My first time camping on my own. Just me, tent and bike....and lots of snacks. Please don't rain!!!! is all I was thinking about the whole trip. Thank goodness it only rained lightly at night. The rest of the trip was warm days with chilly evenings. Perfect for camping. Arran has a very distinctive skyline of pointy mountains and I was heading for the highest. To be honest it wasn't really on my list of to do things as my main activity was cycling around the island. For some reason it was what I wanted to do first as soon as I got off the ferry.
The climb up Goatfell was actually quite beautiful at the start with all the purple flowers. The valley was gorgeous too. I met a lovely dog on the way. I waddled all the way up just like the dog did and the little bugger beat me up there too. Livid! Oh my days...the last bit was so hard. Amazing views though so I'm glad I did it. I took so many pictures, walked and jumped over the huge boulders and shat myself when one of those boulders was loose. I tried to get to the cairns but it was swarming with midges so thick. I just waited until someone else went there and scared them all away. I had a good rest for as long as I could as I wasn't looking forward to the walk back down.
The walk down wasn't as fast as I thought. The old knees were like jelly. The little doggy was my pace maker. I had to have a long rest when I got to the bottom. I just found it so boring on the way down as I just wanted to get down as fast as I could but couldn't go any faster than a waddle.
I left Largs at 6.15am and reached Goatfell at 1.15pm. Not bad for an old bird with dodgy knees. By the time I started the cycle to my first campsite in Loacharanza it was nearly 3.30pm. I really thought another hour on the bike and that will be it. The thing is I reached my campsite just before 7pm because idiot me forgot about the steep hills. I nearly died. There were so many hills I really couldn't physically cycle up because I decided to climb a mountain first. I pushed the bike up those hills nearly half the time and I was aware it was getting dark soon and I just wanted to get to the campsite. Everytime I thought the hills were over and it was flat or downhill, there it was, another hiil. My legs even seized up at one point on the bend of the road and I literally could not bend at my knees. It was some weird sort of cramp which I had to get through and luckily no cars appeared in those two minutes of agony as I was holding on to my bike and trying not to fall in the ditch at the same time. Another point I had drunk all my water and was so thirsty and came upon a liitle stream and waterfall. The water was not as clear as I would have liked but any water from Scotland is better than tap water from some other countries I have visited. I filled my bottles and I perservered with more hills. I was so happy to finally reach the campsite and looked an absolute state. The next thing was to put up the tent. I practised at home so I managed but I would have paid anyone to put up the tent for me, I was so tired. Not a single sod offered. It was a beautiful sunset with red sky and wonderful colours on the mountains behind us. It was a great spot except for all the midges.
The next morning I had an easy day and finally left the campsite at midday. I really should have left earlier because, you guessed it, there were more hills! Again from north of the island to the south was a long way flat but with hills it was just too much to do in one day and especially after climbing a mountain the day before. I was aching all over but it was a beautiful day so I headed for my next campsite. I was so tired I didn't bother climbing up the Cock of Arran which was right next to my first campsite.
It took another 7 hours before I reached the Seal Shore campsite. Set in a beautiful coastal site with no midges at all. There were so many hills again but this time they were longer so more time to push my bike up the hills. Going downhill was amazing though and I wished there were more of them.
I must have looked tired because many people at the campsite offered to help me, offered me tea etc. They were so kind. Two guys helped me put up my tent even though we realised halfway we were doing it all wrong but I didn't care as long as the tent was up. I slept well but was up early as I knew to get to the campsite, I cycled all the way downhill so I knew I had a long way to push the bike back uphill.
I left the campsite just before 9am and headed to Brodick. Google maps said 1 hour 20 minutes but Shazza time will be approx 3 hours. I had to have many stops along the way usually just before a hill. The views were spectacular and wildlife pretty cool too. The seals resting on a rock curved is so cool to see. They look like statues and then they suddenly move so you know they are real. The sheep with giant balls were funny too and most of all, the blackberry bushes covering both sides of the road full of juicy ripe berries sustained me throughout my bike ride. You just put out your hand and pick the berries and eat them sometimes picking them while I cycled past them. I loved stopping to pick berries and managed to pick bags full of them. The berries definately gave me the energy to try and cycle as much as possible uphill.
I met lovely people on my journey, a lot of them cyclists who gave me great advice except for one guy who said don't wear underwear.
After having lovely rest stops at Lamlash and other little towns along the way, I reached Brodick a little a head of schedule. I was able to board an earlier ferry. I just wasn't looking forward to the two hours of cycling back to Largs. It should be a much easier cycle as it is mostly flat. I was home nearly 3 hours later as it was the slowest I have ever cycled this route ever. I was so tired and routes I would never had a problem with, just brought back the anxiety of struggling up those hills. So I just got off my bike and pushed it.
I got home and left everything on the floor and took all my clothes off and had a shower. I then climed into bed and fell asleep.
I realise I am not young anymore and trips like this can actually break me. All the time I was thnking of why was I not on a beach somewhere doing nothing but lying in the sun. I have not travelled or had a holiday since February 2020 because of the pandemic. I really looked forward to an exciting activity based trip but I really need to prepare better and not try to fit everything into two days. I don,t need more rest stops on trips like this. I need more rest days!
