Toady was one of the most brutal days I have ever had cycling. I knew we had a huge climb to do (Bealach na Ba) across to Applecross but even before we reached the cimb we had a 600 ft hill to get over. Bealach started with beautiful scenery across to Skye and very manageable gradients of 6 to 7% but after a mile the gradient increased 10% ... 12% and as we continued up the climb so did the gradient up to a whopping 17%. But to make it more difficult it's a single track road with passing places and multiple Camper vans coming at you so it was stop followed by a difficult restart on a stupid gradients.
Near the top there were about 8 or 9 hairpin bends and to my relief the gradient waas only about 10% so the final 500 ft was comfortable.
The top at 2200ft offered fantastic views back down the valley and across to Skye - the mountains on Skye which were hovering above a mist cloud on the sea.
Next was a fantastic descent of 2200ft into Applecross where a quick coffee was in order but there was no view as the mist was at sea level. We next had what looked a great cycle around the Applecross peninsular but it turned into a nightmare - it was about 30 miles and the road surface was lumpy and the road constantly went up slopes of 15% - there must have been 20 of them ! - There was alos nothing there so not even a chance to stop for refreshments - by the time we got off the peninsular at Sheildaig I was running on empty so a great Chowder AND a BLT werwe orderd to get the energy back up.
A rolling last 35 miles through Torridon and along Loch Marree were almost enjoyable after what we had been through previously ! and we arrived in Gairloch by 6:45 for a few refreshments in our Hotel for the night at the Olde Inn