Let’s go cycling

6th June, Brodich to Lochranza, 41 km, mixed weather…coats on, off, on, off

An early start to face another enslaught of midges…but we were prepared this time. Everything packed up as much as possible the night before so we just had to don our protective gear and quickly get the tent all packed up. Headed into the town of Brodick to have our brekky muesli on a park bench by the sea, where there were thankfully no midges to be seen!

Then a really lovely ride north around the island- we took the coastal route and apart from a pretty steep uphill to get us going it was a pleasant easy ride.

A bit of a sinking feeling as we rode past a lush creek into the lovely looking campsite at Lochranza. The very friendly receptionist pointed us to a nice peaceful looking spot right by the creek. Hmmm. Thought we’d learnt our lesson there, so we queried the presence of midges. Oh no, she said, we have very few midges here, you’ll be fine…
But she obviously hadn’t camped by the creek recently. Another midge infestation, albeit not quite as bad as the previous night. So again we made sure we were organised for the morning so that we could pack up and go.

7th June, Lochranza to Ardfern 79 km

Another morning, another midge infestation- although we are now getting the hang of the great coverup. I’m still itching from head to toe from the first day’s lack of understanding of midges and their behaviour.

A short little ride to the ferry where we ate our brekky in a bus shelter in the pouring rain…and grabbed a pretty good and very opportunistically pricy coffee from the little place across the road.
Met another couple from Germany who were on a four week cycle tour of Scotland so compared notes and gear, and again leap frogged in the rain for a while until we turned off at Tarbet to check out the town.

8-9 June, Ardfern to nowhere!
Some lovely family time with Neil’s parents in Ardfern. And their brilliantly warm home that could definitely teach us all a thing or two in Oz. No heating needed despite the chilly temperatures

Not to mention a real bed, and no midges!!!

10th June, Ardfern to Oban, 40km

A 2 cup of coffee kinda morning then ciao to the Fullers and off we go again.  Complete with a full set of clean clothes (yeah…its the small things…) and a very full belly.

And, Oban’s pretty nice! Perfect spot to spend an afternoon, wandering around and admiring the endless islands.

And eating.