Stats; miles 107. 27 (15 on the ferries though!), time in the saddle 7hours 22 minutes, calories 5075, ave speed 11.9 mph, climbing 6433 feet (!)
Well if ever the cliche a game of 2 halves needs to be rolled out today's trip pretty much deserved it with quite frankly an amazing morning and early afternoon followed by hell on earth for the last 4 hours of the day!
As those of you tuning in regularly know we are turning cocking about into an art form, but we knew that we had to be on the first ferry out of Tarbert at 8am prompt if we wanted to be finishing at any respectable time due to us having to catch another 2 ferries as well as visiting the 4 shops on the route today. As such we had set the alarms for 6am giving us plenty of time to get things packed, on the bikes and get the 400 yards to the ferry terminal from the B&B!
Ah, the B&B! One of the truisms of the trip so far is that Hotel's bad, B&B's good! Dunivag in Tarbert was magnificent! The view must be the best from any B&B in the whole of the country and the hospitality that Louise gave us was superb! I had been going on to Dec for weeks that Loiuse was going to do us fresh local kippers for breakfast and although a little reluctant he took the plunge. They were as expected as good as the view from the front door as we went to get out bikes out. Over breakfast Louise asked us about the charity and having a child with long term health problems herself added another £10 to the kitty.
With kippers done with by 7.45 it was down the ferry where Dec videoed me riding on, and the subsequent bollocking I got from the ferry man for not dismounting and pushing it on......The 20 minutes crossing to Portavadie was done as I phoned Andrea and Dec phoned Ali so we could rub it in how beautiful it was and how nice the weather was! Quote of the day from Dec when he asked if this 8 car ferry in the middle of Argyle had WiFi! The look the guy gave him was priceless....
Of the ferry for the 30 mile loop through the other arm of Argyle meant heading North for around 10 miles and also heading up. And up. And up. And it was HOT! With sun cream on and helmets off (and Carter cap on for me!) climbing Glen Caladh on the A8003 was simply astonishing. Not too steep at about 10% gradient for 3 miles it took us up 600 feet from the village of Tighnabruaich to the best view I think I've ever seen with The Isle of Bute, the Isle of Arran in full view below us. Being the first of what we thought were the 2 big climbs today and with Dec's knee giving him a bit of gyp, there was no real KOM fight, although I was over the top first by a good minute....!
Cruising down the other side still heading North we followed the shore line to the end of the Loch and gradually turned back South rolling into Colintraive for the Colintraive-Rhubadoch ferry crossing which is all of 600 yards but separates the Isle of Bute from the mainland. This time I videoed Dec riding on the boat as he got bollocked from the gaurd for not dismounting! As I tried to walk down the slipway with the bike fully loaded and with my cleats slipping watching the motorbikes ride on I must admit I had a H&S gone mad moment! (Sorry Yvonne!)
Short ferry crossing done it was round the shoreline for the 7 miles to Rothesay and the mainland ferry. Sweeping in across the harbour we could see the ferry in the distance so quickened the pace to make sure we caught it. Around 600 yards to go to the terminal I turned right into the town with Dec shouting "where are you going" I shouted "to the shop" "but there's a garage there" he replied, no the SHOP pointing at the factory shop sign as Katrina the store manager and a crowd of people were outside clapping us in. And then the bagpipes started! The store had amazingly asked around about pipers but couldn't get hold of any. Then the night before someone had heard the bagpipes being played in the park and found it was a 10 year old boy called Alisdair! Knowing his mam they arranged for Alisdair to take the morning off from school so he could pipe us in! Fantastic and the highlight of the day! Katrina had also phoned the ferry at Colintaive to check in our progress so everyone could be outside! Another quick call to the ferry at Rothesay to confirm the ferry wouldn't be leaving until 12 meant a cup of tea and the news that the store had raised over £200 for the kitty! Massive thank you to all in Rothesay TOFS!
Dashing for the ferry I'd arranged to meet some of Andreas extended family at Nardini's in Largs for lunch so a quick call to let them know we'd be there for 1.15 and onto the ferry. I managed to have a 10 min snooze but all to quickly it was on the bikes and a blast down the 6 miles from Weymss Bay to Largs with me on the front all the way into the strong headwind. Dec however was to make up for this tenfold later on in the day. Meeting Sam outside we had a fantastic sandwich and massive glass of coke with Herbie, Sam, Liz, Eddie and Caroline wishing we could have the massive portion of fish and chips Sam and Eddie were having! While they were still halfway through we'd finished and knew we had to push on as the biggest climb if the day up Electric Brae was literally around the corner. With goodbyes done it was turn left and begin climbing again. Rising from sea level to 800 feet the steep hairpins at the bottom were the worst bit but we'd soon got into a rhythm and the jousting began! With Dec initially a long way behind I made the mistake again of thinking it was in the bag early doors only for him to appear out of know where when the gradient eased up a bit. However local knowledge was in my side as I knew the road well and knew we were still far from the top. Recovering behind Dec for a spell I passed him and knew he'd peaked to early and cruised up to the summit. It would be the last time I would be in front of Dec on a climb all day!
Once the climb was over there were 5 miles of flat really fast roads ahead so in the effort to cut down our efforts we tried to do an impression of a pro team train belting along at 25mph taking 500 yards stints on the front with the other tucked in right behind. It felt fantastic but again in reality it must have looked very odd to those cruising past in the cars! Finally the steep decent into Dalry and all was good with the world! It's the first time I'd been to the shop since the refit and I nearly rode past it as it couldn't have been the same building! With Liz and her team meeting us at the front door to tell us about the £300 (!) they had raised in the store and Dec proclaiming how magnificent the shop and the tea room looked, that it was in a different league to the other stores he had seen ( well done Dave and Yvonne!) it was time for a quick toilet stop but we didn't have enough time to stop for the famous homemade scones! Photos outside and it was off for what looked like the nice 40 miles or so back to the B&B.
Ha! What followed was horrible. The route I'd done had avoided the main roads but not the contour lines. Getting lost didn't help but the 12 miles to Stewarton took us nearly an hour and a half. We couldn't get any speed up as the roads were also poorly maintained as well as incredibly hilly and from the euphoria of the train into Dalry the dawning realisation was that we'd miscalculated massively the effort that was going to be needed to get to Daleagles and the B&B. Stoping only for photos, Mars bars and a lucazade sport ( thanks girls!) it was (surprise, surprise!) up out of town and on towards Galston. Well the B778 was awful. Busy, narrow, horribly steep and surfaced like the road to Bagdad the demons were back. Still 30 miles to go, it was nearly 4.30.at this rate Galston would be closed when we got there and we'd still have 22 miles left when we finally got there. At our current pace we'd not get to the B&B before 8. We pulled off after 3 miles of this hell to finish the lucazade and mars bars and gee each other up. Using the ever diminishing brave pills it was back on the B road thinking it can't get any worse than this. 2 miles later on a 20% gradient climbing up no more than a farm track it was 10 times worse. The demons had been joined by the backside demon, the pain in the legs demon and pain in the knee demon! To try and chase them away somewhat the famous saying by veteran cyclist Jens Voight was brought out again and again in full German accents "Shut up legs" is what he used to say out loud when it was hurting and it seemed to help!
Finally 5 minutes before closing we dragged our sorry selves into Galston and a much needed cup of tea. And brownie. And cheesecake.and biscuits! I swear I'm the only ever person to cycle JOGLE and out weight on! Saying our goodbyes and again thanking all the team for the money they had raised it was back on horrible unclassified roads to Sorn. I'm not sure what East Ayrshire spent their money on but it is not the roads! With still 15 miles to go I was toast. Dec made me pull over and eat some more and drink. He then towed me the next 8 miles over horrendous roads at what seemed like a snails pace until I finally put the demons back in the box, pulled myself together and got on with the slog.
At last the sign for New Cumnock came into view and although the B&B was 3 miles out the other side we knew we'd made it, another day down! The 3 miles on the B741 was someone's idea of a sick joke just to rub salt into the wounds(Mark Noble, you'll find out all about it tomorrow!) but Old School B&B looked heavenly in the sunlight! Just to keep Dec happy I can point out that he did indeed "win" the stage for the second day running by being first to the B&B....
Looking forward to Mark Noble joining us tomorrow firstly because he's a fantastic bloke, secondly because he's a much better cyclist than me and I intend to spend most of the day tucked in behind him out of the wind! ( if I can keep up!) I also fear the KOM competition may be a bit one sided....
Daleagles-Dumfries-Annan-CarlisePenrith tomorrow, Scotland finished and England will have to pull its finger out if it hopes to even compete!
Climbed 6433 feet, I could do that spinning on me cock.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, apparently the northern lights 9not Blackpool) were visible your way last night, keep an eye out, but it may be during the wee small hours