I slept really well during the night of my first wild camp,
and awoke to another lovely day, although windy too. I ate porridge for
breakfast and was soon ready to depart by about 9am.
The views along Loch Gleann Dubh towards Loch Beag were
utterly stunning – completely remote and unspoilt – or so they looked. Just a
few hundred metres down the road I had to stop to allow a flock of sheep to
pass – shepherded by a farmer in a 4x4 and a couple of collies nipping at the sheep’s
heels – something I’d never seen before in real life.
The road began to rise quite steeply up towards a more
barren landscape of big peaks and open land as I moved inland. The photos I
took really don’t do justice to the gradients I cycled up that day; I needed
regular stops to get my breath back, and to allow my heart rate to return to
normal. It was a struggle at times to remember to keep myself hydrated properly
too, as the views were often amazing. Thankfully, and completely unexpectedly,
drivers coming down the mountain pass towards me offered encouragement by
giving me the thumbs up and waving enthusiastically – it doesn’t sound like
much, but at times of struggle up a steep road, with loads of hairpins to
contend with, the kindness of strangers can make a real difference! With the
final hairpin bend in sight, the wind rose dramatically as it raced across the
mountain pass, to the extent that it cooled me enough to need my coat on. Coming
down the other side of the mountain on a long and straight descent nipped me to
the core, which was often the way, as I would toil up a road to come whizzing
down the other side, losing all of the height I had laboured up – it was always
fun, but at times there was a sense of really not wanting to lose too much height,
especially if the evening was drawing closer and I knew there were more big
climbs to come!
After the mountain pass and straight but long descent I came
to Loch Assynt and the village of Inchnadamph, the place where I had meant to
reach the following day. It took me most of the morning to toil over the
mountain, and I was glad that I had made the decision to stop early the
previous night – I wouldn’t have been able to manage the mountain pass the
previous night, as I was far too tired, but even discounting that, I wouldn’t
have wanted to miss the amazing views I’d seen that morning, saying nothing of
the safety aspect of cycling well into the dark!
Aside from a hotel at Inchnadamph there was absolutely
nothing in the area, in terms of facilities, besides an interesting tourist
information board – apparently the area surrounding Inchnadamph was one of the
early areas explored by geologists, and used to further their new science. I
found the tourist info boards throughout Scotland to be really interesting and
something they seem to actually invest time and effort into producing – I
suppose that in sparsely populated areas tourism gains in importance…
I still had lots of miles to cover between Inchnadamph and
Bunchrew, near Inverness, so had to press on. The sun disappeared behind some
clouds as I headed further inland and east towards Bonar Bridge, along Loch
Borralan. The road narrowed again, with passing places to allow traffic to pass
by – I started to find that cars often wouldn’t wait for me to pass and would
just press on, sometimes a little close to comfort!
I reached Bonar Bridge at about 15:30, thinking I didn’t
have too far to go I decided to take a break and have some food. Unfortunately
I was informed by the assistant in the Spar shop that my destination was about
50 miles away – not good news, and that the best way to get there was up a
steep mountain road, more bad news! The road was indeed steep and half way up
the clouds descended, reducing visibility to almost nothing – not good news,
especially as the road I was cycling along was something of a shortcut for rush
hour commuters. I considered stopping, but decided that I had best just push
on. I was glad I carried on as once the road started heading downhill again the
sun came out again, lovely. The road descended for about five or six gentle
miles, all the way down to the east coast where I was able to see the oil rigs
up at Invergordon on the Cromarty Firth.
The last miles to Bunchrew were mostly flat – along to
Dingwall, and then on towards Conor Bridge and Muir of Ord. I got tasty fish
and chips at Conor Bridge, believing that I was close to the finish; however I
still had about twenty miles to go, and had to finish the cycle in the dark,
arriving at the campsite after 21:30. It had been a bit unnerving cycling along
busy but dark, unlit roads; I think that the reflective strips built into my
panniers made a real difference as motorist really slowed down behind me and
those coming towards me dipped their main beam well before they could have seen
the little flashing beam of light from my handlebars! I did however decide that
it was probably time to invest in some more powerful batteries before facing
the same situation again!
The campsite seemed fine though, and I was soon set up and
safely snuggled up in my sleeping bag, and then snoring, no doubt!
No comments:
Post a Comment