The day to dispel the giddiness...
Trip Start
Jul 08, 2008
1
2
16
Trip End
Jul 25, 2008
Tongue,
Scotland,
United Kingdom
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
And then the introduction to cycling in the North of Scotland really began...everyone had been telling us that Cornwal was the reall hilly bit and that Scltland wasn't as hill as we thought
The 1st hill of the 1st day..
. Visions of long flat stretches of road through peat bogs had been going through most of our minds so it was a bit of a shock to find ourselves in granny gears going up crazy inclines and speeding down the other side at 40mph. When we arrived at the first shop in miles (for those who don't know this area of the UK civilization is few and far between with only the odd post office and Spar) and within seconds we all had Irn Bru, Lucozade and ice cream cones coming out of our ears. Energy levels were definetly failing and all sorts of gels, sweets and drinks were being necked; at one point Carl was literally foaming at the mouth after chewing half a packet of lucozade energy sweets in one hit. Unfortunately we were now accompanied by some weirdo who had just been cycling around Iceland, he was interesting for about 35 seconds before boring each of us in succession with cycling tales and advice. The last I saw of him was when he waited at the bottom of a hill waiting to race me (and beat me to the top)..I don't take too easily to that kind of thing so had to destroy him over the next 5 miles and then sit at the side of the road to wave him past when he caught up.We had thought there was a campsite in Tongue so were solely disappointed after 69 miles of cycling up and down mountains to find there was no campsite within 5 miles. A few people looked fondly at the hotel but in the end we set off across the bridge and up the hill to the campsite up on the Kyle of Tongue
The boys were sweating a bit...
. It was killer we didn't need but the night was lovely and the tents were quickly up and we all showered and ready for action. There was a restaurant about a mile away that we all adjourned too for tea. The food was really good even if we did over extend ourselves ordering more onion rings than we knew what to do with. All giddiness was now well and truly gone so after 2 pints each we all slipped off to bed...accompanied by Phil and Carl's tired snoring resonating throughout the campsite...Day 1
Miles 73.8
Average 12.6
Hours on bike 5.5
Max speed 39.8
Total Distance 73.8
