Up early, first people down for breakfast, good fuel up and out onto the bikes. There was heavy rain when we got up and all through breakfast but once we were on the road to the top of Arran it had cleared up a bit which was very much appreciated!

We knew we had the large(ish) hill on the way round to Lochranza so at least we were prepared for this one! We powered up it and enjoyed the downhill back down the other side that took us most of the way to the ferry. Quick snack before we boarded to boost energy levels and onto the much smaller ferry we went, over to Claonaig where the sun almost popped out to treat us……

……not for long though! We cycled up towards Tarbert on the single lane road, dodging cars and the likes and were unfortunately given a good lashing of rain. It didn’t last though so we pushed on, again refueling at Tarbert in the bay which was lovely before heading up to Lochgilphead where we planned to have lunch for the day.

Lochgilphead arrived, as did the sunshine and a very enjoyable cycle round past all the bays and following the edge of the water. We had our lunch, some toasties if anyone cares! and sat looking out over a very sunny Loch Gilp which was nice. Unfortunately, now being in Scotland, it is as everyone knows all change all the time - the rest of our cycle to Oban was fairly terrible….temperatures dropped and the rain was falling like nothing else consistantly for the remaining 35 miles so we pushed on hard to get there as quick as we could.

As with most of the trip our accomodation for this night was north of the main area so we always have that wee bit more to cycle at the end of each day, in this case it was up to Benderloch where we had arranged to stay with a friend.

So a day of good views, good weather, bad weather and a very happy couple of boys when we arrived at craig’s house!

P.S. this was the second full day I had my contacts out for. I was using my drops as instructed and an eye bath every time to really give them the best chance of healing. I ma glad to say that even by this stage, only a day later they were probably about 70% better than they had been the day before, a welcome change after the 4 or so days I had been struggling for….so not being able to see properly was a small price to pay for the much needed healing time!

Hammy