Today was the second leg from Camusnagaul to Ullapool.
View our route on google maps.
Another good days riding with only a few spots of rain. The climb out of Dundonnell on the road of desolation certainly tested the legs with over five miles of continuous climbing. But the views down loch broom while enjoying a well earned snack bar made it worth while, as did the long descent down the Corrieshalloch Gorge. Note: for those expecting to be able to take a comfort stop at the toilets by Braemer Junction, they have been closed with a helpful notice saying there are toilets at Ullapool a mere 12 miles away!
We made a quick stop off at the woodturning centre in Lael, then finishing the ride along an undulating road by the side of Loch Broom.
All in all a good days riding, legs feel good, ready for the challenge of a longer days ride tomorrow, on territory we are far less familiar with.
Report from cyclemeter, which did play up slightly! We actually did 29miles.
Route: From camusnagaul
View on Google Maps
Started: 8 Jun 2010 12:07:40
Ride Time: 2:06:57
Stopped Time: 1:48:47
Distance: 23.26 miles
Average: 10.99 miles/hr
Fastest Speed: 36.15 miles/hr
Climb: 1306 feet
Calories: 1077
Route Day One – Gairloch to Camusnagaul via Poolewe and Aultbea
Distance: 29.48 miles, Average: 10.73 mph, Ascent: 2254 ft
We’ve managed day one! We’d made the decision not too push it to hard for the first couple of days, sticking to 30 miles per day, but we couldn’t make the hills any flatter!
Leaving the caravan just before 10 we stopped off at Two Lochs radio to record an interview which was broadcast this evening, you can listen to us being interviewed. Then after a quick drop in at the Tourist Information Office we were straight into our first climb, up out of Gairloch. Then it was a nice easy six miles to our first stop, at one of our favourite cafe’s, The Bridge Cottage Cafe, for a bit of cake and a coffee!
After that the ride started in earnest, we had 23 miles of riding to do before we finished at Maggie’s Tearoom for lunch. Clear blue skies overhead as we climbed up past Inverewe Gardens and out to Aultbea, along to Gruinard Bay, which has views across to an island made famous for the experiments with anthrax carried out there in 1942 and only relatively recently was decontaminated.
The climb out of Gruinard Bay was tough, almost two miles of continuous climbing, but the long descent down to Maggie’s made it all worthwhile, with speeds of 40mph down the hill, as did the bacon panini when we got there.
Enjoy the photos.
All set up and ready for the off
Bikes are kitted up, fairly light today as we’re coming back to base on the first day. And we’re off! First stop Two Lochs Radio, all down hill to there, then it starts getting a bit harder work as we climb out of Gairloch.
Rainbow over Gairloch Bay
Just as we were starting to make our plans for our first days riding, a beautiful rainbow appeared over Gairloch Bay. As I dashed out of the caravan to grab a few pictures, I hoped it was a promise of good things to come! After taking a few photos, I looked out to the Isle of Skye, some incredible clouds around the island had given the effect of it floating in mid air, then grabbed a photo of the sun setting on Lone Mor behind our caravan, Scotland truly has some spectacular scenery.
Time to get an early night ready for our interview on Two Lochs Radio at 10am tomorrow before we start on the first leg of our journey to Poolewe and then on through Aultbea and finishing at Maggie’s Tea Rooms, not pushing it too hard on our first day.
Safely arrived at base camp!
One long car journey over, we’ve now arrived at “base camp”, the village of Gairloch and are staying in a caravan in a location with some of the best views in Scotland. We’ve got a day to relax before we start our big challenge on Monday, so stay tuned. If you’ve never been up to the North West Highlands, then maybe these few photos will whet your appetite!
One of the challenges for the ride is not just keeping my legs going but keeping the iPhone going. Anyone who has used an iPhone on a busy day out and about will know that the battery struggles to keep up.
I’m going to be needing to:
- Access the internet to update our blog, twitter and flickr
- Use the GPS with cyclemeter to track our progress and update Twitter and Facebook (a big battery drain)
- Use the camera to take photos
- Occasionally even use it as a phone to organise our night’s B&B!
I’m going to be turning off the bluetooth, wifi & 3G when I’m out on the road (Scotland’s 3G coverage isn’t the greatest!) that will all help. But I’ve also invested in a couple of gadgets, an extra battery pack and a solar charger, so I’ll let you know how they perform. I will also be carrying a charger with me at all times, easily accesible, maybe a friendly cafe or two will let me top-up!
Last training ride
Today was the last chance to do a decent training ride, I just about managed to squeeze one in, which I tracked using cyclemeter, the iPhone app I’ll be using on our big ride, so you can view the route. Hopefully I’ll get a couple of short rides in during the week as well.
Tracking our progress
With a great little app on my iPhone, the plan is to update the page regularly throughout the day on our twitter feed with our position and an updated google map showing our route.
The app we’re using? Cyclemeter
This app tracks our progress using the inbuilt GPS and updates on speed, distance and altitude, and auto posts our progress to Twitter and Facebook.
We’ll also be updating our blog on a daily basis with photos and comments about that day’s experience, probably including star ratings of all cafes that we can find on route to help keep our energy levels up!
So keep checking back and see how we’re getting on.
The big cycling challenge
As I’ve got steadily less and less fit over the last ten years, I decided I needed to set myself a big challenge and I roped my Dad in to.
We’re going to cycle round the North coast of Scotland, from Gairloch to Cape Wrath to John O Groats to Strathpeffer. Exact route will be posted shortly, but it will be a total of over 400 miles. And then we’re going to finish by cycling up the Bealach na Ba, the second-greatest ascent of any road climb in the UK, rising from Applecross at sea level to 626 metres!
We start on the 7th June.
But to make sure I actually do it, and don’t chicken out at the last minute, I thought I ought to make sure I benefit someone other than ourselves, I’m director of a Five of Hearts, a Birmingham fundraising group that raises funds for five amazing Birmingham-based charities to assist them improve the quality of life of over 400,000 local service users. I also do a lot of work Prospects a christian charity working accross the UK with adults with learning disabilities.
So if you want to give us a bit of extra impetus, why not sponsor us!
