Diary - Day 19

After a night at the hostel ruined by a combination of a hot, stuffy room and a Dutchman called Dennis with behavioural problems we were up before 8am and hit the local cafe for a big fried breakfast. Tasty. Unfortunately Sam couldn't get an appointment at the doctors until 11:30 so we had a bit of time to kill afterwards. I used this period to catch up on correspondance while looking at the nasty weather outside and hoping it would disperse.

Well it didn't and when we finally got going we were in for one of the nastiest sections of the entire trip. While we climbed away from Ullapool the weather didn't have too bad an effect. It was windy, but not too windy, and it was wet, but not too wet as we passed Loch Broom and headed inland. By the time we had reached the top of the hill and were coming up to Loch Glascarnoch it had taken a turn for the worst. For the next ten miles or more it was heads down and keep turning the wheels against hammering wind and rain. It took over an hour of hard work to cover the ten miles to Aultgulish inn where we pulled in for a breather. It was empty except for a barman who served us two bottles of Cairngorm's 'Tradewinds' which is a very good bottled beer. A Twix and some crisps later we headed out to get assaulted by the elements once more, but at least now we were heading downhill.

This photo is early in our Westward stretch, a photo from earlier would be pointless as nothing would be visible. It still looks daunting here, but nowhere near as bad.


Not that going downhill made this stretch easy. It was still an effort and we were more than a little glad to turn off the A385 onto the A382 heading West. The theory was that the wind was now behind us and it would be easy from now on. The first 5 miles proved to be miserable and still tough, but finally the sun began to creep out and cycling became easier. In fact for the rest of the day it felt like we were constantly going downhill such was the ease of cycling with the wind behind us and the sun out illuminating the beautiful landscape.

Plenty of Deer a little after Achnasheen and plenty more later on near Loch Dughaill

After many miles flying along and winding through the glens of West Scotland we came to Loch Carron and stopped at a pub next to Strathcarron railway station. It was a bit of a shame to stop as the sun was out and we were making good time and enjoying ourselves. The need to eat was strong though and we had a good meal before heading out again. Unfortunately the delayed start had meant that we were always a bit behind time so we pushed on through the last 15 miles to the campsite.

Almost as soon as we left the pub, quite tired now and lookingforward to relaxing at the end of the day, we hit a very steep hill. Not particularly long but steep enough to be annoying for two cyclists with full stomach. This trend of climbing, then dropping back down continued around the edge of Loch Carron and we headed inland at Stromeferry no higher than we were at the pub but having climbed a fair way. Heading inland meant going over a nice big hill and seemingly cycling in to another weather area, the sun dissapearing and the rain arriving again. It rained hard as we descended towards Balmacara and we were nice and wet by the time we pulled in to the campsite. The rain then calmed a little, but the midges were out in their billions so putting up the tent this evening became one of the most painful things we had to endure. There is just no escaping the midges when they attach themselves to you and our usual 5 minute task of errecting the tent took 15 minutes and about 558 bites.

This photo fails to do justice to the weather and scenery we had in the late afternoon but will have to suffice


As soon as that was done and we had showered it was off to the pub for an hour before hitting the sack. We indulged in a few bottles of Isle of Skye beers: Red Cullin and Black Cullin I believe and both were good beers, my preference as usual being for the darker of the two. A couple of games of pool and then we headed back to the campsite to battle the midges once more in our attempts to get into the tent. Glad to go to sleep tonight - it would transpire that midges don't leave you alone when you sleep but the damage was already done and they were mostly gone by morning. Phew!