Day 14. Sun 28th Aug. Evanton to Tongue. 68 Miles

Severe Weather!

Imagine if you will, opening your front door and stepping out into a 36mph wind slapping at your left cheek. As you hit the pavement the wind hits gale force 9 and you struggle to stand up as your blown sideways  in the 70mph gusts. Then it starts to piss down with rain. Seriously this is not the weather to go out for a walk to the shops. Best go back inside and wait till it stops raining at least. Sensible thing to do is get in the car for the journey, stay warm and dry. After all you new it was going to be this bad because it was forecast the night before...............

Having told Jane last night that it would be sensible to stay with the group today because of the severe weather warning we had seen on the news . We gathered our bikes and our thoughts outside the grotty NOVAR ARMS HOTEL. Jenny and Dave were expecting our company. The rain and the wind already getting stronger. Jane glanced across her shoulder and said something like," Let's get this done come on"!  Like a lamb all my resolve gone in an instant I followed. Jenny said "Go on we'll see your smiling face at the end" resigned to not seeing her friend again for the day. Sympathetically I left them and we were off again.

Having cycled through plenty of rain during this trip, I felt prepared for the worst. Maybe it's best to get this over and done with as quickly as possible. How wrong I was.
It soon dawned on me that I had completely the wrong choice of clothing. Jane had her Gortex weather proof's on and seemed OK. After an hour of struggling in the wind we reached the open moorland after ARDROSS FOREST. It hit us with avengance, wallop. The wind was unabating. Wicked in it's ferocity. Ripping at my sodden clothes, taunting me for my stupidity. After an hour and a half we had only covered 12 miles. We would have usually covered 25 by now! I knew I would be in serious trouble if I didn't get some waterproofs and some warmer clothes on. Having just three thin layers on which were all wet through. The wind was bitterly cold and prevented me from getting any kind of warmth from the rhythm of cycling. I phoned the support vehicle and left a message for some assistance.
The scheduled stop was the FALLS OF SHIN  13 miles away and I was now shivering cold.
Thankfully Tony phoned back right away and said that KEN was still at the other hotel, but would soon be leaving in the van to catch us up. So we pushed on and because of the 5 min stop Jane was now feeling the cold as well. Ken eventually caught up 1 mile from the falls. Not really a good idea to stop in the middle of nowhere in  the pissing rain to get changed so he continued to the falls and we met him there.

The Falls of Shin on a better day!

Ken was a bit flustered as quite a few of the group were having problems in the weather, so he wanted to get away as quickly as possible to help the others.
A quick change and into the cafe'/souvenir shop. By now I was shivering uncontrollably, teeth chattering. I needed something warm inside me. A nice bowl of hot soup and a dry set of clothes helped no end and I was soon back to my normal self. To my surprise Caroline was the next in. Without her boys. Having decided discretion is the better part of valor, had left them behind to fend for themselves. " Too bloody slow" she said.
Now Caroline is a thin slip of a woman, but they are obviously made of sterner stuff in Derbyshire. She had a flimsy pair of shorts on and was coping much better than I.
Just as we three were about to go the others came in together. Pete had his usual glazed, 'What the fuck am I doing this for' expression. Jenny looked like she had been having a hard time of it. She was soaked through and freezing cold. I felt a pang of guilt for not staying with her and gave her a sympathetic hug as we passed in the doorway. She felt really cold.

So the three of us set off. Caroline's cheery demeanor raised my spirits as we took turns in facing the wind and rain head on. All was going well despite the weather, with only 15 miles to cover until our next stop at the CRASK INN where they were apparently expecting us.
At the current pace we should be there in an hour and a half!.  It was really tough going. You couldn't hear anything but the wind. When you did get a slight respite from some trees you had to brace yourself when you came out as you were blown across the road by it's shear ferocity. Then with about 2 miles till the Pub . Bang.. What the? One of my front spokes snapped and the wheel instantly buckled. I was sheltering behind Caroline at the time. She must have only been 20ft in front of me by the time I'd realised what had happened. I called out, but because of the howling wind she couldn't hear me. I watched as they slowly drifted into the distance. I stopped to remove the spoke, quietly cursing to myself. Today of all days.... They would realise I wasn't there soon enough. After about 10 minutes of wobbling along Jane appeared on the horizon. She got to me full of apologies for leaving her cycling buddy behind. We got to the pub cold wet and tired from our exertions in the storm. What a welcome site. A welcome as warm as the soup and a hot stove to dry our clothes over.
We gather around the stove to warm our bones. Midsummer in the north of Scotland . Delightful. They even had hooks above to hang our jackets and hooks on the mantle sills to hang sodden gloves. I made another call to the support van, hoping that they would have a spoke to fit my wheel.

The Wonderful Crask Inn. On a better day.

Ken arrived after about 15 mins and managed to tension the other spokes and get rid of the worst of the buckle. After about 45 mins Caroline and Jane were eager to get going and get this day finished. So I told them to go on without me as today was not a day for hanging around. I was about to leave when the others arrived. First in were Sunni and Chris, followed shortly after by the boy's without their leader. Dave was with them and eventually Jenny. I was shocked to see the state she was in. She was frozen, sodden and sobbing. Now Jenny is a strong woman and to see her in such distress was quite alarming. She was being fussed over by all the others, with people running in and out with dry clothes for her to wear. I had to go though and I genuinely thought that they would not let her continue as she was in such a bad way. I had 25 miles to go on my own in the storm and I desperately wanted this day to end. I gave Jenny a warm hug and some words of support then slipped out to face what mother nature could throw at me! The last 25 miles took me 3 hours! The wind,  getting harsher as the day went on, now tasted of salt. As I rounded one sheltered corner , I was caught by a ferocious blast and was carried across the road and almost over the other side into the estuary. Just clipping the verge on the other side before leaning into the wind and back over to the left hand side. Man that was close. It was quite a drop over the edge.
The last 6 miles seemed to take an age. after each turned corner I was expecting to see the outline of the town or something resembling civilisation, but nothing just desolate barren heathland and the mocking wind to greet me as I rounded the bend.
Just to cap the day, with a few hundred metres to go, I was climbing up the last hill of the day to reveal the town and seafront beneath me when a car came unannounced at my side. Startled I lost control of the bike, veered off the road and did a comedy roll down the verge to my left. Ending upside down legs a-kimbo against a mesh fence. The driver was quickly out of the car apologising." I'm OK mate" I said. I could see the town from my prone position and was not in the mood to exchange pleasantries. So wiped myself down and rolled down the hill to the wrong Hotel! They did indeed have a reservation for Chris from Bike Adventures. But this was the 'Posh' Hotel. Very nice too! I excused myself and headed down the road to our 2* accommodation. Ken was there to take my bike, I asked how Jenny was and was astonished to hear that they had let her carry on. " You are F****ng Joking". I said. "Didn't you see the state she was in". Ken shot off to find her. She'd managed another 20 miles and was found crouching in a bush, just a few miles up the road. Thankfully this time Ken persuaded her to call it a day and except a lift to the Hotel. I skulked to my room and had a much needed hot shower and decided then that I would stay with Jenny tomorrow and not be swayed to do otherwise.
I asked the lady on reception if  they had any facilities to dry my clothes. I was despatched back to my room to pick up said items and she took the lot and had them dried for me. Thank you Maam! I slipped into the bar to meet Caroline and Jane for a drink. When Jenny arrived Jane went to run her a hot bath. Leaving the two of us to chat about what had been a rather testing  bloody horrendous day. I informed Caroline that she was Jane's new cycling buddy for tomorrow as I was staying with Jenny.

The Ben Loyal Hotel

When Dave Jenny and Jane sat down we were harrassed by a Pissed Scottish poacher who wanted to dance with Jane and kept saying that I looked 'serious'. Apart from that minor irritation we had another  great night at the BEN LOYAL HOTEL. The food and company again first class. They even let us hang all our wet stuff on the radiators in the restraunt, I only had a wet pair of shoes by that time! Happy Days.