This was the Scotland that I so vividly remember !
Wild remote scenery, lashing rain, strong cold winds and a sound i hadn't heard for at least a few days ... " Fckg piece of shit" said Henley as he nearly face planted after once again snagging his wet weather jacket on his seat when dismounting !
We were reluctant to leave our lovely self contained Bothy this morning although I must admit nocturnal visits to the toilet had a significant risk factor with its near vertical steps !
On the road we knew we were going to get hit by rain it was just a matter of when !
We didn't have to wait long as we climbed to exit Poolewe harbour and down she came staying with us for most of a soaking day.
Our wild and remote landscape matched the gloomy conditions as we made our way to remote Dundonnel for a soup warming lunch. Here we shared brief company with a group of cyclists from the Wilderness Scotland cycling company. We'd been bumping into the guides from this company for the last couple of days and they'd been exceedingly helpful in offering assistance if we needed. H took them up on their offer just prior to Dundonnel stealing a couple of chocolate bars after we'd found Poolewe's shop closed this morning.
Slightly drier than when we arrived we launched from Dundonnel straight back into the rain on a never ending climb that made its way along a huge gorge before finishing on a wild and open plateau.
Surviving the strong cross winds on the plateau we descended at speed (50kms /hr with both brakes on for me!) for a good 5kms before joining on to the main A road for a 20km soaking journey into Ullapool.
I raced into Ullapool to get off the A road and then waited for the bedraggled wet and truly buggered mess (H) that followed.
Before he could complain too much I had teed up a couple of coffees while H parked his bike abandoned style right next to the cafes entrance ("I don't give a F%ck was something like H's reply" !)
Coffees downed we both started to come back to life as we killed an hour before we could check into our Air BnB. Here we promptly hung up all our wet weather gear albeit a bit hard with no hangers and no cupboard !
The beauty of cycle touring is that we get to do it all over again tomorrow with similar conditions expected with a top temperature of just 11C! !
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doing well guys, great photos but glad its you out there and not me.
ReplyDeleteSeems like we are having similar weather atm cold wet and windy.
Remind me never to visit Scotland in their winter !