Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Highland Trail 550 - Part 3

Day 5

We're awoken at 4:30 by the alarm, and are away not long after.

Glen Canisp is not quite as slow a trudge as I remembered. In fact with our  +tyres we rode quite a lot of it.



We got to Oykel Bridge for 10am and had bacon sandwiches and coffee.

Then over the mountain road to Ullapool.


A lovely day for it.


In Ullapool, a fish sandwich. Oh and remember those brake pads? We bought a hacksaw to chop down the ones which we had that were too big if needed!


After Ullapool comes the Coffin Road, which can only be described as nasty.


Then down to the Dundonnell valley. It was still relatively early so we continued onward, starting the climb over into Fisherfield. Tom really wanted to get to Shenavall bothy for the night.

Just before the top of the climb Tom started feeling unwell. We decided that heading back down the hill for the night was the best option, then making a decision the next day as to carrying on or not.

A few hours later Tom was feeling better and we were snugly tucked up in a bunkhouse.

Day 6

I thought it important that Tom had a long sleep, so not a particularly early start.

We retraced our route from the previous day and were soon looking into Fisherfield. It was good to see so little water in the river.


With the water barely ankle deep, Tom makes his way across the river.


The next 8 miles took around 4 hours. Tough going with a loaded bike. 


This day didn't stop giving though. After the Fisherfield crossing comes the Postman's path. More bike pushing.


We stopped just short of Kinlochewe for the night. We'd done a grand total of 30 miles for the day.

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