Leg 5, Day 4; Mallaig to Stornaway

 

It is with great relief (and exhaustion)  that I write this post from the Caledonian MacBrayne Ferry from Ullapool to Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides, with a well deserved pint in hand...

Having covered close to 170km today, the majority of which was in strong wind, heavy rain and across hilly terrain, we are both feeling totally exhausted and can barely walk!

We were unable to hit the road early today, as the first ferry from Mallaig was not until 8.15am, yet we needed to cover close to 170km of hilly terrain to reach Ullapool by 4.30pm, to catch the only ferry of the week to Stornoway... This put us under considerable pressure- If we missed this we would be totally stuffed! 

This morning we opened the blinds at Mallaig RNLI Station to find the view of the harbour obscured by Scottish sea mist and heavy rain... a great start!

 The ferry across from Malaig to Armadale gave us the chance to have some breakfast and plan for the day ahead. Setting out with knackered legs following our previous days ride certainly was not the best- especially with such a huge task ahead of us....

The initial ride up Skye, wearing our (now standard) bin bags, went well and we made good progress albeit were soaked within the first hour. I would certainly now vouch for the fact that wearing bin bags has very limited effect on keeping the rain out! We crossed the short but magnificent Skye Bridge, and dropped into the RNLI station at the Kyle of Lochalsh for a speedy photo before heading on. 

The road ahead from here was hilly and the rain bucketed down. By 11am we were drenched and genuinely couldn't have got any wetter if we were to jump in a Loch! We were making reasonable progress but on tired legs the hills were proving extremely hard work and very painful. 

Eventually the road bought us to the shores of Lochcarron , and along with this came more gently undulating roads. This enabled us to progress in earnest, and there was now a glimmer of hope that we may make the ferry in time. We even had a brief stint of dry weather and sunshine which was bliss, but it wasn't long before the next wave of rain hit.

With ham strings tightening and very stiff legs, bums, backs and necks we allowed ourselves 1 minute breaks every 10km to stretch out before heading on! We couldn't afford to stop for any longer than this, as we knew we were very tight on time for the ferry, and would also risk becoming hypothermic in our soaked kit, so pressed on...

Battling on into the headwind, we took it in turn to go in front and take the brunt of the wind and lashing rain while the other would slipstream behind.... Needless to say the road seemed endless!

The eventual sight of Ullapool in the distance was very welcome indeed, and we limped on to the end. 

Exhausted but relieved to have made it in time, we had a quick shower at the ferry terminal and got some dry clothes on, before settling in for pint on the ferry. As Sod's law had it the skies cleared and the sun came out, giving some stunning views of the coastline during the crossing...

I also managed to capture one of Rad's extraordinary stretch routines on the ferry crossing as follows-

We arrived in Stornoway at 9pm , and for the first time in 3 days, with bright sunshine and clear skies. John met us at the RNLI station and gave us a very warm welcome before leaving us to hang up our soaked kit to dry and bed down for the night in the crew room. Fingers crossed for less rain tomorrow!

leg 5, Day 3: Leverburgh - Mallaig

 

 

What a day! It's been 5 hours since I got off the bike and I'm still dizzy with exhaustion. Today started at 05:15 on empty stomachs and in the pouring rain, and when I say pouring rain I mean absolutely torrential. We needed to get the 07:30 ferry from Tartbert (Harris) to Uig (Skye) which meant an undulating 33km pre-breakfast. 

 

The sore Achilles that I developed toward the end of yesterday was beginning to appear again which was irritating but ultimately entirely down to the fact that this year we are both severely underprepared in terms of fitness. Despite that, Nick kindly dragged me to the ferry on time and has been a star all day taking the brunt of the the extremely strong headwind whenever possible. 

 

 

I would love to say that we thought Harris was beautiful and at times we noticed that there was clearly potential but all we were really able to do was squint sufficiently to allow us to see the road ahead (just) but keep as much of the driving rain out of our eyes. 

Upon arriving at Tarbert ferry terminal we greeted a pair of female cyclists who had a very happy baby in tow behind them... They then informed us they were on a three day camping-cycling tour! Nick and I we open mouthed, both immediately imagining our wives reactions if we suggested a holiday in Scotland camping, cycling with our babies. I mean the situation is beyond unimaginable. Needless to say we were extremely impressed. 

The crossing gave us a couple of hours to compose ourselves ahead of the 93km journey from Uig to Mallaig via Portree RNLI station. The wind that had been so helpful yesterday was now pointing straight at us and made our average speed drop from 40km/hr to just above 13km/hr while exerting significantly more effort!

I'm racking my brain for some interesting details from today but all I can honestly remember is 4-5 hours of extreme discomfort, cold and towards the end a serious deficiency of energy. We had the dilemma that if we stopped to eat, we'd get semi hypothermic. Yet if we carried on, we'd risk our energy levels dropping to the point that we'd be cycling like idiots. Our solution was to eat in short 2 min breaks while grabbing a photo or too. 

The road running along the Northeast edge of Skye was also far busier than we'd like, which coupled with pouring rain and strong winds is not ideal. Fortunately however we are on much quieter roads tomorrow. There were points were despite the weather a small part of me could vaguely appreciate that we were cyclingn through beautiful scenery but this thought would quickly be replaced by how sore my arse was. 

We did bump into an equally glum looking cyclist who made it a party of 3. We rode together for 15km or so but on one ascent, Nick clipped his wheel, giving him a puncture. A quick inner tube change was needed and within a few mins we were back on track... as a duo again, but colder. 

Sorry. Did I mention that it rained today? Or that there was a strong headwind?

Eventually we arrived at the ferry terminal that would take us to Mallaig, our final destination for the day. We gorged ourselves on food. Sandwiches, crisps, coke, rice Krispy fudge things it was eye rollingly delicious and we ate a pace that would put me in serious trouble at home. Soon enough the energy returned, our hands stopped shaking and we got ourselves into some dry clothes for the ferry trip.

We always knew that days like today would happen but it doesn't make them any easier. It'll be early to bed for both of us.