69 miles ridden – 6500 feet climbed – temperature 9C.

I will post pictures separately tomorrow as the internet where we are staying is not fast enough.

I’ve done a fair bit of cycling in my time but today was the hardest I have ever done.

The first 18 miles took about 3 hours. It wasn’t just that we were climbing over the infamous and majestic Bealach Na Ba to Applecross – it was that we were doing it in periodic rain and winds averaging 25mph and gusting at 40 mph.

There were a few sections lower down where we were sheltered from the wind by outcrops but as we got higher we lost that protection and were climbing average gradients of 8/9% with a full-on headwind. When it gusted we were stopped in our tracks not only by the wind but by screaming quad muscles and the it was near impossible to start off again.

Two of our group came off in gusts – fortunately there were no bad injuries.

The last few hundred metres had a 16% gradient and full on headwind so pretty much everyone walked that last section but walking in cycling shoes is hard and calf muscles screamed in place of quads.

When we got to the top the spectacular views were shrouded in mist but we then realised that riding up was the easy bit. As we crossed the plateau we were fully exposed to the wind which was hitting us from the left and it was terrifying. We were riding leaning in to the wind at a 30 degree angle to try and counter the push of the wind which when it gusted would push us across the road – one of our riders was nearly blown over the crash barriers.

As we descended through some steep, sharp switchbacks, the wind would catch us on the turn. It was one thing managing that but another with cars trying to pass us on the single track road. Some riders walked down the worst sections.

The tea van (first brew) was waiting for us at the bottom with some very welcome shelter but we were all very cold. I don’t ever remember being that cold and even after 2 cups of coffee and 10 mins in the warm van my whole body was shaking uncontrollably. Fortunately I had dry stuff and more layers in the van so I warmed up well once we started moving again.

It was another 24 miles from first brew to lunch in Shieldaig and while that section started with a tailwind it was undulating with lots of short sharp climbs as we followed the coast descending into small hamlets and then climbed up away from them. There wasn’t a lot of conversation at lunch until we had eaten enough to lift our sugar levels from near empty. It was brutal.

After a short climb out of Shieldaig, the section after lunch ran through a valley and although it was a bit dank and drizzly we had a tailwind and arrived in our destination of Kinlochewe relatively swiftly.

Due to the limited accommodation in Kinlochewe, 9 of us had the ‘treat’ of an extra 10 miles to The Old Mill. Allegedly flat and ‘easy’ it wasn’t either and it started raining.

What a day. There is one positive in that the extra 10 miles we did is the first 10 miles of tomorrow’s ride so only 65 miles for us tomorrow. I will sleep well.