16^th to 20^th May 2010

This bike trip took 25 years to organise.  The first time my 2 old school friends and I have gone on a trip on three separate bikes in the 25 years since passing our bike tests.  So where to go that’s hot and sunny and begins with S?  For reasons that escape me the unlikely choice was Scotland (in particular the west coast).  Craig and I had a 4 day bike tour there in 1985 - Ullapool to Oban via Skye on 2 Superdreams (remember them?).

It’s possible that, being Scots, but having lived in England for over 20 years our memories of the driech, sodden, Caledonian conditions had dulled – or that after a few pints of beer Craig and I thought “No – it couldn’t have rained constantly on that trip 25 years ago”.  And of course it didn’t rain constantly then – there was a whole 5 minutes of remittance when we’d stopped to admire Gruinard Island (then still home to anthrax).  The rest however was streaming hydrogen oxide in biblical proportions.  Anyway, considering the law of averages, Skye would probably be experiencing a drought this time.

Our route - day 1, up to Loch Lomond from John’s home in Lancashire. Day 2, on through the stunning Glencoe to the (very much on the road to nowhere)  Kinlochleven. Over to Tobermoray (if you’ve kids - Balamory) via the Corran and Lochaline ferries. Day 3 - Ardnamurchin Peninsular and on to Malaig (Armadale Ferry) via a painfully slow but very scenic single track road and on to Uig.  Day 4 was leaving Skye and on to Braemar via our old home town of Elgin.  The final day was down the A93 (a magnet for bikes in Scotland) to Perth and on to Craig’s home near Newcastle.

We stayed in Youth Hostels in stunning locations (Loch Lomond, Tobermoray, Uig in Skye and Braemar – you can even  reserve your own “family” room) did 5 ferries of varying size – the coolest was the wee Kyle Rhea to Glenelg community ferry from Skye.

And the weather?  It rained once – for 5 minutes.