21 days in July – the 2005 Douglas Bader Foundation E2E ride re-blogged

Raceday. We had an appointment with the ferry to Arran this afternoon at 1530 so an early start was required. There was a later ferry but that would have meant getting to the Lochranza YH at about 9pm. We were a little (slight understatement) late getting away but made good progress once we had. All this despite a stiff northwesterly headwind pretty much all the way. Since we arrived in Scotland the temperature has been signicantly lower than we’ve become accustomed to and each day has been accompanied by an energy sapping headwind.

Today we said goodbye to Pete, Nigel’s brother-in-law, who had been filling the driver/support role for about a week (previously covered by Rhona). Pete will be missed, particularly by those that like to get out in the evening!

The lunch stop was at Dundonald Castle where the locally(?) produced biscuits can be recommended. From here we took a direct(ish) route to the ferry at Ardrossan and arrived with an hour to spare. The little cafeteria there has one of the 21st century’s great inventions – a bean to coffee maker. Shares in freeze dried coffee must have plummeted…

An hour’s ride on the ferry and another 14 miles saw us in the idyllic Lochranza for the second and last rest day…