Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Holiday in Scotland

Well, we have returned from Scotland, in one piece - other than my usual cuts and bruises on my legs which I seem to accumulate while out on the bike.

We did quite a bit of mileage on the first day - 69 in total, which is more than I have ever done. I was pretty exhausted by the time we reached Portpatrick. We went from Cairnryan down to the Mull of Galloway (see the picture on the left) and up to Portpatrick. The scenery was spectacular and the day was only spoiled by my downhill fears rearing their ugly heads. This is so frustrating for both of us and was disappointing when I had, I thought, been going pretty well. I did recover though and made it the final 15 or so miles to Portpatrick.

The second day started with nerves for me, both due to my worrying that I would be too tired to cycle very far and that I would get into another panic. However (having thrown up my nice breakfast) we set out and were met with some pretty daunting hills, which I had to walk up. I did get a hug from a lovely dog though. Once past these hills things got a bit easier and I think in general I did okay. I especially enjoyed the parts on the way to Wigtown from Glenluce - there was a bit of a long climb, but it was very pretty and worth the effort. Apart from a bad start, I think the second day went well and Newton Stewart turned out to be a pleasant place to stay.

The third day wasn't as good weather-wise. The first part of the journey out of Newton Stewart was along a lovely path and I enjoyed it, however this was when the weather turned a bit nasty - rainy and cold. Barrhill was our next stop and not a great place. At this point we got the train to Stranraer as the weather was fairly miserable. The rain added to my downhill phobia quite a bit and I had a bit of a panic. Very annoying as it was a good road. I feel disappointed in myself.

All in all, I felt like my fears and worries overcame me too much on our trip. It turned out I could cycle around 150 miles in 3 days, I just wish I could beat my phobias and all my cycling experiences could be positive.

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