Day 13. 12/6/2014. Cycle Tobermory to Craignure, ferry to Oban, cycle to Kilmartin. Distance cycled 81.3km. Ascent 879m. Cumulative distance cycled 1358.4km. Cumulative ascent 13351m.
Loch Feochan south of Oban.
A comparatively short cycling day. Yesterday, Neil found a cut in the side of his front tyre that the tube was starting to poke out of. With some time available in the morning the old tyre was removed and the new folding tyre that was bought at the start of the trip was brought into action. Well it was eventually but getting the last part of the tyre over the rim was very difficult. I managed to get it on eventually and left Neil to pump it up, fit it and wash his hands while I visited the hole in the wall to get some money. I returned to find that the tube had exploded because we had not checked it was properly contained in the casing on the opposite side to which we had been struggling. Another tube was used and thoroughly checked both sides before it was pumped up. It survived the day so I guess it will be all right now.
Arriving in Oban.
The route out of Tobermory goes up a very steep hill and then continues to rise for a good distance south. It's not a pleasant thing to do from a standing start and with cold muscles and after the exertions of yesterday it was even less so but my bottom gear does get me up most hills.
We had a coffee break at Salen (a different Salen than yesterday) and lunch on the ferry so we could get going as soon as we landed. From Oban we took the A816 south. It was quite busy but a great deal shorter than the NCN 78 route that goes via Taynuilt and Loch Awe.
Oude dam.
There were two quite serious climbs to tackle south of Oban. The first took us up to 129m to the Oude dam that Ron's dad had been involved in building many years ago and that we had stopped to admire when northbound on our LE2JOG trip three years ago. The second took us up to about 166m with some very steep sections. Before those two was a 100m climb and in between was a mere 60m climb. Our good progress to start with gave us (well Neil) the chance to visit Arduaine gardens. There was no catering at the gardens but the adjacent hotel was able to provide tea and cakes. Stopping and restarting with the most serious of the climbs still to do was not good as we were noticing that after each stop there was a period where our legs weren't quite working properly and each time we stopped that period seemed to be getting longer.
Arduaine Gardens.
Click map to see full details of this day's ride in Ride With GPS.
