{"id":14029,"date":"2014-07-27T13:31:14","date_gmt":"2014-07-27T17:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tourdebocrie.com\/?p=14029"},"modified":"2014-07-27T15:15:15","modified_gmt":"2014-07-27T19:15:15","slug":"day-29-saturday-july-26-kinlochewe-to-plockton-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tourdebocrie.com\/?p=14029","title":{"rendered":"Day 29. Saturday, July 26 – Kinlochewe to Plockton, Scotland"},"content":{"rendered":"

What Goes Down, Must Go Up!<\/em><\/p>\n

Hazy, warm and humid when we left this morning, just before 8:00 a.m. \u00a0Note that we are saying\u00a068\u00b0 is warm. \u00a0One block of flat, a turn and then climbing; the “looks flat, but is not” type of climbing.\"DSCN0268\"<\/a>The captivating 3000 foot mountains \"DSCN0271\"<\/a>\u00a0had us surrounded in our peaceful valley.\"DSCN0279\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The sun was trying to break through \"DSCN0276\"<\/a>\u00a0briefly lighting the hills, \"DSCN0280\"<\/a>\u00a0the stream beside us \"DSCN0282\"<\/a>\u00a0adding music to our pedal up and out of the valley. \u00a0Once again, the scenery was more spectacular \"DSCN0299\"<\/a>than our photographs can convey.<\/p>\n

Many of the locals equate this mountain ridge to the USA’s Mt. Rushmore, \"DSCN0309\"<\/a>without the faces. \u00a0The surrounding hills \"DSCN0319\"<\/a>\u00a0kept us mesmerized, some starting from our road edge and heading straight up \"DSCN0327\"<\/a>\u00a0 The lochs were equally impressive \"DSCN0340\"<\/a>\u00a0as we snaked our way up \"DSCN0353\"<\/a>\u00a0and (hopefully) out of this valley. \u00a0Within an hour the sky greyed totally, so we missed the play the sun would have had on the hills, but it was still an incredible site.\"DSCN0362\"<\/a>\u00a0 Though the climbing remained moderate \"DSCN0366\"<\/a>the headwind that hit us at 11:00 made the hills feel much more aggressive.<\/p>\n

Somewhere in the morning we seem to remember a downhill, but we are sure it did not last long. \u00a0Around noon the sky began to spit, then lightly shower. \u00a0Overheated from our climbing, the rain was cooling, so the raincoats remained tucked away. \u00a0An hour later, however, during our quick stop at the first village \u00a0we had seen in 25 miles, \"DSCN0405\"<\/a>it started to pour. \u00a0Inside, we were enjoying our first flapjacks of the trip, wondering why we had not tried them earlier. \u00a0Re-fortiefied with sugar and raincoats we began our trek around three-quarters of the picturesque loch (about 10 miles); the ferry that made the direct route no longer ran. \u00a0Within a mile of our loop we experienced the first of three<\/strong> very tough 18% + grades, \"DSCN0411\"<\/a>two of them a mile and a half long. \u00a0It took us several stops resting and equally difficult restarts to make it up each one; our legs and lungs were screaming, our heart beating hard against our chests. \u00a0The view back to the loch, was gorgeous, \"DSCN0414\"<\/a>\u00a0even as we watched the waves of rain going by. \"DSCN0416\"<\/a>\u00a0We waited for the wonderful downhill that would take us to our stop for the evening and put an end to this day of continuous climbing. \"DSCN0423\"<\/a>\u00a0 Miles longer than expected, we finally had a one mile downhill that led us to the small village where we had thankfully found a room for the evening. \u00a0Not sure how either of us made it, our entire bodies were spent from the continuous onslaught of today’s climbing, on top of the several tough days\u00a0we’d already done.<\/p>\n

The village was a wonderful surprise; taking the only room within a 60 mile radius leaves one to wonder what you are getting into. \u00a0Thankfully, the adorable village \"DSCN0437\"<\/a>\u00a0was about two blocks long \"DSCN0435\"<\/a>and extremely picturesque \"photo-2\"<\/a>with palm trees,\"DSCN0450\"<\/a> it was a treat. \u00a0This trek we pedaled\u00a0today is a magnificent part of the country, but it was an extremely tough one on already very tired legs. \u00a0Maybe we should have tried these 54 miles in something other than a bicycle.\"DSCN0442\"<\/a>As we were tucking ourselves away for the evening, the sun was kissing the hills goodnight and sending us a rainbow.\"DSCN0446\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n\t\t