•Continuing our series on Matt Cook’s epic bike trip
Monday 20th September – (Day 21) –
Rest Day for Matt. Lie in till 8am - luxury!! Walked into Stranraer this morning a lovely sunny day. George made friends with a pony in the field by the campsite. Matt's airbed developed a hole which got bigger so he slept on the ground last night so we managed to get a new one from Argos. Walked down to the water so George could have a swim. Had tea at a pub in town where we ate last night as it was dog friendly.
Wednesday 22nd September – (Day 23) –
46 miles today with 834m climbing. Luckily a short day as the weather is awful - windy and rainy. Arrived at Luss Caravan and Camping Site with a nice pitch by Loch Lomond which is shrouded in mist in the rain although George enjoyed a swim! Matt cycled to Garvock then the road was shut so he had to do a 4 mile detour to Braeside, then past Port Glasgow along to Bishopton and across the Erskine Bridge and on to Milton, Alexandria and on to Luss. Similar route to the one we took. Sadly the weather doesn't look much better for the next few days
Thursday 23rd September – (Day 24) –
93.5 miles, 1538m climbing. Matt is now over half way in miles - 2,006 miles. Weather was drizzly then heavier showers but the wind was the main problem for Matt. He cycled from Luss to Arrochar on to Inveraray down to Lochgilphead then round to Tarbert down to Redhouse, Claonaig and then on to Carradale. Nice campsite with a lovely beach if only the weather had been nice .
Our trip in the motorhome was a bit hairy in places on single track road with passing places but we made it.
Tuesday 21st September – (Day 22) –
88.9 miles, 1445m climbing, dry and sunny with a cross tail wind. Matt left the campsite at 8.20am and arrived at 3.15pm at South Whittlebury Farm just outside Largs. Cycled to Castle Kennedy, then up to New Luce, Barrhill, round to Girvan, Grangetown, Dailly, Maybole, Allowance, Ayr, past Prestwick airport, to Troon, Irvine, Kilwinning, Dalry down to Fairlie and to Largs.
Steve and I followed the A77/A78 passing Culzeath Castle, Turnberry and stopping at Ayr for lunch and a walk along the beach so George could have a swim!
Friday 24th September – (Day 25) –
84.5 miles, 1,311m climbing. Quite a challenge today as it rained heavily on and off all day. Matt left at 8.20am in the rain from Carradale campsite to Campbeltown then on to West Port and up to West Tarbert down to Dunmore, Kimberly and up to Inverneill before arriving at Lochgilphead at 3.15pm. The campsite is opposite Loch Gilp within walking distance of a nice little town with some lovely different little shops. A lot of the hotels/pubs in Scotland where we have been are not serving food as they have no staff.
Steve and I started off on the A842 which was very hilly in places but not as narrow as yesterday. Stopped in Campbeltown but raining so hard we just took a couple of photos and drove on up the A83 all the way to Lochgilphead. Some stunning scenery along the coast- shame it was raining most of the day!
