Day 16 has come and gone. It did so on the back of day 15, our toughest so far, and therefore seems to have been less memorable than some. The reason has to do with exhaustion, we are tired people, the routine we live by is punishing and relentless.

 

We started the morning from the side of St. Mary’s Loch. It was a beautiful setting, but we were probably  not quite up to registering the beauty. I took a series of photos, and have admired the setting retrospectively.

 

The riding began with a series of climbs as we gained elevation in order to cross one range of hills and descend to a valley that we followed for quite a while. The terrain gradually flattened and became more boggy. Rain started by around 3 p.m. and it went on until we arrived at Kilsyth at around 7.30 p.m. In total we covered 70 miles.

 

We enjoyed tea and a scone at Broughton, and a cold drink and crisps in a pub in Forth. The last 10 miles were positively dangerous as we ended up using major A road motorways to get to our destination in Kilsyth, and the home of Jim and Christine Jones. Arriving we were surprised to see how tight a space Stuart had wedged the campervan. We hope it will be easy to extract tomorrow.

 

Dinner came in the form of a madras chicken curry and rice prepared by Stuart. It went down really well and was accompanied by some good wine. After supper we hoisted the bikes onto the roof of the van for fear that they might disappear over night.

 

Because it is raining, Paul has chosen to sleep in the host’s garage rather than outdoors as is his usual way. Tomorrow is, according to our route guide,  a fun day. We hope this is so as we want the final week to be one to remember…

 

Gavin