First wintery walk of the season, herd of deer, finished in the gloaming (back to the van for half five), nice not to have hypothermia today.
A couple of days ago we rode 50km from Kenmore down Loch Tay, following the Rob Roy Way around to Auchnafree; pushed the bikes through the gloop of muddy civil engineering in Glen Shervie and shouldered them up Glen Lochan with horizontal hail stinging our legs (shorts); then rode through the swamps of Lochan a' Mhuilinn against a backdrop of deer rutting and roaring in the sleet. This was fun but the ride through driving rain to Garrow was so horrid that the sight of the 300m climb over the top back to Kenmore was a welcome opportunity to generate some heat. Even riding fixed gear up a road with 2 chevrons, with my hood up, wasn't enough to drive out the chill that had gripped my soggy Buffalo. Neither was a cadence of 200rpm down the other side any payback for the collateral damage of 7km of nithering 'cruising', my little wooden digits squeezing the single V brake as some pathetic insurance against going into orbit.
On arrival at the van Jenny, aka Queen Paramo, peeled off my damp rags and dignity (my hands and arms shrivelled into a prawnesque contortion) and poked me into the front seat with the blower on 4.
If you've got good togs or better weather this is a great ride, cheers Rob (wonder how he rode a bike wearing a kilt).
