saturday lunch time

Arrived at Corran at the end of the road around 1pm and found the famous Tea.Hut. Tea, soup and cheese toasties.

Ratagan Pass, Saturday morning

Another day another climb. This time up the Ratagan Pass into Glenelg, 450m in sunshine for a change. Lots of switch backs and great views to the five sisters mountains.

Nostie, Saturday morning

We have been into the wilderness, with no phone or internet access, so there is much catching up to do on the blog.

 

The b&b at Nostie was lovely and had great views over the loch.  Our landlady even gave us a lift to the local pub and back.

Lunch outside empty hotel.

Back from the wilderness

Just got a phone signal after Kinloch Horne. Very hard day yesterday, details to follow.

Bealach na Ba

Very exciting day climbing the cat 1 Bealach na Ba We even had snow at the top.

Day 4

Applecross to Dornie 37 miles

Tired today after epic cycling, so here are a few pics- will edit in text later. Big hill climb day, 4500 ft in total, 2400 ft in first climb of the day in 5 miles.



















Sally

Day 3

Torridon to Applecross 35 miles

Refreshed after a good nights sleep and a bowl of porridge, we set off at about 10.30 wearing full waterproofs. There was fresh snow on the mountains, and a stiff cold wind blowing with rain falling. Luckily the wind was coming from the East and we were travelling west. We were soon facing the first of the days hills. It was a day of undulating road. We met a cyclist coming the other way on a Roberts Roughstuff, so passed some time engaging in cycle geek talk- including photo:


Onwards to our first and only tea stop of the day -after only 7 miles, but you can't miss the only tea room of the day! Especially not this one. Nanny's Shop


Highly recommended.




Grey wet cycling, but still a beautiful and enjoyable ride.



A cosy B&B with fire.




A fine fish dinner at Applecross Inn.

Sally

Wet and cold but spectacular

Very hilly day but fine scenery. Mountains all topped off with snow and rain blowing in from the easy. Supper at the Applecross in was very good.

Snow on hills

View from hostel window

Snow on the hills, rain in the valleys.

My best pics of the day

One is an action shot of Jackie and Ian taken with one hand while I was riding.

The other is of the road to Torridon - yes, this is an A road.

Day 2

Achnasheen to Torridon 20 miles

After arriving in Inverness at 8.30, we had a quick look around followed by breakfast in a cafe. Jacky took the opportunity to check out the charity shops and stock up on cashmere jumpers for the trip (yes, it's cold up here, and yes, she bought MORE than ONE jumper!!).

We then caught a train to Achnasheen. The excellent cafe there was unexpectedly shut, even more unexpected for the elderly cyclist who was expecting to collect her luggage from there- kindly transported from a youth hostel by some walkers. No sign of her luggage or the walkers. We had a slight delay while Andy taught her how to use her mobile phone.

We then had a lovely rolling ride to Torridon SYHA, the weather only slightly damp, and winds not totally against us.

It's a good hostel with great views of the hills covered in rain and mist. We have beer, wine and curry.

LochMarie

Smashing.

Breakfast time

4 eager cycles wake to find it not raining (yet) in Scotland. Slight team blue mix up over tea/coffee order but now tucking in to breakfast. Train just left Avimore.

Hard times

It's tough on the sleeper train. Here's the team getting vital nutrients in the dining car.

Day One

Well, we all managed to get to Tring station without a drenching, and then had the satisfaction of watching the rain pelt down from the train. We are now comfortably seated in the restaurant car on the Caledonian Sleeper train with bottles of wine, waiting for haggis, neeps and tatties.

We should be passing through Pitstone on the sleeper at about 21:50. Very strange when we set off from there by bike at 18:30. We arrive in Inverness tomorrow at about 8:00.

Final packing list

For those of you who are interested in such things, here is my complete packing list (Sally carries the first aid kit). Total weight around 7kg.

Paniers and bags:

Ortlieb rollers 

Tri-bag on cross-bar

Tools:

1 inner tube

1 tiny pot of grease

1 zip tie

1 largish crank bros multi-tool

Super-patches

Traditional puncture repair kit

Brake cable

Gear cable

Tyre leavers

Pro-link chain oil and rag (in separate bag because of the oily smell)

Lezyne pump (the one you can stand on the ground - much easier to get a high pressure than a hand held)
Small amount of insulating tape
Pen knife

Techno stuff:

Garmin 800 GPS

HP Tablet PC

Maplin 2 port USB charger

USB cables for phone and Garmin

Charger for HP tablet
Spare phone battery
Pen - to use on those new fangled paper tablet things

Weather gear:

Paramo tripple layer jacket

Seal Skinz lobster gloves

Seal Skinz socks

Eager light-weight overshoes

Goretex Paclite shell trousers

Polartec hat

Seat cover (a shower cap)

Buff

Light-wieght gloves

Peaked cap

Clothing:

Altura 3/4 shorts

Merino tights

2 short sleeved merino shirts

1 long sleeved merino shirt

Peter Storm light-weight travel trousers

Ice-Breaker jumper

Under-wear and socks X 4

Sponge Bag:

Cetirizine Hydrochloride 10mg X 12

Ear plugs

Dental floss

Small bottle of shower gel

Small bottle of shaving gel

Razor blade

Tiny deodorant

Tooth brush

Lip-salve

Tiny pot of chamois-butt'r

Tiny pot of tooth-paste

Other:

Combination lock

Spare glasses and case

Anton Chekhov - The Black Monk

Drinks cabinet - small bottles of whiskey and brandy (30ml each)

Bike - Roberts Transcontinental 12.5 Kg
Helmet - Giro Prolight - 210g (it makes a difference)
Specialized MTB Shoes - nice shoes but soak up water like a sponge hence the overshoes.

Southern softies prepare for Scotland

Team Blue move ahead in their training:

Packing has begun-Andy's

Preparations continue- Sally's packing

Packing as light as possible, how do you define essential? Up to about 4.5 kg now.




Sally

Wet weather training

With less than two weeks to go, torrential rain, 35 mph winds and freezing temp provided us with ideal preparation for the Scotland tour. Training in wet weather completed in Derbyshire, April.

Sally