We woke to quite a chilly morning and we all new that this was going to be a hard day - the longest and toughest yet. I set off with the lads at the front and tried to set a good pace to get everyone warmed up. From the profile of the route I knew that the middle of the day's ride was a long climb upwards to join the main road to Ullapool. I had a feeling that some of the smaller girls were going to find the climb quite tough.
We had a nice climb up to Mungasdale with good views of Gruinard Island. Now, I would have expected that we would have a nice run downhill into Dundonnell before our big climb of the day. However, it would seem that the wind had other ideas and it blew relentlessly into our faces as we headed down along the edge of Little Loch Broom. One of the girls had started to complain of chest pains so we let her ride in the van with JD. We kept a close eye on her but we were positive that she was just knackered and struggling to get up the hills.
We had some food at the coach stop in Dundonnell and got everyone prepared for the climb ahead. Considering yesterday had been a tough day, the kids were all in very high spirits and although the wind was a little breezy, the sun was still shining and we had escaped rain so far. Setting off up the hill and into the Dundonnell Forest, we had a near miss with a crazy driver in a camper van. JD, who was following us closely, saw the incident and went after him to give him what for!
Now it was head down and keep on going. The wind didn't help at all but luckily I had a cracking view of An Teallach to take my mind off the pain - and it really was pain...
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| Struggling on...! |
JD drove the van just in front of some of the girls to give them some shelter from the wind. Meanwhile, the lads at the front made short work of the hill and, as a result, had a bit of a wait at Fain Bridge. Eventually, we managed to get the entire group up the hill and everyone had a well deserved sandwich. Today, on Lewis' recommendation, I had made cheese with sandwich spread... interesting! To my delight, and it may just have been because I was starving, it was amazing!
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| An Teallach |
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| Lunch at Fain Bridge |
All now refreshed, we headed off knowing that we had broken the back of the day. Again, we had said to the kids that the next section to the main road was fairly flat a easy going, but again the headwind was awful! I think it's fair to say that we all found this stretch quite hard going - we were tired and our legs were stiff from the hard climb this morning. After a hard slog, we reached the viewpoint just above Strone Wood and had a great vista all the way down into Loch Broom. A little bit further along the road, we made our final stop of the day at Corrieshalloch Gorge to see the impressive Falls of Measach. It was certainly an impressive sight, but I think the kids were just glad to be off the bikes for a wee while!
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| On the road again |
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| Viewpoint above Strone Wood |
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| The vista |
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| Shattered! |
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| Nice! |
After our stroll, we joined the main A835 road and all noticed the sign that read: "Ullapool 10" - only ten to go... and it was actually the best ten miles of the day. With the rolling ups and downs of the road and the wind at our backs boosting us along, we were at the pier in Ullapool in no time at all. I would be telling poky pies if I said I wasn't glad to be finished for the day - that was a tough one for sure. The kids had done a remarkable job of getting through the day and certainly deserved a pad on the back for a job well done.
After checking into the bunkhouse and getting settled in, we treated the kids to fish suppers and an ice cream that evening - very well deserved. I couldn't wait for my bed that night...
Total Distance so far: 126 miles
Route for the day:
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