BURKEYS END 2 END : Day 5: A Game of Two Halves

Glencoe to Balloch 68.34 miles

Time Spent Cycling: 6 hours 38 minutes

Average Speed: 10.3 mph

This was our last day in the Highlands but the sound of torrential rain outside our hostel's window through the night didn't bode well. We set off at 8.10am in full waterproofs which naturally meant the views of Glencoe were shrouded in mist and drizzle. What a shame but a good job we enjoyed a wonderful evening in the pub the night before with views to die for.

The long climb out of Glencoe was a rude awakening. We climbed the A82 for 6.25 miles until it levelled out. We rested at the top exhausted and soaked already to the skin. I checked the average speed for the climb. Bizarrely the first 6.25 miles were completed at an average of 6.25mph. This is shockingly slow and we were at our lowest ebb. It couldn't get any worse than this could it?

We had to be in Balloch on the south shore of Loch Lomond by close of play today but this already seemed like light years away from where we were at 9.10am. The wind was relentless and against us, the driving rain incessant and none of us were having the slightest bit of fun and we were wondering what the hell we were doing there. Then it got worse.

The end of a climb is usually met with a plateau where the cycling becomes easy and then the exhilarating descent. Not for us four it wasn't for the climb away from Glencoe is met by the Hell on Earth which is Rannoch Moor. This Godforsaken wasteland of a place will, from now on, send a shiver down the spine just by thinking about it. It was simply horrendous. The main problem was the wind. This had now become extreme, so much so it was difficult to control the bike at times, especially when yet another coach or lorry passed at break-neck speed and threw a shock wave of rain-mist at you, oblivious to the defenseless soul on a bike they'd subjected their misery to. And it seemed to go on forever.

We had a further 23 miles of the struggle to endure prior to our lunch stop at the Green Welly Cafe in Tyndrum. It was bitter cold when we weren't moving so we had to carry on fighting the traffic with every pedal stroke. We eventually got to the Green Welly though we were in a sorry state. Everything was soaked through. We found out there's no such thing as waterproof socks or waterproof anything for that matter. Our feet had lost the will to live and I seriously thought Ella and Georgia would want to pack it all in and go home at the first opportunity. We had completed the first 29 miles for the day to the Green Welly at an average speed of just 8.4 mph in the worst conditions possible. We could not have picked a worse day to be doing this leg.

Pizza was ordered and hot tea. We devoured it like savages and waited for the conditions to maybe improve a bit. They didn't and so after 45 minutes or so we had to venture back out in the rain. Then came the stroke of luck we had been waiting for because Tyndrum is a kind of watershed place in the Highlands. It seems to mark the end of it all and from then on the roads took on a flatter appearance, some of which even took to going downhill! We got the train moving: Mike, Georgia, Ella, Rob. The work was being put in by all and we were starting to reap dividends. The shores of Loch Lomond were reached and although the rain was now at 'cats and dogs' proportions, it was a warm rain. We had warmed up too and it felt exhilarating to be there. Before we knew it we had made it to Tarbet and the start of the Loch Lomond Cycle Way, a 17 mile off-road path running alongside the west bank of the loch. It was still a major relief to have made it there and we celebrated at the cafe right on the lake shore. Whilst in there a strange thing happened. It stopped raining! We laughed out loud when the cafe lady said 'see you later' on our way out and Rob replied 'Hope not, not unless we're lost'!

The cycle path to Balloch was a pleasure to cycle along and we reached our accommodation at Innkeepers Lodge at 5.05pm and the end of another day of cycling. But a day none of us will ever forget!