Day 10

Sanquhar to Loch Lomond

We woke this morning to Scottish rain. I have cycled in Manchester and Lakeland rain and after a full day of cycling in the best rain Scotland had to offer I need to inform you Scottish rain is the wettest.

Dad started by replacing the flexible spoke we had used last night with a permanent one. Our friendly host Angus helped with the loan of a spanner. We cycled in the rain on the quiet road from Sanquhar to Crawford John where we saw only three cars in 90minutes.We stopped at a service station 30 miles south of Glasgow where we met Steve and Mona from Norfolk who were touring around Scotland.

The 30 miles to Glasgow flew by on what semed to be an never ending downhill.The motorists through Glasgow were fantastic and gave us plenty of room as we made our way to the city centre. I thought it was slightly odd that the locals were cheering us on and pumping their fists in the air as we rode through Hamilton, Gorbals and the city centre. What I hadn't realised was that Chris Hoy the multiple gold medal winning track cyclist was in town for the Sky Bike Event - Glasgow's largest mass participation cycle event.

Glasgow was full of shoppers and we proudly walked through the town pushing our bikes. When I enter a new town I often hear myself subconciously whistling the theme tune from a spaghetti western as we arrive on our two wheeled horses and try and find a local saloon for coffee. Unfortunately this time we found Glasgow's roughest saloon and had to make a swift exit after our food as we were too scared to use their toilet.

We followed Loch Lomand cycle path for the next 20 miles which must have been designed for mountain bikes as 80% of it was poorly surfaced. The rain got even heavier and we had to negotiate large sections of water logged path.
We arrived at the Loch Lomand Youth Hostel soaked through but were delighted to find they had an evening meal service and a laundrette to wash our clothes.

I'm hoping for better weather tomorrow as we cycle to Glencoe.

Great news about the cricket today. We were met with some mixed responses when we asked how the cricket was getting on in Glasgow!

Thanks for all your generous donations to St Lukes Cheshire Hospice. I'm delighted to have exceeded the £500 target with five days to go.
It has been incredibly motivating to watch donations come in during our ride. Donations can still be made on the Justgiving website or to me in person if you would still like to make a contribution.

Thanks also for your comments - cheeky and/or supportive, I read them as soon as I'm off the bike at the end of the day.

Simon

Stats

Total Ascent 2293
75.2 miles

Sent from my iPhone

Sent from my iPhone