daily diary: day 8
Kilmarnock to Oban

the plan:

108 miles in total - 91 miles on bikes and the rest on two ferries onto Arran and off again. Once we're off the ferry, it will be a 67 mile afternoon ride up to the youth hostel in Oban.

the reality:

A mammoth day in every sense. Once we'd cycled the first 15 miles to Ardrossan to catch the ferry to Arran, the rest of the day's cycle was definately the most scenic of the trip. Arran showed its best colours as we cycled round the coast, then a bit of headwind and rain greeted us as we cycled up the pretty major hill across the middle, before we emerged over the top again into sunshine and a fantastic descent into Lochranza. From there we coasted straight onto the ferry back to the mainland at Claonaig, from where we had a 67 mile ride to Oban, which always promised to be a long afternoon. The rain and cloud that came over while we were on the ferry fortunately blew over pretty quickly, and whilst we were prepared for a wet and windy afternoon, in fact we had sunshine pretty much all day. Steve Middleton's brother, Mark, met us off the ferry at Claonaig and cycled with us for the 25 spectacular miles to our (pretty late) lunch stop just past Lochgilhead at Cairn Baan. After lunch Lucy's ankle, which had been a bit swollen since the morning, really flared up and so the team split into two, with the back group of 6 going at a relatively slow pace to enable Lucy to complete the day's ride. They appeared at 8.05pm - remarkably cheerful.

Distance travelled: 93 miles (cumulative 726 miles)
Total time taken Day 8: 12 hours 30 minutes (including 2.5 hours on two ferries)
Cumulative time: 76 hours 04 minutes
Ride time: hours minutes
Average speed: mph
Day Leader: Rod

Punctures: 2

Highlight of the day: The amazing scenery. If you only do one long bike ride in your life, this is the one to do

Leader's moment of the day: Everyone cycling the mammoth ascent on Arran and then fabulous descent just in time to make the ferry - when we pulled in to Brodrick, Rod wasn't optimistic!

Bravery Awards:
- Stevie B - for cycling all day in the most extreme discomfort that you wouldn't even want to comtemplate
- Lucy - for cycling all day with a very sore ankle, which after lunch almost caused to have to stop, but being Lucy she kept going.

Thank you:
- to Andy Davies, the chef at the Cuilfail Hotel in Kimelford for the great ankle first aid he provided for Lucy

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