Scotland by bike
Scotland was on my list for a long time. I couldn’t find a better excuse than celebrating my birthday riding through the Scottish mountains accompanied by Dexter!
The Romans initially called Caledonia (Land of Caledonians) to Scotland, for the immense forest of Caledonian pines that stretched from north to south and from east to west throughout the country.
The Highlands are the heart and true symbol of Scotland, its wildest, most untamed and picturesque part that knows how to captivate with its infinite beauty.
Loch Ness is world famous for the Loch Ness Monster, the alleged cryptozoological beast that inhabits it and is also called “Nessie”. Loch Ness is 37 km long, even though it is the second longest lake in Scotland, it shelters the largest volume of fresh water in all of Britain.
Ben Nevis (1345m) is the highest mountain in Great Britain and is located in the West of Scotland.
"I don't have time to be in a hurry"
John Wesley
We had high expectations on this bike ride. We wanted to visit many emblematic places, discover places in nature with difficult access, climb the highest peak in the United Kingdom, taste Scottish cuisine, try all the new equipment.
“Expectation is the mother of all frustration”
Antonio Banderas
I only needed a few hours on the bike to realize that the whole trip I had been planning for months .. IT WOULD NOT HAPPEN! I would have to completely modify the route if I wanted to enjoy my time with Dexter in Scotland.
Second day of the trip .. we break the derailleur hanger. Solution: fix the change on a single gear and ride for 20 km to the nearest town bike shop. While we fixed the bike and with a coffee in our hands, we took out the map and began to point out what we really wanted to visit being realistic.
Our new plan would be to visit the landscape of the Highlands, the Loch Ness monster, climb the Ben Nevis peak at 1345m and cycle through the Caledonia.
Even though we had a new plan, Dexter and I had a meeting in which we decided to follow our plan without looking at clocks, enjoying ourselves and letting ourselves be led by the inertia of the road. So it was..
The road introduced us to very interesting people with whom we shared very special moments … meals, fire at sunset, coffee on the way or just a hello and goodbye for 10 minutes.
The days were passing and Dexter was transforming himself .. At the beginning of the bike ride he just wanted to run and run until the pads on his feet burst .. days later he preferred to stay in the trolley sleeping while we were cycling.
Something we didn’t like at all … it was the midges at dinner time. We had to have dinner into the tent!
The holidays were running out, we had to decide how to get to the car to drive back home … before we could plan it … the bike breaks again. Same breakdown plus extras .. This time we did have to hurry if we wanted to get to work on time .. We couldn’t fix the bike and we had to finish the last 90km on a single gear. Not easy when you drag 80kg on your bike ..
In the end, we managed to get to the train on time that would take us to the car and back home.
The trip was very positive, we managed to discover many places that we dreamed of for a long time. People who enriched our path and of course the excellent company of Dexter!
One of the goals of this bike ride was to test the new equipment that we would use on the 37 smiles bike ride for 37 weeks in spring 2020. This resulted in a great list of things that we did not need and that only took up space and energy to transport them. !
The only thing that stayed in the pipeline for next time was to go up to Ben Nevis!!