Diary - Day 21

Today we woke up in a hurry. This was going to be a rare half-day and we intended to get up at 7:15 giving plenty of time to reach the ferry. My phone showed 8:06 when my eyes opened and a flurry of activity began at that moment. Soon we were on the bikes and heading for the point of Ardnamurchan at high(ish) speed. The sun was out and the views were good, but it was a case of getting to the point, taking a photo, then heading back to the campsite as soon as possible. At the lighthouse we posed for a photo taken by a convenient couple and headed away.


Without panniers or tents on my bike it was much easier to get a decent pace going and I had left Sam well behind before long. The couple from before overtook me a couple of miles down the road but after 3 miles I had negotiated the majority of climbs and now had 4 miles of flat or downhill to do and caught up with their car 5 minutes later. They let me past and I averaged over 20 mph over the next couple of miles. At the campsite I took the tent down, packed the bags onto the bike and was on the point of leaving when Sam arrived. We put the last couple of bags on his bike and headed off to the ferry. We made it with about 5 minutes to spare in the end! Cream-crackered before we had even made any progress.

Soon we were in Tobermory where we stopped for lunch.


It was pretty hot now and would remain so for a few hours at least. We had a ferry to catch in Craignure so pushed on through Mull in the heat of the day. Another ferry landed us in Oban and our cycling was finished for the day, more or less. The afternoon was mostly spent getting the bikes patched up at Evo Bikes where the excellent owner, Mark Evans, didn't charge us for the labour involved in sorting out all the problems. Sam's bike was still in a state of minor disrepair as it had been early on and would continue to be throughout. My bike had developed a small amount of buckle in the back wheel, a result of the weight carried early on in the trip no doubt, but right now it was not a problem at all.

Sam left in order to do a tour of Oban distillery and I picked up an ankle supprot as my ankle had developed a bit of an uncomfortable strain in the last day or so. Made me wince every time I pushed my foot down on the pedal and was a cause for concern for the next few days. Fortunately it gradually dissapeared and before a week was up my ankle was back to normal. I also bought yet another shower gel after continually losing them - this is a common theme for me on holiday.

We went out for some food at 6:30 and then wandered into Oban cinema to watch Ocean's Thirteen although we didn't hear all of it due to some poor sound quality. Basically a load of nonsense anyway, but we were glad to be relaxing and not getting wet or cold on the bikes for a change. Finished off the day with a beer in a nearby pub then walked back to the youth hostel
for a decent kip. Great to have part of the day off.