North Coast 500: The adventure begins
Day One
It felt fantastic to be back in Inverness, embarking on our 500-mile cycling adventure: The North Coast 500. Phil, Damian and I were all the more excited as the dismal weather forecast turned out to be wrong - for day one at least.
We set off in sunshine and quickly settled into our stride, completing over 60 miles on Saturday. Snuggling down into our tents on Saturday night, we knew that Sunday was unlikely to dawn quite so beautifully. But we had made a great start. We were back on the NC500 route!
Day Two
We were greeted with lashing rain on day two, so packed up our soaking wet kit as quickly as we could and headed to the local pub for a full Scottish breakfast. You may recall from last year’s attempt at the NC500 that day two is the BIG DAY. It involves a phenomenal climb up a mountain pass known as Bealach na Ba. Built in 1822, the pass is likened to the great mountain passes in the Alps. With hairpin bends and gradients of up to 20%, Wikipedia assures me it has the steepest ascent of any road climb in the UK.
My friends decided they would take the shortcut because they didn't fancy the pass (neither up nor down!) in such wet conditions, but I was still keen to do it. So we agreed to meet in Shieldaig for lunch. The conditions were relatively kind except for the wind, which was brutal. But I did it! I reached the top (shown by the arrow on the map below), with my legs and chest screaming at me, feeling exhilarated.
I didn't celebrate at the top; I simply kept going, conscious my friends were waiting for me. I kept sending them my location and we finally met up around 1.30pm for a much-needed lunch. Getting back in the saddle post lunch was a challenge. We had further challenging 30 miles to cycle, with my friends having relatively fresh legs and mine feeling like “toast”. Thankfully, my pal Damian kindly allowed me to follow in his slipstream for most of those miles.
A restful night
We spent a rather wet night camping in Gairloch but day three dawned with showers and sunshine forecast. Day three only involves 50 miles of cycling to Ullapool, but I’m not complacent. I know there are some big hills in those miles. I’m simply delighted to have made it further than last year and grateful to be heading out on day three of our bike packing adventure.
