Sarah

We have just spent a remote 10 days in the North west of Scotland. Everyone said how it was one of the most beautiful areas in the UK and it really is. Photos don’t do it justice. We cycled from place to place, working our way up the west coast and up hills. Here is the first half of our trip. More to follow. More and full sized photos here. Tom’s photos here.

Wednesday 05 September 2007 - London - Inverness

After spending the afternoon doing important things like cleaning the vegetable drawer in the fridge, about a minute before we had to leave I realised I had forgotten to pack things like a bike lock and bike lights so a frantic rush meant we caught the train to town with about 10 seconds to spare. We made our way to Euston to get the Caledonian Sleeper to Inverness and a journey picnic and a gin and tonic in the cabin meant that we were immediately thrown into holiday. We also knew that when we woke up we would be looking at the Scottish highlands instead of the Euston Road.

Thursday 06

Inverness - Garve (by train)
Cycle to Ullapool (32 miles)
Accommodation: Waterside house

Waking up with a view of the Cairngorms was pretty amazing and travelling the length of the UK is really a good way to spend time sleeping. Although the gently rocking of the train does aid sleep the stopping at the stations and loud people getting on at Crewe doesn’t. We changed at Inverness to get the train to Garve where we actually started cycling. Garve is small and quiet however the first few minutes of cycling saw us hit a traffic jam because of some broken traffic lights which turned from red to orange and then back to red so the front car would start moving and then had to stop immediately. The midges were already out too. It was fixed and we carried on for another few miles before seeing a hotel that offered coffee. We were on holidays so it would be rude not to.

There were another couple of cyclists in there who were making a similar journey to ours but in about a third of the time. They had taken the coast road we were planning to take the day before, and the just looked ill when talking about it and said it was really really hilly and hard and not at all fun. We just thought they needed to relax, cycle less and enjoy it more. It’s a holiday.

We arrived in Ullapool. Had a good look in the tourist information. Had a strange desire to buy Scottish tea towels. Then went and found our B&B which was in a lovely position on the sea front. The evening was spent in a local bistro overhearing a pair of local ladies telling the chef how excited they were to be going to see the Simpsons movie in the mobile cinema that evening. It was the talk of the highlands.

We then enjoyed the local bagpipe band and highland dancers put on a performance in the ferry carpark but retreated to the B&B when the midges got too much.

Friday 07

Ullapool - Achiltibuie - 28 miles
Accommodation: 192 B&B

Getting to Ullapool meant we had some pretty amazing views but it all stepped up a notch when we turned off the main road to head towards Achiltibuie and the Coigach peninsula. The weather wasn’t amazing in the traditional sense of it being full sunshine but it was Scottish amazing because it was so dramatic and constantly changing. The first view of the coast not only included coast but also had sunlit mountains in the background, a river in the foreground and heather a rusty ferns covering everything else. The single track road with hardly any traffic on it went past an incredible sandy beach just as the sun came out.

We arrived at our B&B - up a big hill and past the Polbain stores - and we were greeted by the owners Midge and Peter. Over tea, cherry cake and shortbread we heard all about the village, the village hall and its advanced accoustics, met Harry whose honey we would eat for breakfast and too many other things to mention. Immediately I felt like we weren’t staying in a B&B but in someone’s house. Making it more lovely was the amazing view of the Summer Isles from our bedroom and our bathroom.

In the evening we went to the local pub for some food. Local as in a mile down a remote single track road, past lochs and harbours and heather. The most beautiful trip to a pub I have ever had. Then we had homemade scampi made with locally caught prawns. The best I have ever had. Then a dark cycle ride back up hill.

Saturday 08

Day off in Achiltibuie
Accommodation: 192 B&B

We were planning on a boat trip around the Summer Isles organised by Ian in the Post office but when we woke up and looked at the view there wasn’t really a view and the islands had disappeared in the cloud. So we decided to get on our bikes even though it was our day off and we started off with the Summer Isles Smokehouse just down the road from the B&B, next door to the pub. We bought salmon, trout and cheese and I recommend a visit becuase it’s a third of the price of mail order.

We then just made our way through the village visiting the Polbain Stores, Di’s salad and egg stall in her garden, the beach, the harbour, the village hall to look at the floor which had a massive bump in it because they had switched the underfloor heating on and it had warped - it was the talk of the village - and we ended up at the Hydroponicum.

What an amazing place. I recommend a look at the website to read about it but basically it is a greenhouse in which they grow produce without soil to sell and to provide for the restaurant opposite, and for their own cafe. It was threatened with closure last year but the community and local businesses bought it and now it is run by three locals. We spent a couple of hours there and enjoyed a delicious luch of homemade tomato and herb soup made with tomatoes grown in the room next door. Oh and Lizzie (Midge and Peter’s daughter) worked there and was very helpful in explaining what it was all about.

Then we slowly cycled back to the B&B via the circular route the locals apparently sometimes cycle to get their exercise. The sun had come out and we were treated with a slow climb with the views behind us growing more and more spectacular, and then when we got over the hill the Summer Isles greeted us on the other side.

We came home to enjoy some beer made on the Isle of Skye, oatcakes, cream cheese and big chunks of smoked salmon.

Sunday 09

Achiltibuie - Achmelvich Beach (25 miles)
Accommodation: Achmelvich Beach hostel

Breakfast at 8.30am was a bit painful for Midge as she and Peter had been at a village do until 2am but even so breakfast was still the best we had all holiday, especially with Di’s eggs and Harry’s honey. It was a bit hard to get away as it was slighly rainy and we just chatted in the kitchen until about 11am.

I was about to say the cycle to Achmelvich beach was uneventful but it wasn’t. We first stopped at a little cafe/bookshop and enjoyed hearing about a wedding everyone had been to the night before. We were just listening in, they weren’t actually telling us. Then the whole journey over the 20miles was punctuated with the wedding. The wedding car was parked along the route. The pie shop in Lochinver everyone said we had to go to was closed because of a wedding. Things are so much more spread out in the highlands and if there is something happening then it seems everyone is involved.

But the worse thing about our cycle was coming round a corner and finding a herd of cows on the road. Cows and calves (I tried to keep stories of people being trampled to death out my mind). We were adventurous and dinged our bells and they did actually clear off the road. They all cleared except for one who just stood still, staring at us. As we got closer we noticed it had a ring through its nose and it was massive. There was no where to escape. I momentarily stopped breathing and tried to hide behind Tom. Tom - with no other option - just kept going. Cycled on by (quite slowly) and the bull moved on. I started breathing again and I have never cycled so fast out of a situation.

We arrived at the hostel on the beach and managed to upgrade to a private room which was nice. Our room was next to the female dorm and a lady warned me that a day before there was a man staying in our private room who didn’t realise that the room with the sinks in was mixed sex so he had walked in without knocking and found her there with her top off. So I was to warn Tom that she might be in there with her top off. We were confused. We nicknamed her Tits.

Tom cooked a lovely meal of pasta with a creme fraiche, mushroom and smoked salmon sauce served with Di’s salad (it had flowers in it). Tits had corned beef and mashed potato (not made with real potato) mashed together, formed in a ring with baked beans in the middle. She had to open the window because Tom’s garlic was too smelly. I don’t think Tom was impressed and I was glad I didn’t have to share a room with her.

Monday 10

Achmelvich Beach - Scourie (35 uphill miles)
Accommodation: Fasgadh

This was the hardest day cycling with about seven steep arrow climbs marked on the map so we were prepared for it but it was still worse than we thought. There were some 25% climbs and some we were unable to cycle because our front wheel would just come off the ground in a wheelie action because it was so steep. I had a sense of humour failure towards the end because there was no flat ground. It was either a hill or a downhill with a headwind meaning you still had to cycle. Knackered. One highlight early on in the day was meeting a man we called Mr happy because - yes - he was just so happy. He was on holiday with his very happy wife who didn’t say anything but just smiled. He was very happy to hear about our travels.

But we arrived at the B&B in Scourie eventually. It was called Fasgadh but I’m afraid it earned the nickname Fagstink. It was a bit smelly. But it had a bath which was welcome, even though the water was yellow. I hope it wasn’t nicotine stained water.

We went to the pub at the back of the Scourie hotel for dinner and had the best haddock and chips ever. The haddock had been caught just up the road and it was tasty fish.

Part two of the holiday is now available.

Photos of our holiday in Normandy can be seen here.

More to follow. You won’t believe what I had to eat. I just couldn’t do it.

Tom has already given an account of our weekend but I thought I would add to his thoughts. I think almost everyone had a bit of a rainy one but it pleases me to see that by camping on the southern tip of the Isle of Wight we had the wettest.

It wasn’t always so wet. Friday and Saturday were very sunny and cycled through some lovely country lanes, past some peaceful cows.

Prompting me to tell Tom the popular joke ‘What’s black and white and comes out the Isle of Wight ferry?’. Prompting me to remember why I don’t tell jokes more often.

We just enjoyed a Roman holiday and you can enjoy the photos in my gallery.

I know I haven’t really raised anything yet but this is just to illustrate that I am doing race for life. Perhaps if you click on that button you can donate? Hmm don’t worry I’ll probably send you an email.

We have just cycled across Denmark like this:

from Copenhagen to Esbjerg on National Route 6.

The tan marks are pretty amazing as due to the wearing of cycling gloves and shoes and socks I have white feet and hands. Also due to the one way nature of the journey the tan is also rather one sided with the left side of my body being slightly darker. This is fine because at work I sit with the left side on show and the right against a wall.

We met this man on the ferry on the way home and saw his steam powered bike in the back of his car, which also looked a bit steam powered.

I will show you my collection of bike envy photos at a later date.

Number one need is the Ridgeback World Panorama

Number two is the Jopo

I’m not quite sure how I am going to get them but I do have someone working on the first.

but I see that cheap0.com is now at the new address of flycheapo.com.

It’s new and improved.

So now my pier party is out the way it’s time to think about the next birthday celebration. Tom and I are going on a trip to the Cairngorms next weekend which sometimes can look as beautiful as this:

but unfortunately about half an hour ago it looked like this:

So my working life is full of doom and gloom about climate change and peak oil and about how not only should we not be flying and finding alternative methods of transport but the alternatives are not an option and we really shouldn’t be travelling at all. There is a problem and it will mean we will have to change our lifestyle quite significantly quite soon. One of the lifestyle changes will be travelling less and certainly replacing short car journeys with alternative methods like feet.

But can you maintain a relationship via a conference call? Can my guilt at flying to Edinburgh be overwhelmed by the joyful experience of for once the BA flight being cheaper than Easyjet? Of flying in a really tiny plane on a single leather seat and feeling like I am in first class for the price of an Easyjet ticket. Of getting a sandwich, a piece of cake, a gin and tonic and a cup of tea on my journey and just really excellent service.

We think it’s crazy that people used to handle asbestos or smoke in their office but the next generation will look back and won’t believe we all took flights for no money. I do feel guilty having to do this now but perhaps I feel guilty because I enjoyed it too much.

I can’t really tell you what I was expecting from the Storr because I have never taken part in such an event. Such events don’t happen very often.

I also can’t show you what it was like because no photo taken in the pitch black on a mountain with only a full moon, relfectors guiding a path and hundreds of head torches can possibly do it justice.

I can’t do justice to the sounds of walking through a forest with music bouncing of rock, the poetry of Sorley Maclean and the silence of 35 people walking along taking it all in.

It felt like I was just going to ride a roller coaster, but a grown up roller coaster. I knew it was going to be a little bit scary but I knew it was going to be controlled. We were going to an art event but we had to work for it and wear proper walking boots and five layers and gloves and a hat.

The Isle of Skye was at its best when we emerged from the forest and looked behind us to see the full moon reflecting on the water and islands and mountains in the distance. Following the lights and the sounds up we stopped on a narrow path to take it in and only then you realise when you shine your torch down that there is a seemingly endless drop and the wind is getting stronger and any stronger you might fall off. Then at the top when you reach the lit Old man of Storr you sit in a natural ampitheatre and watch the rocks light up and a male dancer making shadows in this vast area and you wonder how you could be so cold in August and you wonder what the dancer is wearing that allows him to dance for an hour on a mountain on the Isle of Skye everynight for 6 weeks at 1am.

On the way down you hear the voice of a solo singer singing gaelic tunes and then you see her on a solo hill, the only thing lit for miles, apart from the man made star constellations on the islands opposite.

I can’t explain what it felt like because I have never experienced anything like it.

The Storr in the day

Pancakes with sugar and lemon (made with handy egg and powdered milk)

Eggs, ham and holiday cheese

Boiled eggs eaten with a shared tea spoon

Pasta with pepper relish

Paella

Sausage and bean casserole (my favourite)

Steak, pots and salad

Ferry picnic: Tine cream cheese, Kaptaein crackers and smoked salmon

Hey I am in Norway. look

ø æ å

We are camping and cycling but today is a day off cyling so we are just hanging out. We were supposed to be going on a trip to a big rock which was 4 hours walk but we thought we were getting a bit too keen with all this physical activity so we stayed in bed reading. It was also raining all night and a bit cloudy. It has been super hot the whole time which allowed us to enjoy white sandy beaches on the North sea. We even went swimming at one point but we had to leave because Tom lost all feeling in his legs. It was the sort of temperature you imagine the North sea to be.

The ferry over was great and we took advantage of the breakfast buffet. Then a train to our first place to stay near Egersund. Campsites in Norway have kitchens and our first campsite had a really really nice kitchen. ooh and it had a massive communal tipi for everyone to use but becuase Norway is generally really empty we were the only ones using it. We had a nice dinner in the tipi.

So now we are in Stavenger and we went the the Norwegian Petroleum museum and the Canning factory which is all about the sardine canning trade in norway. The petroleum museum is all about oil rigs and the oil trade in Norway. They were both very interesting and very interactive. I went down an escape shute and pretended to escape from an oil rig and I packed rubber sardines into tins.

Now we are going to go back to the campsite and cook jambalaya. You just wait till you see what we have been cooking. Donæt worry i have taken pictures of every meal. This mornign we had pancakes and maple syrup.

Oh and sorry no one will be getting postcards as they are 1 pound each and thatæs just too much to pay for a postcard.

Turns out after 75 miles of cycling over the Mendips and round the Somerset levels the only thing holding my bike together was the front pannier rack. Luckily the forks only decided to give way about 50m from Tom’s house and luckily I have a dad with a garage of bikes so I am still able to go to go cycling in Norway. I am now the proud owner (well loaner) of my dad’s mountain bike, the new must have touring bike apparently, freshly washed by my mum who also provided a delicious meal from her garden to complete the swap.

The camping season started well and served as a good practice for cycling the North Sea Cycle route in Norway.

Despite there being a very high percentage of rain in Norway I am hoping it doesn’t rain too much as with my rain covers on my panniers my bike looks like a fairground ride. My front pannier covers are bright yellow, my back ones green and if I take my handlebar bag that has a red cover. So fairground ride or traffic light. Oh and I did I mention I also have red flashing lights?

The campsite was great. We were the only campers. It was a small organic farm in Broughton with a small farm shop to match.

We camped in a field next to some chickens…some jumping chickens. Did you know chickens jumped? They were very free range and ranged in a field with bushes. The bushes obviously held some delights for the chickens because they would crouch down and then lauch themselves like cats at the bush and try and catch something. Even when we weren’t watching them we would be accompanied with the soundtrack of jumping chickens. They were also surrounded by an electric fence - as Tom found out when he tried to take a picture of the chickens and got a little shock. Unfortunately the chickens don’t seem to have very good memories and seeing a chicken get a little shock (probably quite a big shock to a chicken) is a little disturbing.

Our bathroom was in a little glade and included a tap and an outdoor solar powered shower. Unfortunatly because there wasn’t really any solar power to be captured this weekend the shower was a bit cold and a bit drafty. Nice power shower action though. The privy (that what the farmer called it) was a little wooden hut at the end of the field with a lovely view of the farm. As there were no other people around many a sit on the privy was enjoyed with the door open looking at the view.

As a practice camping cooking weekend it was very successful. Friday night Tom cooked carbonara - very good for camping due to the minimum preparation required. Saturday night was lovely steak from the butcher in Stockbridge, John Rob’s. He employs 11 butchers and it certainly was crowded. Then we had salad made from lettuce from the farm we were staying on, tomato, olives and feta. Finished off with pan roasted jersey royals. All cooked in our new pans, with the aid of our home made stove wind break. It matches the utensil case.

Breakfast this morning was sausage and eggs. Sausage from John Rob’s and eggs from the chickens in the adjacent field. We asked the chickens to look away while we ate but they seemed to be happy just jumping around.

I have to tell someone. I just made the most amazing bag I have ever made in my life (my sewing life which is actually only 5 months) but it’s amazing. It is a camping utensil case with grey ripstop outer fabric and waterproof inner lining. It also has red velcro. It is only 3 days until the start of the camping season and I think the combination of sewing and camping is too much for me to take.

I said goodbye to Brighton today. I’m sure I will see it again sometime but as Tom is moving to Edinburgh that will now become my new weekend destination.

I said goodbye to the West pier which has really taken a kicking over the last 3 years. It was a near complete structure when Tom first went there but since then it has suffered partial collapse from a storm and about 3 fires.

I said goodbye to North Laine, the Pavillion and the resaurant on Weston Road that still has no customers. We didn’t manage to get up early to say goodbye to the sea swimmers. I also said goodbye to two new amazing things, the Supermarket Taj and Brighton Library which wins my award for one of the best new public spaces built in recent times.

I won’t miss the huge amount of parents with stupid buggies…and…that’s about it. I really like it. I like the sea.

I will sort of also miss the train journey but excitingly a ghost station has emerged - Dunbridge - never heard of before but it marks the start of our intriguing rendezvous next weekend, being the mid point between Bristol and Brighton.

So Brighton was good. I’m just glad Tom chooses to study in holiday destinations.

Oh I forgot the most important thing. I will miss Chewy brown Bread. Here starts my quest to find chewy brown bread in Bristol.

I just remembered the emerald green Soca River in Slovenia.

I also think that for the second night in a row I had a dream that someone told me my watch is a Rolex when it isn’t, it’s a digital casio.