Islay, day 1

(all the sheep eye charlie's fig bar jealously.)


Firstly, I love trains, and I love the trains in this country. We took a "bargain berth" sleeper all the way up to Glasgow, with our bikes, and it was lovely. Our own little room with one bunk each, the rattling rhythm of the tracks as terrifically soporific lullaby, and coffee, orange juice and shortbread in the morning.

Which was good. Because it turned out to be a long day.

The plan was to cycle from Arrochar & Tarbet station (the furthest the line would take us) west and south through a mountain pass and along Loch Fyne to the ferry-terminal at Kennacraig in time to catch the 18.00hrs (last) ferry across to Port Ellen, Islay. In theory, we had loads of time, not so so many miles to cover, and lots of delicious raw-food bars.

In truth, the raw food bars were delicious (especially mango), but the other two assumptions were oh so false, mainly because of:

Weather!

Hail and hail and hail and wind and wind and wind and this one mini blizzard, tucked in the middle, for fun. Mainly headwinds, of course. The gusts were 55mph, and the regular, non-gusts were stable around 30mph (not an exaggeration, even. When we finally did make it to the ferry terminal, we learned that all the ferries to Port Ellen were canceled that day. Because of the wind. The ridiculous wind, that practically canceled us.) Many, many times we had to stop because of a) being blown off our bikes b) not being able to produce any forward motion at all c) fear of death from being blown into traffic, or, for the one little stretch where the road twisted and we had a tail-wind, d) complete lack of control at high speeds, at the wind's whim. Also, sometimes, the hail-in-our-eyes was a bit too painful/blinding for productive riding. So. We walked a lot. We cowered a lot. I regretted, a bit, having chosen _this_ as Charlie's first exposure to the bike holiday experience. But scenery, that which wasn't hidden in/by the hail clouds, was lovely. Snowy mountains. Incredibly weather-impenetrable sheep. Waterfalls every where.

All in all, the 66miles took us seven hours and seven minutes. With no rest stops longer than five minutes. And then that canceled ferry. Luckily, Charlie did such a good job at looking miserable that the ferry company agreed to pay for our taxi from Port Askaig, where the ferry could go, all the way down to Port Ellen, where our B&B was (where the ferry was supposed to go). They even got us an extra big taxi that could fit our bikes in the back.

All things considered, I'm incredibly happy with my new Sugoi shoe covers. Warm and dry feet through it all. And they're Canadian! Of course.