Today's ride is yet another day with multiple climbs - on the 4 days so far we have climbed 2400, 6770, 4161 and another 4470 feet today - thats 17800 ft so far !
Combine that with multiple gradients between 10 - 15% and very rough lumpy road surfaces - you could say this North Coast 500 isn't exactly easy !
Today we left Ullapool and headed to the end of the Loch at Ardnair where we saw the Hebrides ferry just coming in to port. The first big climb of the day took us up to the Knockan Crag Nature Reserve and after a much earned descent we were at the Elpin Tea Rooms - it would be rude not to stop so we called in for Teas & Coffees and we were informed by the host that we would stay dry today as the latest forecast was much better.
Onward to Ledmore junction and headed to Loch Assynt where we stopped to take some pictures at Incnadamph looking across to Ardvreck Castle. Next we had another 800ft climb over to Unapool where we had lunch at the Rock Stop Cafe before another climb up to Kylesku and another up from the bridge - just after Badcall Rob developed a puncture so a roadside tube change was needed before we headed into Scourie where there was a convenient Bike Repair Man - we bought 2 new tubes and he inflated our pressures to 90psi.
The climb shortly after was the steepest of the day with a sign warning 12% but my Garmin showed 15% - two cyclists were pushing there bikes up the hill but me and Rob managed to cycle up and overtake them to boot !
A nice ride down to Laxford Bridge left only 4 miles to our B&B however Robs back tyre went flat again possibly due to grit inside the tyre so another frustrating tube change was needed after which one last 200ft climb left us with a difficult 2 miles descent into Rhiconic due to a strong headwind which was coming at us straight off the coast.
And that was it day 4 completed - a tour total of 266.4 miles and 17,800 ft of climbing.