24th July - Arronchar to Bridge of Awe- 73.5kms

24th July - Arronchar to Bridge of Awe- 73.5kms

I think we all decided that the hotel at Arronchar was probably the worst hotel we have had on the trip so far.....The hotel was in bad need of maintenance and had a residual smell of smokers and the food for both dinner and breakfast was average!

The location however was very picturesque....all in all good potential not being used.

Having said that.... all of the hotels we have stayed at have been very, very good!

Today was a one sheet instruction ride of 75kms....a far cry from the 7 sheets of yesterday!

Chris, Steve and I started shortly after the 9.00am briefing and it was not long before we were on the the big climb of the day from Long Loch to Loch Fine. The climb to the top of the saddle was about 7kms at an average of about 6% on a good road. It was a steady climb with no relief. We had a choice to take "the old road" which was lower to start off with but had some steep switchbacks at the end....we took the "high road" so to speak and although busier was quite scenic.

The top of the climb is called "Rest and be Thankful" ...and we did and were!

On the way up we were passed by a Scottish rider who made me look as if I was standing still...great riding. I hope he was years younger than me!!!

After a short break it was then a big steady descent to Loch Fine. The descent was about 8kms and I topped out at speeds over 50kph....could have gone faster but my descending is poor compared to others.

We stopped at Loch Fine where there was a restaurant/tea room plus deli and had coffee and a croissant. The restaurant has some great history as it sells the famous Loch Fine Oysters and was the scene of a famous meeting between Gordon Brown ( PM at the time) and another politician where that decided on important things economically for the UK during the financial crisis....I would recommend this as a place to visit for lunch!!

After that it was along Loch Fine to Inveraray  which was about the half way point of the day...36kms.

This is a very pretty town which has a castle which is very well kept. It is the home of the Campbells. Many of our group had lunch here but Steve, Chris and I decided to "push on" over the second climb of the day through to Loch Awe. Once again this was a steady climb of about 12kms which had a real kicker at the start of 13% for about 100 yards then "flattened out" to an average of about 5% for the rest of the climb. There were some flat bits every now and then for some relief. Along the way we passed through some intense forestry operations with softwood timber and every now and then we were passed by trucks loaded with logs off to the mills.

The descent from the top of the climb was again exhilarating with us all going fairly hard as the road was good...until we reached a 2km stretch which was being resealed and there were loose stones everywhere. A truck passed me along the way and when we had to stop for the road crew doing their resurfacing...the truck driver was quite abusive...I ignored him as I could not understand a word he said.....At the stop I said to Steve and Chris that I would let him pass which he did without any further comment!

I must say that in all the travels so far this is the first time a driver has been abusive towards me...

We intended to stop for lunch at Lachawe but could not find a café so we pressed on to a café near the Cruachen Power Station ( Hydro power). This a delightful café on the banks of the Loch and the food ( sandwich for me, panini for Steve and soup for Chris) was good.

After lunch we only had a short ride in to the Brander Hotel at the Bridge of Awe. The hotel is excellent and is owned by a Kiwi who has just completed full renovations.

The menu looks good and talking to the owner he says we will be not disappointed with the cuisine

Unfortunately the photos cannot be downloaded again so I will try when the WIFI use is not less...

All in all another day of excellent riding with excellent weather ( sunny and in mid 20's) and a good mixture of climbs descents and undulating riding.

Today's route....