The Bridge

I grab a flask of coffee and some food and head off up towards Drumbeg. Not sure where I’ll get to; I vaguely toy with the idea of the “Tour de Quinag”, a 37 mile circuit. It doesn’t sound far if you’ve never cycled up here before, but I reckon it translates into the equivalent of 74 miles elsewhere!

Anyway, I chug up the hill from the sea and eventually realise that where Quinag should be, there’s just a big cloud; a fairly dark one too. I haven’t done this route for a while, so I lower my expectations a bit; not sure if the legs are up to it either!

I get past Nedd estuary and start to pedal up the Glenleraig hill, but after a couple of hundred yards, there’s a lovely clump of primroses flowering; the first I’ve seen this spring. Within a nano-second of getting the camera out, it starts raining; only a little bit. Its the camera that’s the jinx, I reckon, so I chuck it in the ditch. No, only kidding. I take a picture as quick as I can and put it back in its waterproof bag, actually.

Primroses near the back wheel…. yes, that little yellow splodge.

Now its started raining, it basically continues for the next two hours; not a lot, but its not the sunny day I was expecting. I now abandon the idea to go all around Quinag, as it must be raining properly up on the bealach, and head for Kylesku bridge instead. And no, its not a cop-out, as it means I have to come back along this road too. If you’ve been this way, you’ll know what I mean. There’s three one-in-fours marked on the map.

Cautious riding is in order; watch out for the grit in the middle of the road, it’d be like cornering on marbles. And the wet road. Most of the hills go down to a burn with a bend and a bridge, so you can’t keep any momentum to grunt up the other side. The one at Ardvar Glen is even more of a challenge; braking all the way down to keep the speed low enough to make the last corner before the bridge, my back wheel often locks up on a dry road. Today, I hang my backside over the rear of the saddle to keep more weight over the wet back tyre.

Flapjacks and coffee at Kylesku bridge.

Sixteen and a quarter miles from home. Fortunately I found a few people to talk to as I made the return journey; a couple more minutes for my legs to recover!

I get almost back to Ardvar and the sun finally comes out again. Fortunately, I’d taken thicker gloves, overshoes and a waterproof coat, and had been gradually putting more and more clothes on as the miles passed. Now I was cooking; “boil-in-the-bag”!

Back home, I’m quite pleased with myself, having pedalled up every hill. Celebration with a nice cup of tea, I think!