This was without doubt our best day by far. We rode up the Great Glen alongside the Caledonian canal, through glorious surroundings with a strong wind on our backs. The sun shone down and we were flying.
After only a couple of miles we saw a lone cyclist ahead. He was another End to Ender, completing the distance in an impressive 8 days. More impressively, he was also doing it alone, carrying everyhting he needed his back. And just to make things that little bit harder he had also brought with him a motorbike lock weighing almost 5 kilos! It was ok though, as he’d managed to offset the weight by using a truly awesome titanium and carbon bike…
Chris and his excessively heavy chain
Chris’ route plan consisted of nothing more than a notebook with a few road names scrawled in it. He wasn’t even carrying a map!! Jon Jon was not impressed.
We stayed with Chris for a good 60 miles, us all enjoying having an additional man in our peloton (check us out with our snazzy foreign cycling words!).
We decided to follow Chris’ route, to avoid Inverness, heading straight north from Drumnadrochit. This had two drawbacks:
1. We needed to head over Milton Hill, a particularly cheeky 15 percenter that went on for three quarters of mile.
2. We failed to meet up with John ‘The Rabbit’ Cooper.
The hill was a killer, but it was great to prove to ourselves that we could still get up something as steep despite having ridden 800 miles in the last week. It was encouraging to see that after our initial dip during Days 3&4, we were now stronger than when we’d started. Unfortunately for Wee Chris Shields, he was now fully in his third day dip, and he was faced with having to get off and walk. Apparently it was worth it for the looks of sympathy from the passengers of a bus driving the other way. – It was carrying the local Women’s Institute to the regional flower arranging championships. (Chris wasn’t getting much sympathy from his team mates at the time, us both relishing the chance to show off our new and improved Man Thighs)
The misplaced confidence at the foot of Milton Hill.
As for The Rabbit, John had earlier set off ahead, with the intention of giving us a target to catch. Unfortunately, we’d ‘forgotten’ to tell him that we’d changed the route. When we met up with The Essex Boys (more on them later), we dropped so far behind that there was no chance of catching him. What’s more, he was riding off like a man possessed!
Ultimately, John had to wait in Inverness for the rescue van to arrive. As he hadn’t taken any cash with him, we phoned to suggest he sell his body in payment for a scone and a cuppa. By the time he was reunited with the boys, he was ravenous, so we can only assume he didn’t find any takers….
Where is that Rabbit?
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