The Long Road to Ullapool

I'd mentioned to Rob on the cycle tour that I had an interesting 75 mile mt bike route lined up for the following week. But when we got home after that trip after drying out I went for the book I'd seen it in and discovered that it was not 75 miles but 75km.

this GPS thing is good!

Really not a big deal, but as well as wanting to ride this route I thought it would of been just the right challenge if it had been in miles..

Old croft

The route starts from Black Bridge on the A835 and ends in Ullapool. Google research and the book suggested an Inverness coach company offered bike transport for the return, but ultimately that wasn't the case...

I bought a Garmin GPS ages ago, mainly because it's required for the Offroad Finnmark race, and hadn't really used it, but having found a file online for this particular route I loaded it on to test out the technology (that I seem to be the last person using).

Setting off reasonably early, immediately it was great having the GPS route showing me the way and not having to get maps out at every estate track junction as I headed North gently gaining height towards Loch Vaich.

I passed some interesting croft ruins before entering the Alladale Estate where everything seemed a lot more managed. When I say managed I don't mean in a bad way as there were masses of new tree's planted and I know to an extent the estate are 'rewilding' wanting to reintroduce wolfs..

My next stop was the Church at Croick and I had another look at the East window were people evicted from the Glencalvie area during the Highland Clearances had scratched words, names and dates into the glass. Very thought provoking and tragic.

old school house bothy

From here the track, although not technical got a little wilder and was really nice and interesting as again I went over another watershed before dropping to Duag Bridge and the (old) school house bothy. I decided to have some food and a 10 minute break here as energy levels were low. I think this was at approx 47km.

lesson time

I met an interesting American 'hiker' in the bothy who was walking the Cape Wrath Trail, he talked about how much hiking he has done, before saying he wouldn't recommend this trail to anyone! I wasn't convinced that his paper thin and shredded waterproofs were totally the right decision for this trail, allegedly the toughest (at least boggiest) walk in the UK. He sounded pretty miserable as he has been wet with not great weather for days. I didn't cheer him by informing him that Sat and Sunday were very wet - but I couldn't lie!

where have my legs gone..

I think I had misjudged my food intake and that partly accounted for the empty legs and I really struggled on the next section to the Knockdamph bothy were I had another sneaky (from myself) rest!  Pretty good bothy... From here as I'd eaten back at the school house my energy levels came back - phew.

luxury bothy room !

I saw more Cape Wrathers on the next section, seemingly better equipped than the American with more substantial waterproofs!

wee rest - don't tell anyone

As the trail dropped to Glen Achall and the Rhidorroch estate I felt a little empty again and the persistent strong head wind had been with me for the last 2 - 3 hours started to bug me.. Passing the Ullapool quarry that I didn't know existed I rolled into Ullapool and went straight to the Sea Food Shack for food - which was very good.

mmm food

So the bus hasn't been running for a few years despite the timetable still being online so I got a taxi back to my van having a great blether with Mrs Ewen on the drive back! A great day, but I'm not totally happy with my fitness and worry about how I will make twice this distance in a single 'sitting'.. Guess I have 2 months left at least!

Ullapool

footnote - putting my woes into perspective, yesterday the Highland Trail 550 (miles) race started.. I know a couple from Kendal in it, and it's incredible to think that they will eat up 550 miles and I'm worried about 150km/90 miles!

footnote 2 - It's just struck me that the thing I enjoy most about cycling is the journey, exploring and taking pictures to try and capture the essence of it without rushing through too much.. so this race in Norway is going to be difficult because I really want to take my camera and a small tripod on it.. but know I can't.. what am I doing!?

Pie dealers to Pipers

Just back from 3 days cycle touring with Abi, Janet and Rob. We have been on a few cycling trips together over the years including the sustrans route from Newcastle to Edinburgh, which they call the Coast and Castles route. This is on the national cycle route number 1, which is part on the North Sea cycle route, or EuroVelo 12... Confused?! Basically it's a 6000 km signed cycle route around the North Sea.

Very green rolling countryside in Banffshire

We decided to do another section of it and originally wanted to continue from where we finished last time at Edinburgh and go through to Aberdeen (roughly 180 miles I think), but we had issues trying to book bikes on trains so ended up skipping this section at the moment and cycling the next section - Aberdeen to Inverness.

This was quite appealing on paper given the fact that we would literally finish at home, but none of us knew what to expect from the actual cycling as it doesn't get much press. We ended up with a mileage count of 155 miles over the 3 days.

Near Banff

Now might be a good time to describe how we travel as a pack... slow and heavy! This isn't a complaint, but we use B&B's (so middle class, but nice!) and it always seems to take the whole day to do our normal (approx) 50 miles a day. And I'm not sure if the others are the same but I have 2 panniers full of stuff that I generally don't use.

Portsoy

Clearly we are quite modestly slow, but by not rushing we get to see lots, stop when we want, and have cafe breaks! It just works!

Day 1 - Arriving in Aberdeen we found a slightly strange cafe for 2nd breakfast. It was like a Gregs, or a cake/pastie shop, with 4 or 5 older women defending the counter between fag breaks. It sold all sorts, including lots and lots of pies. The (overly) efficient staff pressured me into an egg and bacon roll whilst the others bided their time over their choice. Early nerves tempted us to buy pies for the road, not knowing what was out there... but we stayed strong and left just full of eggs..

Turriff, a nice small town with a cow

Once on the outskirts of Aberdeen we hit an old railway line and stayed on this for hours, nice, easy carefree cycling in the sunshine. We just made it to the cafe at Maud for a late lunch at 3pm before it closed at 3.30pm. It's important to point out that after savoury Rob had the biggest piece of cake I have ever seen.

Cullen - another great seaside spot

By the time we left the old railway line and Maud we were really happy to be back on the roads and have some variety from flat straight lines. The roads to Turriff and our first nights stay were some of the best road cycling I can think of. Rolling hills, beautiful scenery and no cars.

On-route to Buckie

I was almost sad to finish the day.. but it was nice to get a shower and food in a pub/come grill. Amazingly Callum (who I have started some filming with and met on a photography course) was staying in the same B&B as we works out East as an Eco Consultant for a big power line project - small world.

Day 2 - After a leisurely breakfast we headed North on even more beautiful lanes following a river system to the Moray Coast and we popped out at Banff. It was here that the ice cream troubles started.. People at work had said that Cullen's ice cream was the best, but Abi's friend had informed her that Portsoy's was even better.. Loitering outside the public toilets an old man wandered past in a well worn black leather jacket and said that Cullen's was superior... it was now 2:1 to Cullen.

Spey Bay

A beautiful section of cycling ensued along the coast. The sun was out and spirits were high. I was even considering a dip in the sea. Portsoy like everywhere else here was stunning, but there wasn't much in the village and after a brief stop we skipped through without lunch or ice-cream, something that would haunt us (?forever).

Spey Bay

Rolling into Cullen we had a great late lunch (again) in a cafe and I completed a lifelong dream by having Cullen Skink in Cullen! So we were in the village famous for it's ice cream, but all too full to have any, so we had the bright idea of pushing on through to Spey Bay for ice cream.

We arrived at Spey Bay (where the river Spey joins the sea) and the Dolphin Centre (there's not much else here) just as it was closing and a slightly unhelpful member of staff told us it was just closing so no ice cream.. This was all quite upsetting as you can imagine so after watching the sea and chomping bars we continued heading to Elgin.

Buckie - picture for work mate who comes from here

Elgin was pretty fun, with generally great cycle ways and we ended up in a posh B&B. In the evening we tried the Turkish restaurant, which was very good for the soul (lots of Aubergine and cheese), but the Turkish coffee that Abi and I had at 10pm was a complete disaster and meant an unsettled night on a caffeine trip..

Day 3 - Another day, another cooked breakfast for me! Today was a shock to the system as it was raining in the morning and continued all day. I didn't take any outside pictures on this day. The cycling was nice, again lots of quiet roads, probably particularly scenic around Cawdor and near Culloden Moor, and we did have a nice long lunch stop at Brodie Country Fair but my battle today was keeping warm enough as after a few hours I was pretty wet everywhere.

Sheltering from the rain on day 3.. pleased with lunch

The last couple of hours for me at least was pretty miserable as I was really cold by the end and struggling to generate enough heat given the slow pace. Finally we made the outskirts of Inverness home of the Highland pipers and headed for the Kessock Bridge and the finish.

It was great arriving home, and as soon as we dropped down into North Kessock we were sheltered from the weather. I immediately lit the fire as someone got the kettle on and we eat cake, drank tea and put on dry clothes. Happy to finish, but another great cycle trip with the gang.

footnote - at the pub later in the evening the talk of the Edinburgh to Aberdeen section gathered pace... tbc

footnote 2 - as you can see I didn't take many photo's on this trip! I just enjoyed the ride!

Skye Odyssey

One day to play with, and possibly one last chance for Loz to climb for a while as baby Monckton is due very soon. Therefore it seemed fitting to make the most of the day and head to Skye.

Elgol - what a view

I have only been to Skye once many years ago, and it rained on the drive up, rained for the the day and night there and the forecast was for rain for the next week so we bailed back to England and I've never been back!

Friendly abseil

Heading over it was a nice sunny day and I was blown away by the views of everything really. The Cuillin did look magnificent and I started to think why haven't I been here in the last 3 years living in Scotland!?

Me following HairyMary I think

We headed to the scenic Elgol, again what a beautiful spot watching the boat trips and whale spotting.  After a quick coffee at the pickup truck we headed off round the coast to Suidhe Biorach. Wow, wow, wow!

The phew top hold after the crux on Angel of Sharkness

Jamie Jampot the great VS - also the abseil point

A friendly abseil saw us on a lovely sun trap ledge above a calm sea. Jelly fish were floating around as we started our campaign on the climbs. The hard sandstone was incredible to climb and we did 4 fine routes, most of which looked improbable or very hard, but generally weren't. Angel of Sharkness (HVS) was cool, steep with big holds until the crux at the very top, and Hairy Mary looked a crazy line for VS, but was actually easy climbing, just fairly exposed.

Me looking down Hairy Mary thinking never VS

Loz climbing it

A fine day that I will certainly remember for a long time, I must get back to Skye for more adventures soon its amazing!

Back into the training..

I'm finally (again) starting to commit to the training for my mountain bike race in Norway this summer. An ankle injury stopped me cycling for a few weeks and then I got distracted by climbing and the new house, but the realisation has dawned that if I want to complete the race I need to train!

snow on the tops

I did a 60km route in the Cairngorms today. I love the biking here and even explored a few new tracks at Abernethy which included a river crossing before heading over the Ryvoan Pass. The biking is easy with great fast rolling tracks just the tonic today getting some miles in.

I wasn't going to take any pictures today but as a fun thing happened I thought it worth a blog entry.. Shooting out of the forest at one point I came across a JCB with the doors open.. I was soon joined by a really friendly guy who said he'd just bought it second hand (I think it was fairly new). He was really chuffed with it saying that he'd wanted one his whole adult life. He then offered me a go, moving the bucket around - great fun! This doesn't happen everyday on a ride and I grinned all the way back to Aviemore.

Back home - busy at North Kessock