Wednesday 6 June 2012

Miles: 84.6

We were given a choice last night whilst eating our evening meal at 11pm, did we want to start out at 7am to catch a ferry, or did we want to cycle 10 more miles and climb 300 less feet and start at 08.30am?  There was a short silence while everyone steeled anyone to suggest the former.  So we started out at 08.30 from Ayr.

The dreadfully rough road surface continued well beyond the Ayr city boundary.  We continued through Prestwick and past the airport (strap line “Pure dead Brilliant”, hopefully not literally!) and through another Warrington-like conurbation on the outskirts of Glasgow.  Our first break was at Houston, then we cycled over the Erskine Bridge and along the north shore of the Clyde through Helensborough, the Faslaine Nuclear Navy base (looking like a prison) and onto lunch on the edge of Loch Long at Arrochar.  By that time it had started to rain.

After lunch (the usual food-fest) we started off round the end of the end of the loch and up and over the pass to another part of the loch.  A great ride down, if only it had not been raining so hard.  The wind was also blowing a gale at the end of one of the legs of the loch and along side just before Inveraray.  There is an enormous humped bridge before the town, white painted buildings on the shores of the loch.

We are in 4 different accommodation and will be eating in the George hotel together.  Tomorrow and easy day of 75 miles, but the forecast is for rain all day.