Reflection

I'm sitting in our b&b looking out over Henley's lifeless body (I'm assuming he's only sleeping)to Castlebay Harbour in the Outer Hebrides - a craggy shoreline with an afternoon sea mist forming a perfect backdrop to it's 11th C castle (in the harbour itself) and a town that would look equally at home in Iceland or Alaska.

Kev feeling a bit peckish !

With just 3 days of the OH and 3 days of cycling the Scottish coastline to go its an opportune time to reflect on this epic ride.

.....

The roller coaster ride started with Cornwall and Devon nearly finishing KH before he'd even warmed up making him wonder whether one B Leedham ("England is fairly flat") has ever owned a working spirit level!

The midlands provided a brief but scenic look at the Welsh border regions before we spent time dodging motorways and generally getting lost in the midlands with Henleys GPS only succesful on one occassion getting us from the b&b 50metres to the main road

The peak district and dales brought spectacular scenery and hills that were nearly impossible to walk let alone ride particularly in the wet weather which at this stage was becoming all too frequent.

Cycling into Scotland finally brought the sun (you know the climate is screwed when you have to rely on Scotland for fine weather) and to date the best cycling youll find in the UK

Ireland showed us how friendly can be, why the Isle is famed for its scenery and how you can turn into a pisshead without really trying

We've met unique people along the way including a person who worked with David Attenborough, the owner of a palatial building designed 100 years ago to house cows and an inebriated man who wanted to punch KHs lights out for simply being Australian - can't blame him

We've taken in culture and history - a folk festival
In Priddy (Henley didn't go), Hadrians Wall (who's he said KH) and Dartmouth Naval College (Kev slept through it)

We've been thrown out of (well i should say KH has been) St.Pails, Clifdon Bridge in Bristol and yes even Tesco!

Finally we've cycled high speed main roads, country lanes with the real danger of meeting a
combine harvester coming the other way,forest trails with log trucks, rail trails that would have been smoother if they'd left the rail tracks in and off road paths including a bridle path that was better suited to mules!

A week to go and some great cycling still to be had!!!