Mostly ups... and some downs

Day : Four

From Glen Nevis To Tarbet
Distance Travelled: 73 miles
Ave speed: 12.8 mph
Max speed: 32.6 mph
Weather: Sunny intervals and light wind. Getting warmer
Cycling time: 5 hours 40 mins
Total Distance so far: 267 miles

An early start today, off from the Hostel at 8.00am. Apparently the summer has arrived down south, but it hasn’t in Scotland! It rained constantly all night. The only consolation was that it stopped before we set off and it feels a bit warmer.

First stop was Morrisons (where else?) to stock up on our provisions. We have found a routine that works for us and it involves making sure we stop to eat every hour. So we have been carrying lots of food. Shaun is eating a lot of fruit, oat bars and biscuits, and Rob favours malt loaf and apricots!

The first 15 miles were fairly flat down to Ballachulish, which included us breaking through the 200 mile barrier for the trip. We stopped at Glencoe village before facing the mountains of Glen Coe. We were both prowling around the car park like two boxers ready to do battle.

The first climb took us up to 1300ft. We were encouraged on our way by the tourists in their campervans. It felt to us like a mountain stage of le tour. Everything seemed to be going well, and it shows how quickly things can change because BANG – another puncture – guess who? No this time it was Shaun’s back wheel. He couldn’t have picked a worse spot. In the middle of nowhere, and a prime target for hungry midges! A quick repair meant we were on our way again pretty quickly.

After two more big climbs, we were treated to almost 15 miles downhill - fantastic, which saw both Rob and Shaun attempt our own land speed record, (which currently stands at 34mph). Unfortunately, the state of the road and the headwind prevented us improving on this mark, but it will be broken we are sure.

Today was a great ride. It was the furthest that either of us have cycled and over the most testing of routes. We have also now covered a quarter of our journey and we are feeling more confident every day.