Tour d'Ecosse Day 10 Bealach na Bà from Applecross to Plockton Monday 11th July 2016

Tour d'Ecosse Day 10 Bealach na Bà from Applecross to Plockton 77km 1726m ascent

Cumulative: 839km 10088m ascent Ferries 9 Islands 13

Bealach na Bà or Pass of the Cattle - Highest road pass at 650m in UK 

Today is the day. The highest road pass in the UK, and we start from sea level, from Applecross, the easy way up....ha ha ha ha. Well it would have been harder the other way so it was easier. The "Ride with GPS" route below shows the topography, it makes the vicious lumps after Strathcarron look like pimples! Our 6th big day in a row.


We sadly said goodbye to our fabulous yurt. Just everything about our yurt, it's situation and the perfect location to divide up the Applecross peninsula into manageable chunks characterised what this tour is all about. The Applecross Inn is booked solid months in advance, so we were disappointed not to be able to stay there but it did mean we had a 15km warm up before hitting "The Bealach."

Well we had a 15km cool down, it was wet and cold and claggy. After a light breakfast at the yurt we had decided a coffee and cake stop was allowed so early on as we doubted there would be any more cafes for a long time. We polished off the "commute" and were mightily relieved that the Applecross Inn was open in the morning for coffee, and the heating was on. The Garmin showed an average temperature of 10 degrees today. The date is 11th July!

Applecross is as deserted as you can get on UK mainland. You can come in on the Shieldaig road we had followed from Torridon, or up n over Bealach na Ba...the Pass of the cattle. Not surprisingly the latter route is shut for a lot of the winter. Today it's high summer.

Bealach Na Ba on a foul day it was ...winter clothes, hi viz, lights, the works.

10km of uphill ahead

Plenty going on in Applecross, not sure why the Wester Ross Trail is out to sea!

The Applecross Inn's sunny beer garden

Poor Doris, she looks exhausted and we haven't started yet!

We have read that this is the toughest and wildest climb in Britain. The hype is true. The majority of roads in Scotland's follow the valleys as there's no need to climb the mountains but the road links the village of Applecross with the rest of the world by taking the route over the top of Bealach na Ba, 2000ft or 650m.

Yes, we met a car and a caravan whilst descending the other side.

One final glance back at a glimpse of the Isle of Raasay with Skye hidden behind

Going on up...

Is there anybody out there?

Well, the good bit about the weather meant it was relatively quiet traffic wise, we had read that the pass was a lot more popular with the recent North Coast 500 marketing.  Cars were considerate, and patient. Motorbikes waved. We settled into a plod, granny gear all the way We stopped as we needed too, we were not going for heroics. The aim was to get up and down without injury. Especially given the weather. This is adventure cycling. Nothing to fall back on but our bodies and our bikes.

Not a motorway

At one point a descending black immaculate Mercedes with tinted glass waited for us to pass. The driver's window was down and we nodded and said our thanks and he smiled broadly and asked very kindly if we were OK. The chap in the passenger seat was also concerned, as were their smiling wives in the back, in immaculate saris and jewellery, all so incongruous in such wet horrible and muddy conditions. They could have been going to a wedding, but were on a weekend break from Glasgow and asked if they could get tea anywhere. We had a lovely chat for a few minutes, they really were so concerned about our welfare (and/or state of mind I expect!) We gave them directions for tea and said our goodbyes and thank yous for their concern and offers of a lift.

and up and up and up

The weather deteriorated even further, we paused on one particularly steep bit and unable to see what was coming we did walk 100-200m when the gradiant was circa 15%. Looking back now I reckon I could have ridden it if I'd known it didn't go on for any longer, I may have psyched myself to stay on the pedals. However, this was really a pretty daft idea for Steve to be attempting so I didn't push it. It was a team effort to get us both to the top in one piece. In fact the double car park/halt at the top came as a surprise to me. The disorientation of the thick cloud meant we never had any idea how much further other than knowing it was about 9km on the Garmin and I deliberately didn't look at that.

Trig point summit Bealach na Ba, no we couldn't see the view.

Our bikes huddling up to keep warm at the summit

The viewpoint...really!  ...and down we go. this was not a respite, nor was it fast.

Bealach na Ba down toward Tornapress and Strathcarron

...gravelly wet road surface and hairpin bends, at points it is 20% with crash barriers.

Loch Kishorn finally comes into view

We literally inched our way down, hands freezing and locked from hanging on the brakes. my brakes were very worn by the bottom. I get carpel tunnel syndrome at the best of times so I could not feel anything by the time the road started to level. It was pretty extreme conditions and we were envious of anyone with the luxury of time who could afford to wait a day or two for better conditions.

We halted just before Tornapress, which is not much more than a bend in the road. Looking back were the warning signs about how steep, bleak and narrow the road to Applecross was. A massive sense of relief that we had come to no harm and a (still ongoing whilst writing this 3 months later) sense of achievement that we did it, aged 50 with panniers and health conditions, with very little walking, in horrendous weather. Steve decides he would rather have just popped across the road from Shieldaig, he gives me a look when I suggest we need to come back another time, on a nicer day and do it from this side. I think that's a solo trip then!

Fish Farming Loch Kishorn

Slight problem in that the lovely looking Bealach Café in Tornapress was firmly shut. Yes it was July, it shuts one day a week. On a Monday. Our luck was in though, the next establishment of any kind we came across was the Kishorn Seafood Bar On a normal day a plate full of seafood would have done me, but today we needed hot carbs. Seafood filled baked potatoes and pints of tea hit the spot. We literally sat on the radiator. We realised later we had been very lucky, this place is, quite rightly, loaded with food awards, and probably large queues on nice school holiday days. We took our time but the inevitable could not be put off any longer. Back out we went, but it was a little drier than this morning.

Through Strathcarron, a huge place with a bank and a zebra crossing, and the road follows the famous railway line heading to Kyle of Lochalsh. Our addled brains think "this is great" Railway lines are flat aren't they? A nice saunter down the shores of Loch Kishorn to our BnB for the night in Plockton.

Towards Plockton

When booking our B&B the owner said at the time that if we were tired we could hop on the train at Strathcarron, and off at Plockton. "It's only 25km" I thought at the time, easy if we have done Bealach I remember thinking. The road does not follow the railway line all the way, at intervals it turns left, bolts straight up a 15% hill then comes down again. Mean railway for not sharing their tunnels with us!

It was knackering, not nice rolling ups and downs where your momentum powers you up half the ascent. I managed every single one without walking. That train idea wasn't so daft after all. Eventually we roll along a minor road into Plockton, noting the steep ascent we are going to have in the morning!

I had wanted to come back to Plockton, I remembered coming here for a day visit aged about 9 on a camping holiday, we were probably staying in Glencoe. It certainly is still a picture postcard fishing village with a perfect row of quaint cottages, more palm trees and lots of artists in residence. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Plockton

Plockton towards the village

Tide's out!

Messing about on a loch in a yacht would be fun

Each cottage has a garden over the road running down to the sea

Competitive Plockton Strip Gardens

Thistles?

We cycled past the cottages, and I thought I had booked a B&B down here, as it was advertised with a sea view. It turned out we were up the hill, in a very good B&B but it lacked character, a modern semi on an estate but the owners couldn't have been nicer. We could see the sea, and the lovely landlady let us use her washing machine for our smelly kit (we did pay her extra for that kindness), and it was good value for £60 for the night. Just a little bit suburban though after our lovely yurt last night and the wild adventurous day we had had. Our land lady also sweet talked a table for us at The Plockton Inn, in retrospect it would have been good to stay there too. We wandered down to the harbour and look who met us at the door.

Stained glass at The Plockton Inn

We had another fabulous meal. I had the starter seafood platter and then a delicious aubergine and tomato curry cooked to perfection. After dinner we wandered along the front and called in at the Plockton Hotel for a nightcap. Well I am blonde, we had been up Bealach Na Ba in a Whiteout so we qualified!

The ales sum up our day in the Plockton Hotel

A wander back to our B&B and we crashed. We were exhilerated and exhausted and secretly quite looking forward to a flat 50km rest day tomorrow, over the sea to Skye.

Touring Tips in Scotland

1 Do not doubt your abilities.

2 The big stand out ascent of the day is not necessarily the hardest.

3 Build in "escape points" to your route for peace of mind in case of accident, illness or most likely severe mechanical problems, especially if limited by time. We could get back to Ardrossan via train if need be from Oban (passing through twice), Strathcarron, Kyle of Lochalsh or Mallaig. We didn't have to test out the escape plan fortunately. There is also a bike bus from Ullapool to Inverness that we didn't know about but could also be very useful.

Tour d'Ecosse quick links:

Planning
Day 1 Isle of Arran and a little Mull of Kintyre
Day 2 Inner Hebrides: Isles of Islay and Jura
Day 3 Inner Hebrides: Isle of Jura-Tayvallich to Oban
Day 4 Oban to Outer Hebrides: Barra and Vatersay
Day 5 Outer Hebrides: Isles of Barra Eriskay South Uist Benbecula Grimsay North Uist Beneray and Harris
Day 6 Outer Hebrides: Isles of Harris and Lewis to Callanish Stones
Day 7 Outer Hebrides: Butt of Ness to Stornoway and Ullapool
Day 8 Ullapool to Gairloch
Day 9 Gairloch to Shieldaig - Applecross Peninsula
Day 10 Bealach na Bà from Applecross to Plockton
Day 11 Plockton to Inner Hebrides: Isle of Skye Armadale
Day 12 Inner Hebrides: Isle of Skye Armadale to Ardnamurchan
Day 13 Ardnamurchan to Inner Hebrides: Isle of Mull to Oban to Loch Melfort
Day 14 Loch Melfort to Tarbert, Loch Fyne
Day 15 Tarbert Loch Fyne to Ardrossan THE END!

Tour d'Ecosse Day 8 Ullapool to Gairloch Saturday 9th July 2016

Tour d'Ecosse Day 8 Ullapool to Gairloch 92km 1345m ascent

Cumulative: 677km 7186m ascent Ferries 9 Islands 13

I like Harris Gin too, served with a slice of grapefruit.

On your 28th wedding anniversary you go up lots of hills, eat some nice fruit cake and get very wet again after a dry start and finish with gin. Today's plan:
We can't believe our trip is half over already, although that's not to say it's downhill from now on. If anything we're more likely to have headwinds to cope with.

Today is our 28th wedding anniversary. Cue more slippery slopes downhill references, and "how many life sentences is that then?" Exactly four we decide, time for a 7 year itch! Well that was after I gave Steve my card with the gorgeous picture of Seilebost beach on Harris in the sun, and he twigged it must be our anniversary as my birthday is August sometime and we got married July sometime.

Another delicious breakfast, Waterside B&B certainly kept up it's superb impression with us. we had tasty Orkney smoked cheese, compote (which seems a competitive BnB thing with secret family recipes) to start and the oh so superb Stornoway Black Pudding as part of the inevitable "full Scottish" I rarely have the full fry up, I much prefer scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, or smoked haddock or kippers with lots of mushrooms. This is the bees knees champion of black pudding. we loved it. I think I may have had smoked salmon and scrambled eggs with mushrooms and black puddin'. I know I definitely had the latter! it wasn't all mixed together either.

Loch Broom towards Ullapool

We hauled our well fed bodies out of Ullapool on the main road alongside Loch Broom after absorbing the directions to the best coffee shop en route from our lovely landlord,  At the top of the loch was a chuffing hill, what a surprise! We carried on chuffing as we took a right onto a much quieter minor road and saw lots of 'slow down' signs for a sportive going in t'opposite direction. Oh yes, it's the normal world's weekend again.

The big hill after the main road wasn't as bad as we thought and we pulled over into a viewpoint, and admired the view of course, and probably ate  NAKD bar #31 and/or a banana #27 as was the norm by now.

Viewpoint after the climb up from Loch Broom. Quieter Gairloch road now. 

A nice dry bench!

It's positively sweltering this morning, we are only wearing arm warmers and gilet as extra layers with bare legs and it's dry. We descend, and as often seems the case, we can't believe how much ascent we have done and feel very sorry for all the sportive riders going the other way. We note the signs for Dundonnell and carefully ride all the way through the village and a couple of kilometres out the other side and as instructed, there was Maggie's coffee shop a little way past the village on the edge of Little Loch Broom.

It was a perfect stop. I think we had a toasted sandwich and home made soup then the fruit cake that hit the spot just perfectly. Lovely. The nice waitress enquired as to our route. She must have been a superb cyclist, apparently only one awful hill before Gairloch. One, she said...

Poolewe

There were five awful hills to Gairloch. We knew that really as we knew the stats, well over the 100m climbing per 10km that we class as a moderately uphill day. The rain set in and we were cold and wet by the time we reached Gairloch. The scenery was great though. We had to tour up and down a bit to find our BnB not at  the pretty end of town. It was OK, yes the pics on the website were accurate but a lot was missed out. Our room overlooked a garden of discarded junk, not the sea as you would presume. The owner and her family were nice enough, it was OK. But after a tough wet day it was just disappointing, Like being in someone's spare room with stuff stuffed in the wardrobe out of the way, and economy bottles of nearly finished shampoo. Sheets stinking of nasty fabric conditioner and slightly fusty. Not recommending this one!

Gairloch

Oh well, we showered, wrang out our kit, set the heater to high and went out to eat. Of course we hadn't factored in it being a Saturday, we hadn't booked. Back on the bikes and down the hill, we ended up on a nettley muddy track trying a short cut in our dry evening clothes. Turned away at the first suggestion and managed to beg our way to a table at The Shieling. Excellent Cullen Skink and steak saved the day, but served with just chips and onion rings. Please give us veg! Oh well, I fell in love with Harris gin served with grapefruit. That was fruit I think!

That is what you call a gin collection!

It was slightly drier as we puffed our way back up to the BnB and our room that was now doing impressions of a steamy hammam.

I'm so proud of Steve, we've had a tough few days with a few more to come and we are coping admirably, enjoying ourselves and appreciating Scotland's diversity in spite of the weather. Gairloch hasn't done it for us, but then again perhaps we didn't see the town at it's best. Most of the day was pretty good.

The chilly windswept palm trees in Gairloch

Touring Tips in Scotland

1 Do not believe the coffee shop assistant, however well meaning, as to how many hills you have to come until destination!

2 Arm warmers are your besties

3 After 28 years your husband still isn't going to remember your wedding anniversary!

Tour d'Ecosse quick links:

Planning
Day 1 Isle of Arran and a little Mull of Kintyre
Day 2 Inner Hebrides: Isles of Islay and Jura
Day 3 Inner Hebrides: Isle of Jura-Tayvallich to Oban
Day 4 Oban to Outer Hebrides: Barra and Vatersay
Day 5 Outer Hebrides: Isles of Barra Eriskay South Uist Benbecula Grimsay North Uist Beneray and Harris
Day 6 Outer Hebrides: Isles of Harris and Lewis to Callanish Stones
Day 7 Outer Hebrides: Butt of Ness to Stornoway and Ullapool
Day 8 Ullapool to Gairloch
Day 9 Gairloch to Shieldaig - Applecross Peninsula
Day 10 Bealach na Bà from Applecross to Plockton
Day 11 Plockton to Inner Hebrides: Isle of Skye Armadale
Day 12 Inner Hebrides: Isle of Skye Armadale to Ardnamurchan
Day 13 Ardnamurchan to Inner Hebrides: Isle of Mull to Oban to Loch Melfort
Day 14 Loch Melfort to Tarbert, Loch Fyne
Day 15 Tarbert Loch Fyne to Ardrossan THE END!

Tour d'Ecosse Day 7 Butt of Ness to Stornoway and Ullapool Friday 8th July 2016

Tour d'Ecosse Day 7 Butt of Ness to Stornoway and Ullapool 96km 1100m ascent

Cumulative: 582km 5815m ascent Ferries 9 Islands 13

Butt of Ness Lighthouse

An early start again today to the northernmost tip of the Isle of Lewis, well early for us as we are not good at early starts. We had to be in Stornoway for 1pm for the only ferry at 2 so we started riding at 7.30am after tip toeing out of the lovely Gearrannan Blackhouse Village and Hostel. Just regular Oats So Simple instant oat pots and bananas for breakfast, still nowhere near as good as the package instant porridge but we were not carrying milk.

Today is surprisingly lumpy but rolling, so cheating lumps if you whizz down fast enough you can get up the other side without too much effort!  Wild moorland out to Butt of Ness, again no cafés. We were trying to find a coffee and second breakfast stop, but never mind there will be one in Ness.

Stiff westerly and gentle showers so the weather is so much better than last two days too.

The long and not windy (referring to bends not wind!)  road to Borvas and Ness

Borvas Church, I think!

Fabulous model building outside a house on the verge in Ness - long winters!

We made it to Ness around 10am.

Typically Scottish, no entry fee, no facilities, no café just great views and wonderful that it wasn't raining.

We couldn't stay long as we have that 2pm ferry to catch and quite a long ride to Stornoway.

So a few pics including the ubiquitous selfie above! Lots of wildlife and crashing waves.

Butt of Ness lighthouse

Departing view

Mark Beaumont launched the Hebriddean Way in March with 12 hours saddle time over two days. Our moving time was about 14 hours counting Vatersay on Tuesday night over 2 and a half days, in horrendous weather carrying panniers. It was too cold and wet to hang about! I don't think we did too badly.

Now we turn south and start our return journey to Ardrossan. first things first we have only 2 1/2 hours to get to Stornoway for the once a day ferry. Retracing our route back to Banvas before turning eastbound towards Stornoway. Nice to have the stiff westerly behind, and just the occasional shower. No café and probably just as well as it would have been impossible not to stop. We may not have made the ferry!

Peat Moors towards Stornoway

and on they go

and on and on!

With a lot of swooping we came into Stornoway. There were traffic lights, pedestrian crossings and a supermarket and a big boat tied up in harbour. To be honest I hope we didn't see the best bit of Stornoway as it seemed a bit sad.....but we didn't stop and explore so not a good judgement. We arrived exactly an hour before sailing, again a bigger boat so check in is earlier for sailings here. Ferry # 9!

Cal Mac Stornoway - Ullapool Ferry

A french lady's "rig" We had long convos about Brexit in this queue with several nationalities :(

Stornoway

Breakfast and lunch demolished on the ferry. An uneventful 2 1/2 hour crossing brought us to delightful Ullapool. We used the last section of our Cal Mac Hopscotch #8 tickets

Moored in Ullapool

Waterside B&B is 100m from the ferry ramp, I took this photo from the front door! We cannot recommend it highly enough. Superb location, delightful, modern yet characterful rooms overlooking the harbour and fabulous hosts, Fiona and Donnie. We were so lucky to snag a single night gap in high season. Stay here. Preferably for several days.

Our room at Waterside overlooking Ullapool harbour

Boat watching, again!

We went out for a walk around the town, I managed to dart into a gift shop and buy an anniversary card for tomorrow without Steve suspecting....it made me giggle. It was a stunning photo of Steilbost beach on Harris in sunshine, the opposite to how we had seen it! we would have loved to have done some sea kayaking.

We fancied curry and had a perfectly OK curry except mine was pretty cold and there was a long wait. We did talk to a party of bikers from Durham sat next to us who were doing the North Coast 500 in a 3 day weekend, they all obviously had prized "pass outs" They had engines on their bikes...and were lovely friendly guys. We were doing a smallish section of the route by coincidence.

11pm at night Ullapool in July Spot our bikes chained to the railings for the night.

Home to our lovely room and we had this view from our cosy bed.

Touring Tips in Scotland

1 Check ferry timetables carefully, especially for how long before a sailing you need to be there. Usually 10 minutes but big car ferries load bikes first and an hour may be required.

2 Phone B&Bs (don't just enquire online) and see if the best ones (who usually do a 2 night minimum stay because they are still solidly booked) have a 1 night gap when cycle touring.

3 Follow @CalMac_Updates on twitter and check religiously where possible. The ferry timetable/schedule and interruptions are frequent due to weather and mechanicals and really impact a time critical tour. we were so lucky to not have any problems.

Tour d'Ecosse quick links:

Planning
Day 1 Isle of Arran and a little Mull of Kintyre
Day 2 Inner Hebrides: Isles of Islay and Jura
Day 3 Inner Hebrides: Isle of Jura-Tayvallich to Oban
Day 4 Oban to Outer Hebrides: Barra and Vatersay
Day 5 Outer Hebrides: Isles of Barra Eriskay South Uist Benbecula Grimsay North Uist Beneray and Harris
Day 6 Outer Hebrides: Isles of Harris and Lewis to Callanish Stones
Day 7 Outer Hebrides: Butt of Ness to Stornoway and Ullapool
Day 8 Ullapool to Gairloch
Day 9 Gairloch to Shieldaig - Applecross Peninsula
Day 10 Bealach na Bà from Applecross to Plockton
Day 11 Plockton to Inner Hebrides: Isle of Skye Armadale
Day 12 Inner Hebrides: Isle of Skye Armadale to Ardnamurchan
Day 13 Ardnamurchan to Inner Hebrides: Isle of Mull to Oban to Loch Melfort
Day 14 Loch Melfort to Tarbert, Loch Fyne
Day 15 Tarbert Loch Fyne to Ardrossan THE END!