I bow before you, King of the mountains!

This week saw us cycling a shorter route but much tougher than last week. Last weeks 72 miles was mentally demanding due to the never ending canal next to us. Always present, hardly ever more than 10ft from us. This Sunday was a more physically demanding cycle.


Tom and I always start with a brisk cycle to the train station where we set off to our ultimate destination. This week it was Weemys Bay to get the ferry to Rothesay. From there we headed south along the coast and up some punishingly long hills. The gradients weren't too bad but they did seem to go on forever. We made good time and got back to Rothesay before we knew it and then started on the long and arduous journey north to Colintravie where we could get a ferry back to the mainland. Once we crossed the water it was a long long long climb up hill to Achenbreck where we had our first downhill section. The roads were a lot smoother than we had experienced earlier in the day so speeds started climbing. Unfortunately after a short 1 minute downhill we got stuck into the long uphill sections.


Crossing the spine of the headland we arrived near a hydroelectric power station that makes electricity by using the power of falling water to turn the turbines. Now, that should give you an indication of how steep and long those hills were. We finally crested the hills about 4pm and could see that there was some killer downhill sections coming up. Tom, I salute you, you truly are king of the mountains.


I sat back on my saddle, leaned my head as low as it would go and cycled as fast as I could to begin the descent. Sweeping round the bends with the bike leaned over on the camber of the road felt amazing. It's possibly one of the fastest downhills I've ever done, however we had one major mishap on the way home. Bobs tyre literally blew itself apart at the seams. I guess the heat build up from those downhills meant it couldn't cope with the increased internal pressure any more and let go.


A short 15 minutes later we were on our way - bike repaired and legs rested somewhat. We made it to Dunoon just in time for the Ferry at 5.30 and then on to Gourock for some fish and chips. After a gruelling uphill struggle like most of the day, those fish and chips - drenched in vinegar and sparkling with salt - was probably the best meal we could have had.