Feeling Strangely Fine

It was always part of the plan that today would be slightly stressful. It won't be the longest, but because our route is taking us across Arran via two ferries, we've had connections to make that we couldn't afford to miss. The 16:20 ferry from Claonaig to Lochranza was 130 miles into the day, so we set off at 6am this morning, allowing ourselves 9h riding and 1h 'break' time, knowing that by riding faster than 15mph we could earn ourselves extra breaks! We were never in genuine danger of missing the ferry, though when we realised it was actually 5 miles further than we'd thought, we were left with exactly 4h to cover 60 miles - a bit too close for comfort. Fortunately a good stretch along the coast towards Tarber put us well inside target and we made the ferry with 30mins in hand. Having crossed the island, we're now on the ferry to Ardrossan having dinner (I'm enjoying my second plate of fish and chips), with 150 miles under our belts and another 10 to ride to our B&B.

Generally we're still in good shape. After riding 80 miles in the rain for the second half of yesterday I was quite cold when we stopped and struggled to eat my dinner. Also after forcing some breakfast down at 5:30 this morning I felt quite unwell for the first hour of the day, but since then I've been coping very well. It's difficult to know what to eat - we have to pick up what we can when we can, which especially on a Sunday in the middle of nowhere is quite often not exactly what you had in mind. We hit the jackpot at lunch today with a Subway foot-long meatball marinara, which went down very easily and showed no signs of wanting to reappear. Also, I should say a big thanks to Paul for the Nuun tablets, which are working very well - think 'Berocca Sport' if you're not seen them. We both have ups and downs but we seem well matched, which makes pacing very easy. For the heart rate geeks out there, we're both happy working in the 135-140 range for much of day, pushing up to mid/high 140s on steep climbs and down into the 120s when following on the flat, lower when descending. We're taking 30min turns leading, which really helps pass the time and structure the day.

The weather has been fantastic today, after a misty, magical first two hours riding down the side of the lochs to Fort William it gradually warmed and brightened as we headed out around the coast. It's been genuinely hot this afternoon, riding out along Mull of Kintire until we eventually made it to ferry terminal and spent a pleasant half hour relaxing in the sun. The rain yesterday has taken its toll on both my phone and the GPS, which has been acting up a bit - thanks to Zara (or, 'Zarmin' as she'd now like to be known) for texting us some backup directions.

That's about enough for today. We're staying at Irvine tonight in a slight change of plan which will knock about 10 miles off tomorrow's route. We're planning to take it easy tomorrow and be as fresh as possible when we arrive in Sedbergh - we'll let you know how it goes.