We were supposed to ride our bikes for two days on the Isle of Skye, an island in the North Atlantic. Yesterday the winds were tough and we were rerouted. We ended the day riding Calum’s Road on the desolate island of Raasay. The story of the road is fascinating, a book written about it, a song the Scottish love and soon to be a movie about a man who wanted people to come back to his end of the island and the gov’t wouldn’t finish the road so he took a shovel and for ten years built the mile at the end of the road. To get to his road was one of the tougher rides I have ever done, it is steep ups and steep downs all the way. The road is one car length wide and has loose stones and potholes the entire way. Yesterday it rained and was windy and I nearly bought the farm near the end (on Calum’s road). I’m still having a little ptsd about my almost disaster. I am not a great downhiller and these were steep downhills but I had no brakes because of the rain and down I was flying and at the bottom was a sharp turn and I knew I couldn’t make it but knew I had to try or they’d still be scraping me up so around it I went, hung on for dear life and made it. I walked down the next two hills. I don’t think anyone from Experience Plus will ever get to experience our yesterday because that was a one time trial. With a mountain bike it would have been better but my skinny little slick tires were not meant for that road. There are only 3 of us and 2 guides for these couple days and we loved it.

Today we had to go hiking because there were 60+mph winds. You know it’s windy when the waves lift off the shore line going out. So we climbed a lot of hills and famous mountains. Almost got blown over a couple of times but it was another cool day. Our last for the trip, tomorrow it’s back to Edinburgh and then Belgium

This is what it takes to ride in Scotland, on a cold rainy, windy day which has been everyday for the entire trip. From left to right, a jersey, then a nylon vest, then a thin windbreaker then a fleece then a raincoat, plus a hooded rain helmet to keep my head and ears warm.. Thank goodness my legs don’t get cold because I only had shorts, (leg warmers for everyone else), gloves and then the best part, I ride with sandal bike shoes and at the last minute threw in two pairs of socks. So I rode with basically bare fee covered with thin socks. Todays ride was the closest call I’ve had with a great crash going downhill, I slid on the gravel and water and just held on for dear life. The last two decents I walked down, just couldn’t ride down anymore today.

We know what she’s been doing. The ram’s chest is painted blue so the farmer can see if he’s earning his keep. Evidently she’s confirmation.

Go RE/MAX it’s everywhere

If I had a van and carried my bike in it I would like to cushion the sides so my bike would not get scratched, I’d probably get some blankets or quilts that would work. Not our Harry. He drove his van with his bikes so he could ride with us a few days and this is how he cushions his bike.

Out in the middle of nowhere, yes you can email and it was working.

For he kilt requests. This guy was so cute. He’s a college student and has been playing the bagpipes all his life. He’s on a world champion team and supports his college by doing shows like he did for us. Really an inspiration and we certainly know more about bagpipes then anyone dreamed possible.

This is the required equipment to write a blog.

It poured rain all day so not a lot of photos even though the scenery was beautiful. The best part was seeing Harry ride his bike up to our hotel. I met Harry in 09 on the cross country trip from Los Angeles to Boston. Most all of the group has kept in touch and when he heard I was going to be in Scotland he said “I’ll come up and ride with you” It didn’t sound exactly like that, he’s from Liverpool and English language has been greatly modified. So much fun to see him and he is going to ride with me for the next couple of days.

We went for a Whiskey tasting and had a great small world experience. When we started someone asked if he’d been to the States and he said he had just bought a house in Punta Gorda, not even mentioning Florida, as if everyone knew where Punta Gorda was. He bought a house in the Marina and can’t wait to spend winters there. So I met a new neighbor in a town of 325 people in the Scottish Highlands.

Since they ride on the wrong side of the road this sign does not mean downhill. Every biker looks at this sign and cringes. It was a long, long hill and no one made it without walking. This was the second of these hills and we are going to a Whiskey Castle to taste many whiskeys which we are relishing.

This was such a pretty cemetery with all the sheep, including a black sheep, around it. Very typical Scotland.

Not a cow but what a great face.

This is for all my Scotch (they call it whiskey) drinking friends. I am in the midst of Whiskey country

I said at the beginning of this trip I said “no more photos of cows” They are so neat I take too many pictures ofthem. They look at you with those big brown eyes and I think Oh, he’s so pretty, but now I have a thousand pictures of cows and they all look the same. So this morning I ran into a herd of these guys. Highland cows, or Scottish hairy cows, I couldn’t resist, he looked at me with those big brown eyes and I melted.

So it’s pouring rain and cold and we are supposed to ride a short 25 mile loop around the area, why would we go, well first we were going to Balmoral Castle (the queens castle) but we couldn’t get in because she was there with all the relatives, so we did get to see Crathie Church where she worshipped yesterday. But was that the real reason we all braved the nasty weather, I don’t think so. The next stop was a distillery tour. We had a great tour of the Royal Lochinagar Distillery. I now know how to make whiskey and what single malt whiskey is and tastes like. An educational trip.

I’ve had nightmares about this ride, I’ve never ridden on the “wrong” side of the road. Right turns and round-a-bouts are all backwards. Anyone traveling to a country with this odd way of driving knows you can be killed if you don’t learn to look “right” before stepping off the curb, very counter intuitive. Thank goodness we rode on backroads with light traffic so we could practice mastering our skills. I kind of get it now but that right turn ahead is still reason to tense up.

I think they saw me coming and put up this sign.

We stopped for a little refreshment and I ended up getting stung by a wasp that went swimming in my beer and I didn’t look before I drank. I hurt a little but he didn’t live long after I spit him out.

Most people think the bike is the most important part of a bike ride, they are wrong. The seat is by far the most critical thing. We are riding on decent bikes provided by our tour group in Scotland but there is no way I would take a chance on the provided seat. By the way, cyclists don’t call it a “seat” it is properly called a “saddle” but every time I say saddle I picture little stirrups attached. I bring my own seat, my peddles which love my shoes attached and my gps. The rest is just the bike

So far we haven’t ridden, just drove from Edinburgh to outside Aberdeen where we spent the night at the Maryculter House Hotel, former home of the Knights Templars in the 12th and 13th century. The original structure has a 1225 date. We held our nightly meeting in this wonderful room. There was a wedding going on and all these gorgeous men in kilts kept walking through our meeting. Think they ought to start wearing them at home, very handsome indeed. I supposedly had the only room with a proven ghost but either I slept through it or she never appeared.

I love to climb. Hills, steps, anything that goes up so on my day off in Edinburgh it seemed natural I should aim for this amazing castle on a high hill in the very center of the city. So off I went, it actually turned out to be not much of a climb but worth the small effort. Certainly not stupid.

So I decided to climb Scotts Tower, worth the 300 steps for the great views of the old city. Easy, not stupid.

I had read about Holyrood Park and vaguely remembered something about a hill in the center that was worth the climb. Now this is where I hear Adrienne laughing when I tell you I didn’t really read much, didn’t have anything with me and actually had forgotten everything when I found myself at the park. I was looking at this small “mountain” wondering if this was the thing one would climb and thought it looked quite daunting when a “young couple” appeared and proceeded to scale which was a very steep climb. I watched them for a while, she was having a tough time but they were making progress. After thinking about the article saying it was worth the climb I started out after them. I could not stand and climb I was crawling and holding on to tall grass not to fall backwards. About a third of the way I realized I could never descend on that path so i had to keep going. The stupid word was emerging. About half way I was really worried when I stopped to rest and looked up and saw people walking on what had to be a path around the top. The word stupid was getting louder along with Adrienne’s laughter. Finally, dripping with sweat, filthy hands and knees I came to the top and literally fell on the path to the amazement of people strolling by. I then followed the path to the other side (the entrance) and down a gradual hill for about a mile.

After that I decided a beer and food was in order, not stupid.