Today was a ride of epic proportions, given the distance we had to cover. It wasn't until we were leaving Gairloch and saw the sign saying "Ullapool 57" that we realised quite what we'd let ourselves in for. This was 5 miles further than the London to Brighton bike ride, with luggage, through mountains.
Climbing out of Gairloch wasn't too bad, and we became well aware of how much fitter we have become over the last week. The road followed the coastline but tended to rise over headlands rather than following the contours, so we found ourselves climbing a lot and then enjoying the roll back down to the sea.
After about 30 miles of this the road turned inland following the bottom of a valley. It was as the road steepened that we began to feel the extent of our fatigue and the climb up to the plateau beyond was arduous.
Once again the weather was incredibly hot, which made climbing a slow and sweaty business. Worse however was the entourage of insects that we acquired whenever our speed dropped in this way. We have yet to see any of the famous highland midges, but we have met plenty of biting horse flies. Worse still, it seems that they have no trouble biting through cycling shorts!
The good news was that once we'd reached the top it was more or less downhill all the way for the last 15 miles. The road was well surfaced and straight enough to keep the brakes open and let us roll freely. I set a new speed record at 46.3 mph!
It was about 5 miles from Ullapool that Rosie started craving chips, so on our arrival we sought out a chippie and sat outside to eat the excessively large portions whilst we waited for the Hostel to open.
Something tells me we'll sleep well tonight! Well we'll have to; more cycling tomorrow.
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