To cycle means to take full responsibility (all the best to S and F!). So, today I did not start without having a proper breakfast. It is astonishing how many nice little cafés there are in that area which seems to be a quite rough region. You would expect more shebeen full of smoke and dust. But no: Nice and friendly service and a nice and friendly atmosphere
It took me a little longer to leave that place of peace and warmth. To write at a proper table is a bit more fun than in a coldish and slightly wet tent. I finally left at about noon to head to Stranraer a tad more than 100 km to the west. A already found and booked a camping site there, that box was ticked. All I had to do was to pedal on. That went quite well, especially compared to the start of the day before. Again, the highest climb was right at the start of the leg. Only the highest, not the most severe, as I found out later. Quite happy with myself I found a bay at the sea for a first rest after about two hours. Even after that everything went on quite perfectly and the weather was more than just okay.
But then I learned to know something about the scottish concept of a cycling path. This is a nice topic anyway, since they are hardly known here and so my route was along a primary road most of the time. I was aware of that beforehand and at least the cycling routes are very well signed. The main part of my journey is along the NCN 7. This route then make exquisite twists from time to time. For instance shortly after Palnure when it made a turn to the right in a square angel. Right in front of your there is one of the gates you have to open to pass which is not a task easy to accomplish with a fully loaded bike. But to add some adventurous flavor right after the gate there was an enormous ascent. Well, fortunately I lost the chain exactly then, since I had a good reason to not even try that hill on the bike, but to be honest: Never could I have ridden this hill. It was a real challenge to push the bike up and there was a brief period when I thought about all the medicine-related tv shows I had watched and how someone would bring me back to life. But then I noticed that the light I went to was just the summit of the hill. There were some scenic views there but also a sign which informed me about the 30% slope I just passed. Well, okay, that is something I would not have been able to master on my road bike without any luggage.
Beside some gates in the further course of the leg the next few kilometers were quite relaxing. A constant up and down but in a manageable manner. Then came the second time when I had to swallow my pride. This time it was only some 10% but over about 6 to 7 miles. I just had to give up on the last part, there was no fuel left. Exactly there I met the one and only cyclist this day. The lady said something as „too heavy…“ but I am pretty sure that she just was talking about my luggage not about me personally. At least she was in her lowest gear as well which actually relaxed me a bit. It took me some time to reach the summit and I was totally exhausted, again. Lucky me, it were only a mere 30 kilometer ride then to the camping site. A proper sandwich and a banana later and I was ready to go again. At least the route was either really beautiful with great views across the shore or away from the main road so there were no cars at all.
Only a couple of km in front of the final target of the day I asked myself: Will they exchange all the signs next year? #ReBrentrance
Eventually, I arrived at the camping site. This one was not exactly a beauty but then again there was a hot shower, after I could prove to myself that I could put up my tent meanwhile in medium-heavy rain.
On the open cycgo scale this day gets 87 of 100 cycling Sisyphos.