Ride days 5 and 6: to Duag Bridge Bothy then Cannich

Did you miss me? It was bound to happen that I’d have no connection at some point. I’ll do my best to reconstruct the last 2 days, but it’s going to be tough. If I’m honest, half the reason I keep this blog is so I remember things. The days are loooong and varied

Day 5 Scourie to the bothy

In the morning I met another cycling widow. The campground I was in also had the local grocery store and a German couple stopped at it. The previous day I had ridden with the guy for about 15 minutes. He explained that he was on a trip with his partner. She drove the rental camper from place to place while he biked. You hearing this, Karen? 😉

I thanked her for her service.

The ride in the morning was again stunning. Lochs, hills and not much traffic on the single lane highway.

I think in the afternoon the scenery actually got rather dull because I remember nothing of it, other than seeing a golden eagle. I may have been off road for a bit, but it must have been decent (unlike today). I was aiming to wild camp because there was nothing near the approximate place I wanted to land, but I randomly pulled up a map where I had made note of bothy locations and realized I was going to be very close to two. So I had a plan!

Stopped at the last restaurant I saw and had an early dinner and charged all my devices. The kid running the place didn’t know anything about the bothies because ‘I’m not one of those weirdos who rides a bike really far and sleeps in sheds.’ Fair enough!

After about 30 minutes off route I found it! If I am to be honest, it was a little disappointing at first. I expected some ancient rock structure (like many of them are), but I got a rather more modern old schoolhouse. Still pretty cool.

It was occupied by one person already and 2 others showed up. Stewart is a Brit about a decade my senior and is doing the Cape Wrath walk. Paul is a very involved bothy volunteer, enthusiast and generally a very outdoorsy type. The other guy, also doing a walk of some sort, was silent and appeared quite broken.

Paul, Stewart and I chatted all evening. Mostly we listened to stories about bothies and Paul’s adventures and desire to become a bothy dwelling hermit.

Love the bothy concept and really happy I got to stay in one.

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Day 6: to Cannich

Today may have been the toughest bike ride I’ve ever done.

I linked up with the An Turas Mor trail shortly after getting started this clear and crisp morning. At 7:30 am no less. This trail is the northern leg of the great north trail which spans the UK from south to north. It’s a mostly off road bike packing route, born in part out of frustration that the options for riding here were either highways or extremely difficult mountain biking routes. So it’s supposed to be ‘gravel bike friendly’. (To be clear, my bike should be more capable and versatile than a gravel bike.)

An Turas Mor is also the foundation of my plans for this ride. Because it sounded like the right fit. I want to be off road, or at least be in the places where off road tracks lead. I am an enthusiastic rider and a pretty determined person, but not a particularly technical or skilled cyclist. I spent a lot of money last year on a bike that would take me almost anywhere I want to go, having learned the hard way in Colombia that the machine does matter.

So the first 50 km were pretty tough. A fair bit of chunky old *roads* and a lot of climbing, of course. It took 5 hours of riding. The bonuses were

• I saw 2 people in that time
• I had entire valleys (glens) completely to myself
• I saw a herd of deer

Pretty amazing. But not so amazing that I didn’t jump right back on the highway when I came to it! For about 20 km, until I found a roadside cafe. From there I planned the rest of the day.

The choice was call it a day at 4:30 and camp close by, 50 km of busy highway or 50 km of more off road. Of course I chose the latter. 🤦‍♂️

It was absolutely punishing. I was on rough hydro tracks in a valley that lead to a huge dam (Orrin). There was nothing flat. There was nothing solid. Everything was a mud puddle. And the only way out was through.

It took another 5 hours. I was racing sunset and losing. You really just can’t speed up riding in these conditions. I cursed, I groaned, I yelled and I wondered why the f*** anyone would plan this as a biking route and also how anyone could claim to enjoy it.

And I’ll bet you anything I’ll do it again tomorrow. Because I was where I wanted to be. And I was absolutely alone.

Also, I broke my belt this morning. Instead of a chain, my bike uses a carbon belt. The manufacturer claims it’ll last 30,000 km. A mechanic told in the real world they last more like 15,000 km. For Chad Mohr, 6,500.

The downside of belts is that they are not easy to come by, so of course I carry a spare. Another downside of belts is they don’t come apart so the bike frame has to have a notch to slide it through, and also a tensioning system so it can be taken off / made tight. Well, my tensioning bolts are extremely hard to turn, so now stripped, and I can’t properly tension the new belt or remove it. If I get a rear flat or if the belt slips or snaps again, it’s game over for this ride. Keep your fingers crossed.

It’s crazy how calm I am when bad things like this happen on my rides. I wish I could deal with regular life issues with the same serenity.