Safely on Arran Though Missing A Few Things - and still no trains...

The guys are safely on Arran, and enjoying the luxury of a 3 bed, ensuite room at the Lochranza Youth Hostel - as are the rest of the inhabitants who don't have to share a bedroom with their socks...


A tip if you are booking this youth hostel and maybe others - several sites come up on Google before the SHYA site, and those others charge extra, so make sure you go through the official booking process. 

The guys just sent their report through, so here it is...

Another "spectacular" view!

Waiting for ferry to Arran

Day 6, Wednesday 10th Sept

'A tale of trains, chains, shorts and sunshine'

Today the weather definitely lived up to its forecast. Although there was a slight chill in the air, we were warmed throughout the day by the sun. When the weather is like it was today, everything looks a lot different and the scenery we were coming through today could have been somewhere in the south of France.

After a fine hostel breakfast we were out at 9 am and immediately onto the most important act of the day; finding some food! The day ahead always feels better when we have food on board, and this we managed before leaving Oban.

We'd made another tricky decision in the morning. Our original route for the day was to have taken us east briefly before coming down the quiet road at the side of Loch Awe. The plan B route was to use the main A road heading straight south out of Oban, a route likely to be about 10 miles shorter. A general feeling of fatigue amongst the team lead us to go with plan B today.

Although we were missing out on Loch Awe, one of Scotland's most picturesque, we were following the coast south of Oban, which is scattered with delightful coves and small islands and has a beauty of its own, so we don't feel that we missed out.

At this point of the trip I feel that it worth examining the mind of the cyclist in the morning. As you set off, you run through a mental check list. What hurts (or perhaps that should be, what doesn't hurt)? Did the the same things hurt yesterday? If so, is it worse or better today? If not, does it feel minor or potentially major? Then the first hill comes, and a whole new set of body parts make themselves known; your brain goes through the same questions for each of these. Normally, after the first hour, most of the body has settled in and you are just working out what you need to do to make things not hurt so much. But then the body plays tricks on you, parts you didn't know had muscles twinge suddenly or take to throbbing gently, giving something new to worry about. All this worry, however, disappears in a moment with a glimpse of a view, or the sight of a deer, the sound of a stream, or the thrill of a sweeping downhill bend .....

Needless to say, there were many spectacular views today (we know this because we saw the signs!). The land was green, full of trees and heather or grass and sheep, with yaughts clustered in bay after bay. Much more agricultural, and for the first time the No's outnumbered the Yes's. 

We had the first major bike problem along this stretch today. John H broke his chain on a hill. Basically the joining link on his new chain separated and the chain itself became seriously tangled up with his back wheel. Unfortunately, John C and I were a bit ahead of John H at this point and didn't notice his phone message until 4 miles and a couple of climbs further down the road! Once we got the message (phone reception was terrible, so we couldn't call back) we turned round and headed back, only to come across John 4 miles back, having just finished untangling and fixing the chain, fully operational again (well done John). We turned around age an and headed back south, stopping for an early lunch with splendid views of the coast and distant misty mountains. Then off again, heading to Kilmartin, where we joined up with our original intended route. Kilmartin is a very interesting place; it is situated at the head of a south-facing valley of lush agricultural land, bound on both sides by mountainous ridges. The view from the village itself is special. There are many monuments in the area, including stone circles, whic suggest it has been a place of civilisation for thousands of years. 

Running repairs on John H's bike (2nd of 3 for the day)

After Kilmartin, we picked up NCR78 which took us on a quiet straight road across a broad, flat salt marsh to Crinan, where we picked up and followed the Crinan Canal, using its towpath to take us all the way to Lochgilphead. The canal was a serene and beautiful route. The surface variable, but mostly good. It was along this stretch that something a bit inexplicable happened: both John H and I heard John C say 'ooo-ooo trains'. On asking him about this, he could not remember saying this, but couldn't explain what he had said. Needless to say, we have since had many bouts of hilarity at his expense, and John C has been very patient with us about it!

Quiet section along the Crinan Canal, but no trains

At Lochgilphead we also managed to solve another of the day's problems. John C had left his two best and favourite cycling shorts in the drying room at Oban Youth Hostel (he's very fond of them, but won't tell me their names ...). After asking a passerby (yes you got that correctly, blokes asking for directions!) we found the cycle shop in the town and John C is now the proud owner of two new pairs of cycling shorts. In the mean time Oban hostel will be posting Johns old favourites back home.

From Lochgilphead we headed down the banks of Loch Fyne on the main road, which was a bit busy with lorries, with a head wind forcing us to keep together and swap turns at the front. As we turned off towards West Loch Tarbert we realised that we had a chance of catching the 17:50 ferry to Arran. We needed to do the last 5 miles in half an hour. Unfortunately there was a 170m climb in the way and we were a bit knackered. But we gave it a go, and it is a great testament to the group that we made it with 5 minutes to spare, letting out a few quite celebratory noises as we came over the last ridge to see the ferry still on its way in. 

So on to the ferry we went and enjoyed the trip across to Arran in the glorious evening sunshine and blue skies. Thence to Lochranza hostel and food again!
John H anecdote of the day. Yesterday evening, whilst we were sorting out things to wash, John lost track of that day's socks. As you can imagine, after nearly a week of cycling, our shoes are getting a little intense, so the socks definitely needed a wash. In the end he gave up looking. He found them this morning in his cycle helmet!

Senior moment of the day. John C started talking about how we coped with turning 50, since he would be doing the same in 4 months. Then John H pointed out that John C was still 'only' 48 .....

Favourite moments of the day:
John H - fixing his chain!
John C - views from the Arran ferry in the evening sun
JR - seeing Oban in the sun (after a family holiday many many years ago based in Oban where it rained for almost the entire 2 weeks).

Stats of the day

Distance: 73 miles

Average speed: 11.7 (max 34.7)

Total climb: 1281m

Energy: 4000 cals

John C bananas 4

John H bananas 3

JR bananas 2