Cycling to the top, with stops for cake - Part 4

This is part four of the day by day account of our trip from Lands End to John O'Groats.

Day 13: June 25th
Threlkeld to Powfoot (just past Annan)

threlkeld to annan. 82k. waved beautiful lake district goodbye, snuck up on sleeping ponies then sailed into scotland on tailwind. sky is huge here

Shrugged off the last of Lake District hills. Counted number of new midge bites and waved goodbye to the lake district this morning. Crossed fords and went through farm gates which form part of the C2C route.

Passed sleeping ponies, and later fed ponies roaming freely in commons before Hesket Newmarket, where we stopped for morning tea and chatted to a man who was drinking coffee and had a young daughter in tow.

Quick ride into Carlisle and a 1pm lunch. Warm, even sunny in Carlisle – a first for us in three visits and makes the town seem much friendlier. New cycle route had opened up headig North and before long we had popped up in Scotland.

Flat cycling on rough roads along the Solway coast. Amazing wide sky seems to dwarf the land, and the sea stretches out forever until it hits the other side where we ended our first multi-day cycle tour at Boustead Hill a few years ago. We wave to our former selves – having come a long way from having one pannier each and staying in BnBs across the width of the country.

One of the cheapest campsites yet is just past a golf course, on the outskirts of Annan. Its a quiet site with only one other tent pitch (some older European cyclists) alongside us looking out onto an empty football pitch with a row of static caravans fading into the distant. There's also an enclosed hut for cooking and dishes which must indicate that the wind is a permanent fixture. The bathrooms pipe the local radio station and woman's have couches and plants. Very posh and only £10 for the night. They even recharge my cellphone battery for free.

The mudflats left by the receding tide look appealing but we satisfy ourselves by hanging out in the shelter of our tent watching the clouds move swiftly over the sky.

Snack patrol: well fed on lake district specialties these last few days though still not sure i like kendal mint cake. ambleside cafes are topnotch

Day 14: June 26th - 141 k
Annan to Farmers Field near Coylton Arms

Annan to coylton. 140k. flat roads didn't feel like scotland until pm hills. yha shut so cycled on. gave up at 9pm-camping in a farmers field lots of midges

Long straight flat roads for the first few hours of the day so we flew into Dumfries where we had decided to try and sort beds in a SYHA which was further up the road. Didn't really feel like Scotland proper yet – too flat – the Solway still too prominent. Justin got a number from Dumfries Tourist Information for the SYHA and found out the hostel we were looking to stay in was only available for group bookings, the start of a series of misfortunes on today's accommodation front.

Stopped in a a southern Scotland village for lunch at a real oddity - an organic teahouse which specialised in the variety of soups they offered. We weren't the usual clientele, those would be ladies discussing other teahouses in Scotland and admiring artwork from local artists while I was impatiently waiting to get served in my grubby cycling kit. According to a clipping on the wall this may have been the best teahouse in Scotland. Meanwhile, whilst waiting I seriously wondered if we should give up on the idea, but when our food came out - warm soup and toasted sandwiches – it was just the fuel that we needed. Whole town had a wierdly hippie vibe we couldn't quite put our fingers on, quite unlike anything else we were to pass today.

Back in Dumfries the Information ladies had told Justin that there wasn't a lot of accommodation in the area we were heading. We had marked a few places to try – first village we got to about 3pm and while there was a sign for a B&B there wasn't sign of much else to entertain us, so we continued on. We tried the next town, which had a significant number of rowdy youth on the main street, waiting for buses to take them elsewhere, it seemed. Justin heard someone say something about nicking our bikes and the two hotels which did accommodation didn't look like they'd do the kind of accommodation where we might want to stay.

Our cycle guide marked a campsite at another town up the road, but it wasn't on our OS map – found a burnt out wreck on the edge of a depression hit township. Two pubs which would have been likely candidates for a bed for the night on the outskirts seemed to mock our intentions, one was boarded up and the other had been burnt to the ground. We passed another two towns the same as this – sitting menancingly on hills with their identikit houses and one or two empty workers pubs. Justin spent a lot of time in said pubs asking about accommodation, mostly with no luck.

We went quite a lot further than we had planned for today and ended up doing tired circles trying to find a full campsite and then retracing steps to a full B&B until at 9pm we gave up and found a farmer to ask if we could stay in his field. The night that followed was full of midges, thousands of the buggers, falling on the tent like a rainstorm.

We had no dinner save for a few banana sandwiches and we were dog tired – we collapsed and hoped that we had killed most of them. We had been too tired to enjoy the evenings ride – 9pm is definitely too late to make camp!

Day 15: June 27th
Coylton to Blackwaterfoot

coylton farmers field to blackwaterfoot bnb on isle of arran. 71k. scrubby coastal ride then leisurely pm over arran hills. quite a contrast these 2 days

Early start (well you would as well if you could still hear a thick hailstorm of midges against your tent). Breakfast in a school yard, then second breakfast just outside Dondonald at Cafe Rosella – well deserved fry up. Our friendly waitress tells us about her phobias – water, cows, planes – but how she would really like to visit New Zealand to see the coloured water. It takes me a while to comprehend that she's talking about Rotorua.

We hit a coastal cycle path which takes us up to Ardrossan – the tarmac winds all over the place and is really scrubby, not as scenic as we had assumed. Its low tide everywhere but a warm day so would have been good for a swim in the natural tidal pools dotted up the coast.

We take the ferry to Arran and the on board tourism information lady sorts us a B&B in Blackwaterfoot within seconds of our enquiry. She also gives us some advice about midges – apparently we shouldn't camp near trees or water – last night we were directed to the spot by the trees and stream – thanks Mr Farmer man!

We have first lunch just off the ferry in Broddick and then took supplies from the bakery for a second lunch en-route. We took it slowly over the huge hill across the middle of the island before reaching our B&B for the night and visited the Kintyre Hotel (only pub in town, but a very posh one this time) for dinner and dessert with views across to the mainland. Nice way to blow the daily budget and a deep sleep in beds after an easy days cycling.

snack patrol: made up for lack of calories yesterday with diner fryup at cafe rosella just outside dundonald. perfect second breakfast for the unwashed

Day 16: June 28th
Blackwaterfoot to Kilmelford

Arran to kilmelford. 110k. back in scotland proper with overcast skies. flatter than expected. lots of lochs. last nights camp behind a pub - few less midges

Big breakfast provided by our B&B lady Pat. Quite a treat to be well looked after and to not have to pull down a tent! Its a fairly flat, fast road to the north ferry at Adrossan and misty before we catch it. We check out the local castle and eat leftover hot cross buns from yesterday.

Its a low sky day (said Justin, who wanted me to add that), and chilly. We need jackets and polyprop for the crossing which has just four cars and a bunch of other cyclists on it – four very serious lycra clad blokes and two older European cyclists with matching jackets and shoes.

Aside from first big hill, the afternoon's riding is fairly flat, alongside lochs on fairly busy roads. We stop for lunch at the harbour in charming Tarbert where Justin gets chatting to a man and his two children while I pick up supplies at the coop. They wave when they pass us later heading north of the town.

A fast afternoon's cycling but campsites we had marked are no-existent so we end the evening (at a sensible time at least!) outside a pub in Kilmelford where they've kindly agreed to let us pitch for a £10er. Alas there are still midges here, as the Hungarian barmaid warns us but at least we get a comfortable few beers in before calling it a night.

Day 17: June 29th
Kilmelford to Glen Nevis

To the foot of ben nevis. 101k. hillier and busy roads all day. warm afternoon so loch dip after lunch - freezing water, madness! best campsite view yet

Hills caught up with us today. My legs were sore and I struggled until Oban. Weird mix of organic / fairtrade shops and discount / outlet retailers in the town. Good coffee though. Justin tired after morning tea and demanded an early lunch. First place we came to had a view over a loch and overpriced sandwiches but a good respite from the heat.

Swum after lunch in a loch in freezing water near an old couple sitting in deck chairs throwing stones into the water for their dog. They must have though we were mad. It was a very quick swim. Had afternoon tea at a picnic spot just out of Fort William with a good view then hi-tailed it on busy main road (only option unfortunately) to Fort William then to tonight's camp in Glen Nevis.

Its the most stunning campsite we've stayed at yet – the mountain looms in front of our tent in the afternoon sun. We consumed a huge amount of food tonight – a kinda fresh mexican salad / mountain of food and some local beers. Its nice to have showers and shops on site again. We get beer and icecream for dessert and sit on a picnic bench absorbing the view. Wish we could have stayed another night and climbed to the top of Ben Nevis.