There may be 100km rides to beat this, but as far as I am concerned, this is the best in the country!
It starts in Ullapool, but I started from where we stay, it is just over 100km from the cottage, so probably 106km from Ullapool
Coming round the hill before the drop to Ardmair Bay the Coigach peaks were cloudless. Mostly there is a table cloth on here, obscuring the top quarter or so.
There's a picturesque climb up out of Ardmair, with a long straight stretch in a valley, then a sharp dip down and a climb back up. There's a viewing point at high point of this climb and all the local peaks are laid out to see. I'll do a panorama later, but here is Stac Pollaidh, the crusty toast rack that could feeature in Lord of the Rings.
After this point there's a long descent and the turning off to the the Summer Isles and Achiltibuie. Except you cannot get to the Summer Isles on this road, 'cos they are islands! The single track road skirts a number of the peaks and has the fresh water Loch Lurgainn on the left. Glorious!
My camera just fitted on top of a Passing Place sign and I only needed two takes to get a YACF jersey with Stac Pollaidh.
I'd seen a couple of cyclists in the far distance and I caught up with them after I'd turned right off the Achiltibuie road to Inverkirkcaig and Lochinver. This next bit is quite lumpy and twisty; I told the Dutch couple that it was hard work but worth it!
Stac Pollaidh looms and there's an abundance of fresh water lochs. The first half of the route has been top dressed since I last came along it, but it is not a frequently used road, so in the crown was a snake of gravel. It made fast descending very tricky, having only 2 foot or so of road to play with.
Some parts of the road are wooded, which means lovely surprises along the route (like Suilven here)
The road dips down to sea level and you see that there are telegraph poles in heaven. Meandering round, hugging the shore, there are little hidden bays.
After another stabby climb there's a burn at the side of the road, you catch glimpses of it and it grows as it nears Lochinver.
Lochinver had to be a refuellng stop - a Cheese, Potato and Leek pie and a pot of tea at the Lochinver Larder. (No longer sporting Michael Winner's glowing praise - it was a bit old!)
Leaving Lochinver I saw two riders at the road side ahead, but only one bike. It was a knobbly tired tandem and the chain had come off, I offered help but they were under control. A little while later I heard the unmistakable sound of knobbly tyres being ridden hard and they overtook me at speed, so I shouted "Allez Allez!!" at them, 'cos they were French.
You are on the main road so there is more traffic, but mostly very courteous and 50% of the vehicles crossed over the white lines to pass. Definitely not Home Counties drivers. Snatches of the old road, peat cutting (quite rare on the mainland) and a fishing expedition.
Loch Assynt. Noting more to say!
I met a chap from Dundee who was up here escaping hill-walking with his wife. Thankfully his climbing was as slow as mine, so we stuck together for a while. He was stopping in Elphin, about 2 miles south of Ledmore Junction, so I was on my own for the final 18 miles or so. Climbing out of Elphin and its landmark (well, for me anyway!) green tin house, I began to slow more and gave up and walked up the steeper bit of the climb. A French car pulled into a lay-by ahead and the driver got out. There was a dismembered tandem on the back of the car. It was my 'Allez, Allez" couple, checking if I was OK! He offered me water and food, and we chatted about the area and the glorious day.
Finally the spectacular peaks had become silhouettes and it was getting chilly. With a rain jacket on I pressed on and returned home exhausted. My furthest ride since September last year, and quite a hilly one. But what a ride!
