7hrs 14 mins in the saddle
After a good 12 hours sleep Andris was feeling slightly better but still very under the weather. He survived yesterday's ride but we were concerned he might not be able to repeat that feat without having any dinner the night before and only a slice of toast in the morning.
After a slight detour around Ayr we went through the town centre and headed for Prestwick passing by Troon and Irvine. Just outside of Johnstone, after a great downhill, Andris pulled up and armed with his baby wipes made the first trip of the day for the woods. We had made it 7 days on the bikes before such an emergency.
After another 30mins or so we reached the cycle path over the Erskine Bridge. It was at this point Grum had to leave us to be the Best Man at David Chalmers wedding. We wished him all the best and kept our fingers crossed that JJ's planned Skype appearance would work without a hitch. I have to say we were pretty jealous that Grum would have two and a half days off the bike to rest the legs. But he was to re-join us on the Sunday evening after a boozy weekend.
The dual-carriage stretch of the A82 at Dumbarton was one of the worst experiences we had. It was very busy around 3pm on a Friday afternoon with drivers desperate to get home and they weren't too receptive to any cyclists on the road. It was the only time I felt uneasy on the bike - I don't know if that was due to the reputation of this section of road or the actual situation I found myself in. It certainly wasn't enjoyable.
Once we got off the dual carriageway things settled down and we were much more relaxed. On a layby outside Cameron House Hotel we met Eliza, Bruce's better half.
Cycling along the banks of Loch Lomond was definitely a highlight and as we got further up the Loch we can confirm that in fact the sun does shine high on Ben Lomond. It was nearly impossible not to be inspired and we got a bit of a team singsong on the go. For some, the lyrics had been learnt by numerous visits to the cheese floor in Liquid nightclub!
We stopped in Tarbet to take on some water and were slightly worried the remaining 17 miles to Crianlarich would be very punishing. It turned out to be a relaxing, quiet road where we passed a boy on his touring bike carrying the biggest set up we had seen. Fraz loved it! Even though this section was pretty quiet we did have one close call that was totally avoidable. A transit van overtook Bruce on a stretch where a 4x4 towing a boat was coming in the other direction. Bear in mind we were cruising down a hill at 25mph at this point so there was no need for the aggressive overtaking manoeuvre which ended up with Bruce being squeezed out to the last inch of road and the van clipping the rear of the boat.
Slightly shaken we carried on and the climb to Crianlarich was pretty enjoyable. Fraz livened up proceedings by playing the Indiana Jones theme tune on his phone as we raced onwards! I was bent double with laughter at the banter and almost forgot to pedal at times! Bruce was being treated to a night in the 'Love Shack' with Eliza while the 4 remaining Spokers ruffed it in the Youth Hostel.
Another great day of weather! Tans were coming on very nicely.
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