Today was always going to be a long day. We left our hosts for 3 of the last 4 nights, John & Suse Coon of Whitehouse, Kintyre, just after 8 am. Their daughter and son-in-law, Emily and Richard, had arrived the night before, with Richard asking us for advice on his forthcoming Land's End to John o'Groats cycle. I hope we were helpful! Today they were all doing the Gigha Challenge, an 11 mile walk, jog or cycle, take your pick - on an island we visited earlier in the week.
Meanwhile we had nearly 90 miles to do, and the most we'd done before this week was 50. Riding 90 miles on a tourer fully laden with panniers is not the same as the same mileage on a light road bike! However, we'd soon done 20 miles so stopped for a brew and scone in Ardrishaig, after which we made a small detour to follow the Crinan Canal, which was idyllic.
Was that rain we felt for the first time this week? No. It was snow! But only the lightest of light showers (when the sun went in it was perishingly cold). There are a few long climbs on the Lochgilphead to Oban road but the only thing you can do is get your head down.
By early afternoon we had turned off on to the road to Seil Island, and seeing the steep hill sign asked ourselves why we would take 15kg of panniers on a 20 mile round trip. So we left them in a disused telephone box, hoping that no one would pinch them. It didn't occur to me until later on that someone might report them to the anti-terrorist police. I decided that if we encountered a horde of police cars on the way back we'd just cycle on as if we knew nothing about it!
The Bridge over the Atlantic on to Seil Island is very impressive, and soon there we were on island no 8, which I guess is a popular place for retired folk. It's one of the slate islands, and a look at the rocks tells you why. We cycled for another 6 miles down the island and took the side road signposted 'Easdale'.
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