Me: so how much preparation did you manage to get in for this week?
Mum: umm. About 3.5km. Oh and Eddy and I did that 15 miles ride about a month ago....
Me: Mum!
So, we decided to see how it went and then make a decision, as the first few miles were the same anyway.
Saying goodbye and Thank you to Yvonne and Dex our first stop was the garage to see if they had an automated air pump to put some air in mums tyre as I had noticed the day before it was a bit low. No automated pump, but as we were looking at it a man who worked in the garage happened to drive up and park next to us and was kind enough to bring out a foot pump. The tyre was soon sorted and we were in our way.
Once over the bridge we followed the main road towards Broadford for the first few miles. Most of the drivers were great and gave us a wide berth when passing, but occasionally we felt they were a little on the close side. We did stop periodically to let traffic pass us by as well.
The scenery here was beautiful. It varied from wild flowers along the roadside, to trees, to wide open spaces with fantastic views over the water to Scalpay and what I think was Beinn na Caillich looming far ahead of us in the distance. Most of the pictures are on my action cam so will be uploaded when we get home!
The road here was wide and smooth going. Very slight gradients up and down, but nothing too strenuous at this stage. We reached our turn off to the South around 7 miles in after about 45 minutes. Hoping that this road would be slightly quieter we headed off. Sure enough there was slightly less traffic but what went by was still fairly fast, and the gradients were getting a little bit steeper. Mostly longer slower climbs than anything really steep though. I didn't find it too bad but it's fair to say mum started to struggle a bit.
Soon after the turnoff we stopped in a layby for a quick snack, and I spotted a path that seemed to run alongside the road. While we were wondering whether it rejoined the road, some folk were walking along back to their car parked in front of us so we asked if they knew. They didn't, but said there was a map on the gate. We checked it out and it seemed we were right. We had a lovely mile or so of completely traffic free riding through natural boglands. We think this was part of the old road as we passed a new bridge on the main road dated 1999. If so it is amazing how much nature has taken back in just under 20 years!
We were soon back on the main road before finding another stretch of old road. Unfortunately this came to an end all to soon, and we were on the main road again. For the most part this was fine - the road is wide and well maintained and again most drivers gave us a wide berth, but twice drivers honked at us and passed by very close. In both instances there was good visibility of the road ahead and no oncoming traffic, so there was really no need for their behaviour.
For anyone who doesn't cycle but drives, imagine driving a small car, and having a huge lorry or hgv coming up behind you, blaring their horn and then passing within a foot and a half or so of your car at 4 or 5 times your speed and you may have an inkling if how this feels! However, no major harm done, and after passing Duisdale, we decided to find a spot for lunch.
Spotting another road that looked like it followed the main road we decided to take it and found a nice spot quiet spot on a little hillock. We feasted on smoked cheese and tomato poppy seed rolls and some cherries prepared at Yvonnes that morning. Delicious! Back on the small road we discovered it didn't lead anywhere, and had to backtrack a little to the main road again.
We had discussed our route options during lunch as the turnoff for the long route would be coming up fairly soon. We decided to wait til the turn and then make a decision. As well as being longer we thought that route would be slightly quieter, but i knew from the elevation map that it was also quite a bit hillier.
The lead up to the turnoff was a fairly gentle but long gradient and when it came to it we decided to stick to the shorter route along the coast in the end. This suited mum better, and also meant that we would have a good chance of making a Gaelic taster session being held at Ostaig Mor Sabhail the Gaelic language school in Sleat.
As the road followed the coast every so often the view opened out on beautiful scenes of rocky beaches and promontiries leading into the crystal clear waters of Loch Hourn as it meets the North Sea.
When we got to the gaelic school, it was only ourselves and 2 other ladies who were there for a fiddle course in the class, in their own words skiving off a practice session on the cello to learn a little about the language.
The tutor was really good, and told us a little about the language and culture as well as some basic Gaelic phrases. Turns out that Gaelic was brought to Scotland in the 6th century, and was actually spoken all over Scotland from the 14th to the 18th century, with only a small part of Caithness and East Lothian where it wasn't the main language, rather than only the West coast and islands as most people believe.
The class finished just after 4 and we were soon on our way again for the last couple of miles. Shortly after we paused at Armadale Castle, and had a quick look in the gift shop. We considered going in, but would only have had about 45 minutes to look around, so regretfully we decided to leave it this time round.
Soon after we were pulling up at Hazelwood bnb and saying hello to Elaine and Malc who are our hosts for tonight. They are a lovely couple and have a beautiful place. We decided to settle in and had a hot chocolate and relaxed for a bit before heading to the Ardvasar Hotel for dinner - pretty much the only option!
While eating, we found out that the musicians from the Gaelic school had a ceilidh planned in the next door community hall this evening. While mum and I both enjoy a good ceilidh, we decided to bypass it this time as we would need to be up early. However, some of them would also playing in the bar so we decided to take a walk and maybe come back in a bit for some music. Heading up a small hill we got seperated, and I had a lovely walk along to the ferry port, while mum stayed nearer the yacht moorings and called Eddy on the phone. Walking back I could see the musicians were arriving en masse, and before long we were settled back in the pub for an hour or so of live fiddle music and a soft drink - alcoholic ones being likely to lead to more and a late night instead of the planned walk back to the bnb at a reasonable hour...
All in all a pretty relaxed days cycling, and a lovely evening to finish off! It's not the speed or distance that counts, it's how much you enjoy it. :)
Oidhche mhath all...
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