Three ferries and a dose of reality

For tonight's entry, Wifeypedia has provided me with a spectacular list of alternative words to use instead of the word .. Spectacular .. So watch out for their gratuitous use throughout ....
Today was always going to be tricky, with a long day's cycling interwoven with 3 essential ferry trips, the first off Skye and on to the mainland, the second and third on to and then off Mull. The ambition was to cross over to Mull from the Ardrossan peninsula to Tobermory, then to cycle 20 odd miles on Mull to catch the ferry off Mull to Oban, where we were booked in to the SYHA hostel for the night. To do this we needed to reach Salen on the banks of Loch Sunart by 12:30 to know that we had the time to reach the Tobermory ferry, because once we committed to the Ardrossan road, there were no alternatives; if we missed the 15:15 ferry then we would not reach Oban. So it was with some disappointment that, when we rolled up at Salen at 13:10 we had to change our plans. We had not been able to cover the distance in the time we had allowed. The climbs had been too hard and, due to my mistake during planning, we actually had about 8 more miles to do than I had thought. So this was our dose of reality.

JR stretching after tough ascent - not trying to push over passing place sign
(honest!)

Plan B, was to cycle to the Lochaline ferry instead, giving us more time to play with as the distance to cycle on Mull would only be 5 miles; a disappointment as it would not be the most interesting part of Mull! This we managed to do successfully, although we arrived in Oban Hostel rather late, which is in turn why this entry is a bit short and late!

Despite all the timing problems, we enjoyed the day. scenery was again spectac..... sorry, impressive. Initially, south of Mallaig, it was rolling and green with amazing rock patterns revealed in the roadside cuttings. Geologically, with my trained eye, I can tell you that the rocks here are all messed up, and that is the best summary of them!

John H at top of climb over to Loch Shiel

After a brief interlude of the genteel chocolate box beauty of Loch Sheil, we moved  into the grandure of the Moidart mountains. Then on again to the shores of loch Sunart, which the route took us around a large part of. The road here ran through thick trees and across many gurgling brooks. The road rose and fell in swoops initially before (thankfully) flattening out around the loch head. Then one final big climb (270 m) out and over to Lochaline through  more stunning mountains.

As we cycled around Loch Sunart, it was quite frustrating, because we could see our road on the other side, but knew that we had another 15 miles to go to get there. We even considered hijacking a boat and rowing ourselves and our bikes over!

The day was topped off by the stunningly beautiful sunset we saw from the Oban ferry over Mull.

On ferry to Mull

Quote of the day. John H on waking up; " I dreamt loads last night .... Must be the lack of Whisky"

John C moments. Comments on the difficulty of separating liquids and solids whilst on the long drop (composting toilet). This trip is very much about back to basics....
Proudest moment: Racing and beating an unladen mountain biker up a hill in the morning.
Biggest regret of the day: Racing and beating an unladen mountain biker up a hill in the morning.

JR moment: bad route planning. Somehow missed 10 miles of road and (according to John H) 500 m of climb in the days route! First senior moment (that I can remember, that is).

John H moment. Missing the ferry to Mull by 1 minute 20 seconds (would friends really time such a thing!). Fortunately the next ferry to Mull allowed us to still catch the last ferry off Mull to Oban, otherwise he would not be hearing the end of it for the rest of trip... To be fair he thought it required prior booking of the tickets, so thought we had no chance anyway.

Amusing anecdote of the day, this time on John C (as author I filter out any of mine). After owning his iPhone for 2 years, finally finding out how to turn on his camera properly (lesson from John H)

Highlights of the day
John H; sunset over Mull from the Oban Ferry
John C ; seeing 9 herons within a half mile stretch along Loch Moidart
JR; Moidart mountain scenery

Stats of the day
Distance: 75 miles
Average speed: 11.5 (max 35.5)
Total climb: 1814 m
Energy: 4211 cals
John C bananas 2
John H bananas 0
JR bananas 0
(basically we ran out of bananas today ....)