Lochmaben to Arran (Lochranza)

....we've covered some distance already...

WOW!!! we got up this morning at 6:13am, packed up our stuff, had breakfast, asked Ian to pack our things together, gave him detailed instructions on how to pack my tent, put on our cycling gear and off we went at 7.3o - a new record for us (Oli, Jorrin, myself).

We put on our wet gear as we expected showers throughout the day. I personally do mind cycling in the rain, to be precise - I dislike cycling in the rain, especially cold rain... Therefore I began chanting the age old German sun prayers ("Sonne, liebe Sonne, komm schein auf uns herab....") to make the sun appear, rather than focusing on rain not to come (Law of Attraction ;)

We had an amazing cycle ride along the river Ae, through the hills, through the peaceful forest. Oli was not having a 5 minute delay this morning and set off before Jorring and myself taking the A road to Cumnock. Whilst we took the spectacular shortcut through the mountains he was by himself on the busy and really badly maintained A road....As we pedaled along I remembered... The Toilet Key! it was still in my cycle jacket pocket. We stopped and I called Doug - or at least I thought I did. I woke up some guy at 7.30 in the morning telling him about the key and posting it back to him and so on. The guy on the phone had absolutely no idea what I was talking about and after me explaining the whole thing a few times he said that "I called the wrong number" and I did. I then called Dugal and explained the story again, promising to post his toilet key back to him.

A little later we caught up with him after our 3mile downhill and joined the A road to Cumnock, silently sneaking up behind him, putting my foot on his wheel and getting a terrified look from Oli who thought his rear wheel just died....

Together we cycled at top end speed to Cumnock, where we wanted to have lunch. By now we had several light showers and our clothes were either wet from the outside or from sweating on the inside. We decided to skip lunch as we heard the Ian wasn't going to join us. He packed the car in the morning, stried to start it but was greeted by a flat battery. Today was also the day the MOT of Oli's Saab ran out. Ian drove to Dumfries to get the MOT done. Upon arriving at the garage they told him he had to unpack the whole car for it to be checked for MOT. They found that the rear shock absorbers were gone and some other small stuff. Total bill of £395... hmmm, great!!! Ian footed the bill, being very lucky the garage could organise the parts quickly for the car and got it all fixed and MOT'ed in good time.

We cycled to Kilmanack where we stopped at Little Chef to dry our clothes. We stripped in the bathroom and used the hand dryers to blow-dry our shirts, jackets, whatever else needed drying.... We had some substantial lunch, deserts, coffee before setting off again to Ardrossan going to the Island of Arren. We got there pretty quickly, almost flying with a good tailwind supporting us. We got to Ardrossan Ferry just in time to get on board (£30, 3 people return).

On board we met fellow LEJO'er Damian Bell who was sitting down enjoying lunch. We exchanged routes and travel stories. Arriving in Arran we set off to get to the North of the island to our SYHA, Lochranza. The island of Arran, in the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, is frequently called "Scotland in miniature" - and rightly so! There is everything from beautiful beaches, hills, mountains etc - deal for walking, mountaineering, kayaking, and of course cycling. The climate however, is different from main land Scotland. More Mediterranean somehow, some palm trees, more flowers, warmer. We immediately felt the difference. Damian educated me about the island and its strong branding "Arran" and its golf courses, produce, etc. We cycled another 14 miles on top of our 60miles on the mainland (totaling 'only' 74miles today...). The island can be circumnavigated on the main road and its roughly 55 miles. However, going North to Lochranza is via a very steep mountain and we really struggled on this one. The downhill on the other side however was worth the climb - as usual...

photo courtesy of: http://www.hughspicer.fsnet.co.uk/arranpag.htm

The SYHA was a newly refurbished and kitted out house with modern rooms, superb bathrooms, kitchen/ dining facilities and very good clothes drying room/ washing machines - and a very small and dingy bike shed...The hostel was closed for about 18 months and has been completely refurbished at a cost of £500,000. We had to wait for Ian to arrive in the car with all our change of clothes and food.

Oli and I rested in the room whereas Damian and Jorrin went to check out local neighborhood (pub really). Ian arrive an hour later with his story of the day getting the car up and running, fixed, getting to the ferry, and just about managing the last one onto the island -phew. VERY WELL done Ian - this was quite a job for him today to get it all sorted!!!

We had some nice dinner: Salad Deluxe (leafs, pear, cheese, croutons) together with Couscous, pasta, sauce, drinks... Lovely jovely. carbs, protein, the whole shebang!!!!

Off to bed, now, 1.27am... tomorrow, back to Scotland going further North, slowly into the Highlands... over and... yawn... out...

Things cycling:

OLi: "my arse hurts, I just can't sit down anymore"

Jorrin: "are you pulling a 'Deuan' on me?" referring to me sucking his wheel whilst riding close behind him

Oli: "I was in the zone again. What did you say? I was just tuned into radio Oli, my all time favourites like The Beatles, Rolling Stones...BUT there are also other songs like 'the road to Kilmarnock, the road to hell' or 'You take the s**t road, I take the Garmin...' - Oli's mumbling as Jorrin and I passed him on his bike after him riding off in the morning...

Jorrin: "Its getting cold here! Can't we just turn back to Lands End and call it the LELE ride (Lands End - Lockerbie -Lands End)?

Ian: "I feel like I'm going to be sick" - after 120 miles, in the middle of nowhere, without any water or food left

Oli: "The only thing actually NOT hurting is.... my right nostril"

Dirk: "I'll have the backed potato with tuna, a coffee and a small blanket please" - to the staff at Little Chef (Service Station, Kilmarnock) - to which the waitress look slightly puzzled, in her head going over the menu, then saying: "We don't have blankets"