Saturday, September 16, 2006

Getting Out

It's Saturday night and we're having our usual night in. The old dear is downstairs douring away over the ironing, the oldest is upstairs with one of his mates putting away a few lagers before they go out to meet the other mates in the pub, and the youngest is god knows where doing god knows what (I do worry though). And I'm here listening to my Atlantic Gold compilation which I bought just yesterday. And if there is a better piece of music than Otis Redding singing 'I've Been Loving You Too Long' then I've not heard it, and I don't think I'm likely to.

I'm thinking I might take the bike up to Loch Lomond tomorrow; put it on the rack and drive up to Drymen and explore up the east side of the loch. You get as far up as Rowardennan, or maybe I'll go on to Ptarmigan Lodge for a silent pee. Last week I was over on Bute and I really enjoyed that.

I cycled down to Wemyss Bay and fortunately I just missed the ferry. I say fortunately because it gave me the opportunity to have a bacon roll in the old-fashioned cafe at the pierhead and read the Observer sports pages before the ferry returned. Rothesay looked great in some places and dilapidated in others. Too many neglected terraces tell a story of genteel decline. I took the road south towards Kingarth which took me on a loop round the south of Bute, the back into Rothesay and a pause for re-hydration. Passing Zavarone's Ice Cream Parlour I biked out of town and north to the ferry from Rhubodach to Colintraive. This was a treat. I love ferries and this five minute journey is a wee classic. It's only about 300 metres from one side to the other and the scenery around is gorgeous.

After Colintraive the road goes north towards Strachur but there's single track moor road over to Dunoon via Glen Striven which was do-able despite me not having the use of the big sprocket on the back wheel. Being on top of the moor was lovely, I had the world to myself ... apart from the occasional passing car. By the time I got to the ferry at Hunter's Quay I had covered 53 miles and my arse was aching. It was a good day though.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey West!
Glad to see you've bee livin' it up! You should worry about that youngest one who's doing "god knows what" or at least get a streaming spy cam on him! ;)

Otis Redding is indeed good!! I could go for a bacon butty right now!

west coaster said...

Hey Slinger,
Thanks for calling by. It's great to know you're still around. This blog doesn't quite scintillate these days, inevitable result of being a wage slave. :(

Binty McShae said...

One thing I do miss over here are those nice summer-turns-to-autumn evenings wandering along a lochside. Hope you enjoyed your biking!

west coaster said...

Binty,
I did get up east Loch Lomond last weekend it was that kind of summer turns to autumn pishing down. I rode from Drymen to Rowardennan and further to Ptarmigan Lodge. It was good excercise but that was all.