106.6 Miles - 7h 59m
Today hurt, today was cold, today nearly broke us.
Thankfully only nearly, we woke up at 06:15 warmish and comfortable-ish on the wooden floor of the bothy's attic space, threw down a few snacks and sipped gingerly from the remains of our water. We then prepared to trudge back out to the main road where we could begin the longest day in the saddle of the trip.
Stumbling, half asleep, through the stirring forest I was aware that it would have been a beautiful time of day were it not for the rain and the fact we had over 100 miles of cycling to do today, in weather that was as bad as we were told at Sour Nook Inn. After a tumble over a fallen pine tree, while trying to lift my bike over it, left me and the green machine covered in mud I could not wait to be back on smooth tarmac again.
Finishing the mini trek to the start point of the ride we sheltered beneath a little bridge for me to change into my cycling shoes, Jake to take some painkillers and for both of us to apply a liberal layer of chamois creme. With a certain amount of trepidation for what lay ahead, mixed with the knowledge that by the end of the day we would be all but finished on the bikes, we shivered off into the rain.
A mere 15 miles later and things were going from bad to worse, Jake was debilitatingly cold all over and both of our feet had gone entirely numb, a cruel mixture of vibrations from the shockingly paved roads, the continuous rain and more obviously the low temperature. I assume lack of sleep and physical fatigue were also playing their part. This necessitated a stop for hot food and coffee; we ground to a halt in the little village of Abington.
On arrival in the village we threw ourselves on the mercy of a very helpful elderly lady who told us that the local Post Office did hot rolls and coffee. This Post Office also happened to be no more than ten metres from where we were standing which was brilliant. Lurching inside on numb feet and after a few pitying looks from the husband and wife team who ran the place we had ordered coke, black coffee and for me a bacon, sausage, egg and black pudding roll and a veggie version for Jake (who's helmet I had to unclip as his fingers had stopped working).
Finishing our first roll and with the uncontrollable shivering having nearly stopped we figured seconds would be a good idea before we set off again. While we waited for the next round I half remembered an idea, I think from a GCN video, on what to do for cold and wet feet. Cling film. The couple at the Post Office kindly let us have as much as we wanted for free and after I bought us some size six women's thermal socks to replace our soaking cycling socks, we wrapped our newly warm and dry feet in the cling film and squelched them back into our shoes.
Warm feet, full bellies and a lot of caffeine later we were finally ready to venture back outside to carry on. The rain had decided to stop for about 82 seconds so we took the chance to get back in the saddle and tick off a few more miles, we were aiming for another 35 before the next break. (We nearly set off in the wrong direction but thankfully I twigged after a couple of metres, we righted ourselves and got pedaling.)
The next stint was surprisingly comfortable considering the weather, though I think that was mainly in comparison to the first 15 miles and the unfettered joy of being able to feel my toes. We ended up pushing on a little further than we had planned to take us into Glasgow and into the warm embrace of the golden arches. This was probably my lowest ebb of the whole ride, I felt wiped out and all I wanted to do was lie down and stop. Thankfully Jake had bounced back and so was able to buoy my mood with coffee and some gels from the Tesco over the road. (We'd managed the whole ride so far with real food but today I needed some instant energy.)
Most of the next stint, from Glasgow to Inverarnan was very nearly pancake flat, the gels and caffeine had kicked in and we found ourselves on National Cycle Route 7 which by and large was bloody brilliant (and helpfully easy to follow as my phone charging cable, not being waterproof, was now buggered). A highlight of this section was the serendipitous moment when my fiancée, Rosie, and her friend, Nicola, saw us cycling along as they headed up to join us for the final climb on Nevis the next day. They motored ahead and positioned themselves on the cycle route for a few hugs and a much needed morale boost.
Feeling pretty chipper after seeing Rosie and Nicola and knowing we would now see them for dinner that evening we set about tackling the last few miles into Crianlarich. After hitting the 100 mile mark and with only a few miles left to go Scotland decided to be a right dick and make it entirely uphill to our end point. It only averaged 2% but with nearly 400 miles in our legs it brought our average speed down to 11 Mph.
Arriving into Crianlarich was an absolutely glorious feeling, particularly as Dad had made us an offer we (or more correctly... I) couldn't refuse; earlier in the day while we were sat in the Post Office in Abington he offered to book us a room in any hotel at our end point for the day... Jake had a genuine moral quandary about accepting the offer whereas minutes later I texted Dad back accepting. As I said at the start, today nearly broke me.
The evening panned out nicely, after slopping our kit into the drying room, we pulled on a weird assortment of the only dry clothing we had left, which didn't include any shoes, and made directly for the bar. We had beers in hand by the time Rosie and Nicola rocked up shortly afterwards; we went through for dinner looking like a very motley crew. I'm sure Jake and I were terrible company that evening but the girls were on good form and definitely raised our spirits (and bought us spirits in the form of some very nice whiskey).
Whiskey drunk, we crumbled into bed with only one more day to go.
