Well, what a contrast in the weather today! We stepped out of the Bed and Breakfast we were staying at in Mallaig to glorious sunshine and not a cloud in the sky.
We bought ourselves some sandwiches to have for lunch and headed down to the quayside to catch the ferry to Armadale, which is on the Isle of Skye. The sea was really calm and the views we had from the deck of the ferry during the 30 minute crossing were amazing.
Just as though it was trying to tell me something just as we'd wheeled our bikes off the ferry my rear tyre went flat again. This time the inner tube had failed at the valve and was beyond repair, so I had to break out a spare.
We headed north from Armadale, finding the road to be very well made, the scenery beautiful, and the traffic incredibly light.
Stopping for lunch by the side of the road we saw our first tick of the holiday. Rosie pointed to a tiny bug crawling across her hand, "a little insect" she said. "How many legs does it have?" I asked. "Eight" she said, "it's a little spider". I had a look; it was 2mm across with a fat body, eight short legs, and a pointy head. "That's not a spider". "Oh!" Rosie flicked it away.
Dramatic views and empty roads were the order of the day until we reached the road east to the Skye bridge, which was a little busier but still very comfortable for cycling.
We crossed the Skye bridge and headed north again toward Plockton. Here the road undulated a bit, but whilst the climbs were quite exhausting in the heat it was always great to cool off on the descent. I need to stop mentioning the incredible scenery, but Plockton itself was no exception to the wonderful landscapes we've been travelling through for the last few days. It's a village looking onto a harbour in a small secluded bay with high peaks on the horizon in all directions.
After settling into our accommodation we had a look around and went in search of dinner. When we found nowhere was open yet, at about 4:30, we got ice creams instead, went to explore a small island reachable across the beach, nearly got cut off by the tide, and in the end resorted to crab spotting by the slipway.
Dinner was fish and chips. I see a trend emerging!
No comments:
Post a Comment