To Arran / On the Road Again

The Isle of Arran has been tempting us for two months. So even though it took us way out of the way, and probably added two days to our journey, we decided to cycle a part of it on our way east. We rode the now very familiar route over to Portavadie, stopping to say goodbye to Sophie at The Barn at Millcroft. Then the ferry which we had now traveled on a number of times, and the ride from Tarbert to Kennacraig, where we'd taken the ferry to Islay. Twice.

No round trip tickets for us anymore.



After Kennacraig we didn't know what to expect, which is part of what is fun and exciting about touring. Sure, it was five miles to another ferry. But what kind of hill(s)? We don't exactly use survey maps. And we didn't have a map at all, in fact.

And those five miles turned out to be a little tough. The Scottish roads don't wind slowly up hills - they go straight up. Then again, they often go straight down, too, and we rolled up to the Cloanaig ferry with a few minutes to spare.

On Arran, the town of Lochranza has both a castle and a distillery.






























Joshua visited the prison. A dark space in a now ceiling-less castle.













And there are many deer. This one we had to slow down for as it was hanging out in the road.














The detour to Arran was well worth it. The island is just beautiful, the distillery makes a selection of very lovely, slightly briny Scotches. Our favorite was the one aged in a Sauterne cask. Yummmm. Also, the Robert Burns.

Then to some more climbing.













Perhaps you can see the line of the road in the distance? This was a slow meandering climb. With vast, green vistas. Complimented by a long descent on the other side.


























We went off that way...














And the rest of the way was along the east coast of Arran, mostly green and lush with some small towns. This is looking back towards the mainland, where we can almost make out Tighnabruaich again.

In Broddick we had a meal, and possibly one of the best meals we had in Scotland, at A Plate of Arran. Joshua had the kid curry and I had an amazing pumpkin risotto with a poached egg on top. Dessert was a chocolate something gooey with pistachios and a scoop of pistachio ice cream. Wow. Truly fine dining. Oh, and fine drinking, too.


























For our third ferry of the day, we joined the many drunken hooligans on their way back to Ardrossan. A sign of things to come, unfortunately.

- rolling post

Days Before Departure

Coming back from the Spar on Tuesday afternoon, we saw a car pull out of a parking space in front of the shop. The driver had left a large black dry bag leaning on the rear bumper of the car. We shouted a bit (not too loudly because Tighnabruaich was relatively crowded with sedate tourists milling about and we did not want to make a scene) and waved our arms to get his attention to no avail. We fetched the bag from the street and found that it was filled with beer. Whoops. He was heading toward the boatyard, meaning that he was probably on a sailboat. The road to the boatyard has no exit so we decided to leave the bag on the sidewalk in front of the Spar and walk back to Rockbank, keeping an eye out for him. If we did not see him, we would hop on our bicycles and catch him at the boatyard. I brought the groceries upstairs and Ramona waited at the street to watch for the man to return. Seeing that he did not, we grabbed our bikes and headed to the boatyard, a 5 minute bike ride. Upon arriving, I saw our man in a dingy rowing to his boat. I hurried down the boat landing and hollered in my loudest shepherd voice, "You forgot your dry bag at the spar!". He reluctantly turned around and rowed the 300 yards back to the landing. He had not understood what I had said and he looked exceedingly annoyed that some bloke was yelling at him across the water. When he was within civil speaking distance I repeated myself and his scowl melted to a grin of supreme gratitude. His name was Rory. He wanted to buy us a beer. We'd saved his ballast! He hurried to his car and back to the Spar. We declined his offer of a beer satisfied that we had done a good deed - always wise before the start of a trip.

Wednesday was another day of waiting for Apple to approve the BikeCount app. Thomas and I had sent our latest appeal to their request for more details about why the app required location services. So with nothing left to do but goof off, Ramona and I decided to go to the Kames Hotel for lunch. We arrived there around 13:00 and ordered beer and nachos. We had a nice chat about Sail 2011 with this year's Greenock liason to the Norwegian tall ship Christian Radich. Then another beer and a talk with Wilma (a candidate to replace Ramona at Wellpark) and her friend Lee. And another beer and who should walk in, but our new best mate Rory and his two crew members. What followed was many many beers and single malts. They would buy a round and we would return the favor. Sometime around 16:00 I received a confirmation from Apple that BikeCount was approved, which was cause enough for a celebration. More beer and single malts. On and on until around 18:00. The crew of the Catalinia and we stumbled out of the Kames completely pissed. Them to their dingy and out the boat and us to our bicycles for the blessedly short ride home. We watched them drift away from shore for many minutes as they struggled to start the engine of the dingy, all of us laughing. We made it home and watched from the window as they motored their sailboat back to their mooring up the Kyle at the Tighnabruaich boatyard. After which I passed out until 2:00 when I woke up drunk and the beginnings of a fantastic hangover. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.

On Thursday we said our goodbyes, finished our packing, and nursed our hangovers. All that was left to do was to walk our three boxes of non-tour essential possessions to the post-office and mail them ahead to Switzerland. Friday morning was rainy and, more to the point, windy. It was a force 6 or 7 gale and the Kyle was choppy. After a lot of back and forth about whether to brave the elements or spend a quiet day indoors we opted for the later. My feeling was that we would find wind and rain enough on our bike east across Scotland to counter any claims that we were fair weather cyclists.














Saturday was breezy, but in the right direction. It was drizzling, but not raining. So we were off. We were at the post-office at 9:00 to mail the packages. Each box weighed something like 6 kg and for the two without the computer the cost was about 100US$ to ship. The box with the computer cost something like 300$US to send because we wanted extra insurance which was only available through expedited service. Oh well. We hope it will arrive. Then we are off!

So What's Next?

We're going on the road again. Oh. Yeah.

As soon as Joshua's app gets approval from the iTunes store, we will pack the 'puter in a box, ship some stuff to Switzerland, load up, and ride out. It's been really fun to spend some time here. Being in one place allows for making of friends, learning of lingo, and exploring. It feels like we've learned the moods of the view.

Now we're thinking we'll do this:


View Tighnabruaich to Edinburgh to Newcastle by bike in a larger map


Not sure which way around after Edinburgh. Not sure if we'll make it to Arran, depending on what day we leave here. Could be we go there for a day trip if we're still waiting. Maybe tomorrow? Who knows? But once we get the email, it'll be us leaving within 24-48hrs. We are that ready.

At Newcastle we get to visit Budge. He might even come meet up with us and ride for a day or two as we approach Newcastle. And then the ferry to Amsterdam, probably on the 20th or 21st of June. Yes, Amsterdam. To see Paul & Marieke. And Amsterdam.

We're looking forward to seeing Den Haag for the first time, and visiting the folks who are Travelling Two, one of our favorite bicycle touring websites. Route will be along the North Sea Route, something like this:


View Amsterdam to... in a larger map


Although maybe we'll continue into France instead of Luxembourg to Germany. No decisions yet, just a rough idea. Maybe with some advice and ideas we'll change paths a few times. Eventually to Zurich, again. And Greece. Back to Zurich. Into Italy...

Riding around the Point

When we first arrived in Tighnabruaich we went for a little ride, to see how far the road went down the Cowal Peninsula. We found it went in a loop, and we did that. Very nice. We saw lots of lambs who were freshly hatched from easter eggs, and many, many daffodils.

Two months later the lambs are running around, some fields now host cows instead of sheep, and a farmer moves a flock of sheep.

As we approached a curve in the road, we saw that three sheep had been left behind. A mama and her twins. Well, one twin had a bad leg. When we got close, they all got up and started down the road again. Gimpy was clearly struggling. It hopped along for a little bit, and then went to the grass at the edge of the road to rest. I stayed there, while Joshua went ahead to see if he could see the farmer. The road is small and there aren't exactly any junctions. Clearly, a flock of sheep had recently been moving in the same direction as us (sheep poop everywhere). So Joshua came back, grabbed the lamb, and rode it down the road.

This is the pasture they were headed for

Good day for a ride! At least on our peninsula. Above you can see the Isle of Arran getting pummeled by rain. It may look like a smoking volcano, but it's just catching clouds with it's high peaks. Whoops.

This kinda sums up our time here. Sheep, sailboats, lots of water, crazy clouds and unpredictable weather. Rock, gannets circling and diving, green green pastures. We like it here.

We had seen this beach from above before, so we decided to check it out. It is a local destination of some fame. I am learning to better use the camera.

No cars are allowed on the road out to the beach, and it's a bit of a walk. So we did a little 'froadin. I left the camera dangling from my handlebars and on, so I could take photos at a moments notice. Of the road.

And it took a bunch of photos all by itself. Below is one of the better ones.

The road went paved again, which was nice, and then we turned onto a muddy path that petered out into a field.

A bog? A fen? Anyway, we took it very slowly and didn't crash into any mud.

Zee beach! Made it. Someone had a huge kite. A group was doing team building exercises. Otherwise this vast expanse was fairly empty. Clams. Shells. Lots of sand squirts from razor clams.

Joshua got a new handlebar bag

As we were leaving, I noticed a bit of trash and stopped to pick it up. Apparently tobacco companies here don't completely own governmental representatives.

no sh*t!?

This kind of warning doesn't actually affect smokers, I'm told. Too abstract.

What a lovely day out. While we were gone, it had hailed in Tighnabruaich. Four seasons in a day - sometimes in a couple of hours. That's the west coast of Scotland.

Jura, 2 nights

View Jura for 2 nights in a larger map

So we thought we'd try to go to Islay again. Off we go - first big climb to get over to Portavadie, looks like this from the top:

 Ferry ride, more bike, another ferry, and we were back on Islay. We decided we'd take it easier this time, not try to beat the wind, but instead just go to the distillery closest to the ferry, eat some food, and wild camp somewhere near. Turns out there was no food. But Caol Ila (Cull Eela) is a very nice whiskey. They have this great view, too...

See how we are at water level? Well, that took some effort. The ferry is at water level, too. But the road goes up up up, around, and then down down down down to Caol Ila. Disappointed about the lack of a cafe, and knowing the wind would be with us, we decided to go to Jura instead. The Paps beckoned.

Joshua contemplates rowing across

And it was immediately stunning. Off the small ferry, the road turns right. There is just the one road on Jura. It follows the coast south and the turns inland a bit. We climbed a soft grade for a while. Meanwhile on either side, somewhat barren. Although it turns out there's water just everywhere. Hidden streams pour into the culverts on either side of the road.

Not sure what the camera was focused on here...

The weather was working out well. Wind in our favor and kinda sunny. The road rolls up and down all the way to Craighouse, about 8 miles. Most of way there are no trees, it is totally quiet except for the wind. One of my favorite rides ever. 

And in Craighouse, there is the one Jura Distillery, and the hotel. There's a cafe, meeting hall/community space, tiny Spar (maybe even smaller than the one in Tighnabruaich), and homes. The campsite is run by the hotel, and they ask a donation to help maintain the field. Bathrooms and showers in the back. Cue the choir.

(l-r) hotel, distillery (foreground) campsite

Our neighbors we'd met on the ferry, a small family carrying a 2.5 yr old on the front child seat and one parent carrying all the gear in a trailer. Camping for about a week. They were there for the Jura Fell Race, which sounds like something out of World of Warcraft. It's a 12 mile run that goes up and down five very steep mountains, including the three Paps. Apparently the winners do it in a little over 3 hours. Anyone participating is a winner in my book.

Our tent. Bikes to keep people (us) from tripping over the fly lines.

Again, choirs. Lots of good light, not that the camera can handle it.

The next morning we decided to go to the distillery. Taste, we did. Buy, we did. Oh, and we bought a couple bottles at Caol Ila, too. Brought them all back to Tighnabruaich. Clearly, we are seasoned bicycle tourists. 

My favorite flavor is called Superstition. Also amazing is the Diurach's Own 16yr. Whoa. 

We spent the rest of the day walking through town, having lunch at the cafe, and then the afternoon in the hotel bar dining area. Good view, nice scotch, reading books. Wow - two nights in one place!? It rained and the wind blew and we hoped for better weather in the morning.

We got it. It rained all night. But towards morning it started to lighten, and just as we were ready to leave the tent, waterproofs on, everything put away, it stopped raining altogether. We rode back along the beautiful road, saw many, many Jura deer and even heard, then saw, an Eagle. Rare. Also, the copse of trees we'd been stunned by on the way in was as stunning on the way out.

We got a pretty good wind from the north, hitting us on our right sides as we climbed the last of the uphills. Then we turned north and battled through the last two miles towards the ferry. But we made it. And made it back to Tighnabruaich; this has been home for two months. We leave very, very soon.