LEJOG Day 11 - Loch lomond to Glencoe
Day 11
69 miles
890m ascent
"This weather can only be described as biblical"
Double espresso, layering & good company are the only things that got me through those last 30 miles.
Awoke feeling pretty rough - full of a cold (thanks dad! Ha), but started out with the multiple coffees I now require to get me through.
Dad had collected two cartons of soya milk from the kind folk at the previous two B&Bs, so fortunately I was sorted when this B&B revealed they had forgotten I was vegan. I still had a nice enough bowl of porridge & beans on toast before meeting greg at 0900 & setting off.
The rain started pretty sharpish, so we were faffing quite a bit for the first 10 miles - layers on, then off, then on again. Until it began to pour with a persistent rage. I also had some front brake issues which were a little annoying, such as squealing & the front wheel not free spinning as much as it should; Greg wasted no time in sorting it on the side of the A road for me in the rain. ..legend!
Knowing I was slightly fatigued & not well at present, when we were under 10 miles until our lunch stop, my buddy began using his amusing yet very good Scottish accent impression to tell me bizarre stories. Some true, such as the dancing plague of 1518, & some not so true, such as this fantasy lodge with multiple courses of culinary vegan delights which he was going through meticulously dish by dish.
Before we both became astonishingly delirious we got to Tyndrum, 39 miles away just after 1300. Dad was kindly waiting for us & got some hot drinks in. You also won't believe what this roadside café was also selling...
After some food, the bunged up head cold & drowsiness begun taking over...so I got a double espresso before we left, put on an extra layer, & decided to play music in one ear.
That caffeine high, the now four underlayers & raincoat I was wearing, plus the music made me feel on top of the world!
As we started up the second of four 'climbs' in the rain, even without our gloves (they were soaked inside & out so the wind made our hands more cold keeping them on), I was so excited by the hills & trees around us. Sadly the weather was so bad that everything was shrouded by cloud, but the roadside conifers kept me briefly occupied, as I'd just learned how to distinguish between pine, spruce & fir trees (do you know the difference? ).
After 10 miles of ecstasy, the wet soaked through every single of my five layers, & as we got higher into the highlands the exposure & windy gusts became ridiculously dangerous.
We were being blown up to a metre into the middle of the road, the rain hammering horizontally, yet intermittently coming at us from straight ahead - we were either flung sideways or could barely move forwards, looking nowhere except for the floor.
One cyclist coming the other way got blown off the road but managed to not fall off the bike - we just saw his front light waving in the gusts. Luckily he was fine, & we had a brief chat - barely audible through the biblical elements.
I begun to feel that we were incredibly vulnerable; praying that each vehicle from behind, each passing lorry, would give us enough space to avoid us being blown into them & being hit. "Lean left lean left & it'll be over soon" I was telling myself. Greg & I kept checking each other were ok, although he was very kindly quite worried about me - saying I physically didn't seem ok, & so kept trying to ride at my 10 o'clock to act as a wind shelter (until we realised the wind may throw us into each other, then in front of a vehicle- therefore spaced out single file may be safer).
Damn it - the warm feeling was dissolving as I was losing sensation in my fingers & they were turning yellow. Of course the saviour offered me a fresh warm pair when we finally found somewhere close to town with shelter! Amazingly he seemed warm enough in his awesome Paramo jacket, & his fingers were full of colour & sensation!
We made it to our respective places, & Greg cycled back the few miles to his hostel.
The worries of crossing the width of Scotland up the lochs from here to Inverness with up to 43mph gusts are playing heavily on our minds. The winds literally die off after tomorrow, but I've prebooked everything already...
The wind direction should be behind us though. So it's just quite difficult to know.
I should also mention the hilarity of arriving at this B&B, 'Glasdruim'. The lady was quite annoyed that I was wet, & said I couldn't get water on the carpets or furnishings. She made me dry my panniers with towels before entering, & upon seeing my dad's wet clothing hung above & on the radiators - barged into our room & took them all down stating "you'll ruin my radiators, it's not on!". It seems she's oblivious to the fact that she is located in a Scottish Outdoors Centre.
Dad was about to blow. It wasn't a nice scene to arrive into.
She mentioned breakfast, strangely forgetting that she had confirmed an earlier one for me over the phone just 3 weeks before, & also me being vegan. Then responded "we're not a hotel" to my dad when he asked if they offered fish (which he had eaten at a previous B&B...). We fleetingly thought about ditching this place, but decided to stick it out & ensure we leave valid online reviews.
Wish us luck for whatever happens tomorrow eh!
x
69 miles
890m ascent
"This weather can only be described as biblical"
Double espresso, layering & good company are the only things that got me through those last 30 miles.
 |
| Monsoon weather over Glencoe mountain resort |
Dad had collected two cartons of soya milk from the kind folk at the previous two B&Bs, so fortunately I was sorted when this B&B revealed they had forgotten I was vegan. I still had a nice enough bowl of porridge & beans on toast before meeting greg at 0900 & setting off.
The rain started pretty sharpish, so we were faffing quite a bit for the first 10 miles - layers on, then off, then on again. Until it began to pour with a persistent rage. I also had some front brake issues which were a little annoying, such as squealing & the front wheel not free spinning as much as it should; Greg wasted no time in sorting it on the side of the A road for me in the rain. ..legend!
Knowing I was slightly fatigued & not well at present, when we were under 10 miles until our lunch stop, my buddy began using his amusing yet very good Scottish accent impression to tell me bizarre stories. Some true, such as the dancing plague of 1518, & some not so true, such as this fantasy lodge with multiple courses of culinary vegan delights which he was going through meticulously dish by dish.
Before we both became astonishingly delirious we got to Tyndrum, 39 miles away just after 1300. Dad was kindly waiting for us & got some hot drinks in. You also won't believe what this roadside café was also selling...
 |
| Incredible. That it was available, but also its taste & texture. Winning! |
After some food, the bunged up head cold & drowsiness begun taking over...so I got a double espresso before we left, put on an extra layer, & decided to play music in one ear.
That caffeine high, the now four underlayers & raincoat I was wearing, plus the music made me feel on top of the world!
As we started up the second of four 'climbs' in the rain, even without our gloves (they were soaked inside & out so the wind made our hands more cold keeping them on), I was so excited by the hills & trees around us. Sadly the weather was so bad that everything was shrouded by cloud, but the roadside conifers kept me briefly occupied, as I'd just learned how to distinguish between pine, spruce & fir trees (do you know the difference? ).
After 10 miles of ecstasy, the wet soaked through every single of my five layers, & as we got higher into the highlands the exposure & windy gusts became ridiculously dangerous.
We were being blown up to a metre into the middle of the road, the rain hammering horizontally, yet intermittently coming at us from straight ahead - we were either flung sideways or could barely move forwards, looking nowhere except for the floor.
One cyclist coming the other way got blown off the road but managed to not fall off the bike - we just saw his front light waving in the gusts. Luckily he was fine, & we had a brief chat - barely audible through the biblical elements.
I begun to feel that we were incredibly vulnerable; praying that each vehicle from behind, each passing lorry, would give us enough space to avoid us being blown into them & being hit. "Lean left lean left & it'll be over soon" I was telling myself. Greg & I kept checking each other were ok, although he was very kindly quite worried about me - saying I physically didn't seem ok, & so kept trying to ride at my 10 o'clock to act as a wind shelter (until we realised the wind may throw us into each other, then in front of a vehicle- therefore spaced out single file may be safer).
Damn it - the warm feeling was dissolving as I was losing sensation in my fingers & they were turning yellow. Of course the saviour offered me a fresh warm pair when we finally found somewhere close to town with shelter! Amazingly he seemed warm enough in his awesome Paramo jacket, & his fingers were full of colour & sensation!
We made it to our respective places, & Greg cycled back the few miles to his hostel.
 |
| Tomorrow's quest...? |
The worries of crossing the width of Scotland up the lochs from here to Inverness with up to 43mph gusts are playing heavily on our minds. The winds literally die off after tomorrow, but I've prebooked everything already...
The wind direction should be behind us though. So it's just quite difficult to know.
I should also mention the hilarity of arriving at this B&B, 'Glasdruim'. The lady was quite annoyed that I was wet, & said I couldn't get water on the carpets or furnishings. She made me dry my panniers with towels before entering, & upon seeing my dad's wet clothing hung above & on the radiators - barged into our room & took them all down stating "you'll ruin my radiators, it's not on!". It seems she's oblivious to the fact that she is located in a Scottish Outdoors Centre.
Dad was about to blow. It wasn't a nice scene to arrive into.
She mentioned breakfast, strangely forgetting that she had confirmed an earlier one for me over the phone just 3 weeks before, & also me being vegan. Then responded "we're not a hotel" to my dad when he asked if they offered fish (which he had eaten at a previous B&B...). We fleetingly thought about ditching this place, but decided to stick it out & ensure we leave valid online reviews.
x
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