35.6 milesWe woke to beautiful sunny morning. The breakfast room looked out twards Kisimul Castle in the bay. We got set up, planning to spend the day exploring Barra and Vatersay - we took the Trangia and the bits'n'bobs for a drum up and lunch. Fortunately we also packed some extra clothing, as the temperature dropped steadily through the morning, as the cloud grew ominously (consistent with the last weather forecast we'd seen which was for light rain). We'd hoped to have a brewup on the beach at Vatersay, but contented ourselves with a stroll - something repeated during the other beach visits today!The beaches on Barra and Vatersay are nothing short of splendid, as are the dunes behind, with displays of primroses and many other flowers, though the yellow flag irises had yet to bloom.From Vatersay we retraced our path back to the B&B, then on to the main circular road round Barra. This proved delightful, if still quite cold and windy - the clouds seemed to be breaking up. We stopped occasionally to admire views and beaches, but still felt too cold for lunch. At the north of this loop, weturned north, investigating where the Ardmhor ferry terminal was, then on to the Barra airport - the landing strip is thehuge Cockle Strand beach - where we stopped for soup and tea. This was most welcome as we were pretty cold by then.Further north to Eoligarry, where we walked onto arocky beach with terrific rock pools. From there we retraced to the circular road and headed back to Castlebay, pausing occasionally to admire the views. The Cuillins in Skye were clearly visible.Back in Castlebay, we changed, had a cup of tea, then wanered into Castlebay. We photographed Kisimul Castle from a number of vantage points (apparently Castelbay was the model for Kiltoch and Kisimul for the Black Island in Tintin and the Black Island). A fabulous pint of McEwans 80/- in the Castlebay Hotel bar was followed by dinner at the Cafe Kisimul, which specialises in Indian, Italian and seafood. I had scallop pakora and spaghetti marinara (combining all the specialities, I thought) washed down with a bottle ofHebridean Breweries' Islander ale. Carol had the same starter and followed with Jaipuri prawns.Then back to the B&B.We saw loads of birds, including many we couldn't identify - skylarks, herons, hooded crows. Many starlings. Heard a cuckoo.
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57.1 miles
Another glorious start, though we did see some rain. We left the B&B in what we felt was good time to catch the 9.25 ferry crossing from Ardmhor to Eriskay. Ofcourse, we hadn't figured on the stonking climb out of Castlebay, which had us huffing and puffing like Ivor the Engine. But not before we'd had to stop to persuade the front derailleur to shift the chain onto the small ring. Then to add further insult, the chain dropped up a gear when we were on the steepest part of the climb - I suggest this as one of the unwritten rules of cycling.
Still, we made it to the ferry with time to spare (though we did worry, and my usually cautious stoker exhorted me to not only go as fast as possible downhill, but to face down oncoming motorists on the singletrack!). The ferry crossing was very smooth, and we saw a variety ofseabirds and quite a few seals lying on rocks. Eriskay's a small island, with another beach. It's mostly famous for the wreck of the SS Politician, which was the basis of the film Whisky Galore. Apparently the wreck can still be seen at low tide. Eriskay's now connected to South Uist by a causeway.
South Uist doesn't offer much in the way of hilly roads, which was rather fortunate, as we were facing a rather stiff northwesterly wind. At around noon, we stopped to cook up some food (chili con carne and rice) on the trusty Trangia, and shortly after this, we encountered a light shower that lasted for about half an hour. This wasn't a major problem - we soon dried off!
By the time we reached Benbecula I'd acquired an irrational need for banana-flavoured milk. At Clachan (where the road to Lochmaddy splits off), there's a shop - but unfortunately no banana milk!
We rode on over a changed landscape. Rather than riding between small lochans and over causeways, we rode up over peat moors, with small lochans shining deep blue under the sunny blue skies, Finally we arrived at Lochmaddy, where we'd booked two nights in the Tigh Dearg Hotel.Lo and behold, the (very smart) room had a bath, and sfter getting cleaned up, we retired to the bar for a couple of pints and a bar meal. I had fish cakes for starters and baked langoustines on egg noodles for main course. C had fish pie, Desserts were Eton mess for me and sticky toffee pudding for C. Then to bed after watching the rather alarming weather forecasat for Thursday.It looked as though we'd be stuck indoors watching heavy rain...
View 2010 Tour Day 3 - Castlebay to Lochmaddy in alarger map

37.3 milesAfter seeing the weather forecast for today, we weren't optimistic, but after overnight rain, we awoke to another very sunny morning. After a vast and excellent breakfast, we set out to ride round North Uist anticlockwise. The biggest climbs were between Lochmaddy and the Berneray road, and even these weren't particularly tough. However, we decided after looking at the map that we wouldn't investigate Berneray, and we continued towards Solas. After a bit, vast sandy beaches came into view, and it was with some chagrin that we discovered that the batteries in the camera had run down.However, as we approached Solas we could see the familiar Coop green and sure enough there was a rather good Coop in Solas. Not only did we buy batteries, but we got a couple of bottles of chocolate milk as a substitute for banana milk.Pressing on, we paused for a drink as we eased round to the western coast of North Uist. Here B&Bs become more plentiful. It also got very much sunnier, and we were able to see St Kilda in the distance.We took a detour up the C83 Solas road to look for a standing stone indicated on our tourist map. As usual this was not signposted, but was visible from the road. Retracing back to the main road, we paused at an excellent tearoom for a cup of tea and a slice of cake (lunch still out of the question as we were still full of breakfast).At Clachan we turned towards Lochmaddy, pausing only to stop at the ruins of a chambered cairn. Once back at the hotel, we changed and popped out to buy a paper and stroll about. A highlight was a visit to an art installation in the form of a camera obscura buily inside a cairn. Then back to the hotel for beers and dinner.We are apprehensive about tomorrow's weather, and may not ride over the Quirang as originally planned. Still, we'll make it to either Portree or Broadford.
View 2010 Tour Day 4 - North Uist in a largermap

45 milesThis was a second wet day, but not seriously so until the afternoon.  We set out from Portree shortly after 9 am, and pretty quickly got fed up with the traffic on the main road south from Portree - this road isn't very nice (except for the splendid scenery wreathed in  misty cloud) and seems to be a succession of long drags and descents, perhaps the most notable being that to the Sligachan Hotel and campsite.At Sconser we decided to evade the traffic by turning left at the golf club and quarry, taking a rickety little road round Moll.  No traffic, no rain so we stopped for a drum up.  This brought out our first midgies!  A little further on we rejoined the main road for Broadford.  The rain started up again, and about the only thing that kept us going was the sight of the prolific bluebells.  In Broadford we stopped for tea and scones, and met three mountain bikers who we'd last seen on Barra.  Also a couple planning to camp, and who seemed to have an optimistic weather forecast.On to the Coop, where we bough bananas, banana flavoured milk (at last!) and a huge bar of chocolate.  Shortly after leaving Broadford, the rain came on with a vengeance, making the 17 miles to Armadale very soggy.  Still, while parts of the new road to Armadale are a bit dull, this is made up for by the woodland in Sleat, with many many bluebells (and wild garlic).We arrived a the ferry terminal with an hour to go, and found it packed.  It turned out to be pasengers awaiting the Waverley paddles steamer, and once that had departed the waiting room was ours, along with a large number of motorcyclists dripping everywhere.We found the B&B with little difficulty, and quickly unpacked.  A hot shower and we were ready to explore Mallaig!Dinner was very good - excellent moules mariniere followed by hake with a mixed shellfish sauce and braised fennel. C had no starter and had scallops on lentils.
View 2010 Tour Day 6 - Portree to Mallaig in a larger map

40 milesAt last we woke to no rain! As we ate breakfast at the Western Isles guest house, we could look over the harbour and saw various boats and ferries. It was Sunday morning, so not much activity - though the CalMac ferry sneaked out for Armadale while we were loading up the bike. We rolled out of Mallaig along the recently upgraded Fort William road. This set the tone for much of the rest of the day, with a succession of uphill and downhill sections, but as with all new roads is a bit soulless with wide and bare verges. Accordingly, we waited until we were on the banks of Loch Ailort before we stopped for a teabreak. This part of the west coast is rather pleasant, in no small part due to the broadleaf woodland. However there's abundant house building along the lochside.A long climb took us over to Loch Moidart. We stopped for lunch on the shore of Loch Moidart, watching herons fly by, and sea kayaks in the distance.Another succession of climbs and descents took us to Acharacle, where the shop was unfortunately shut, this being Sunday! A few more miles saw us reach our destination, the Salen Hotel, on the edge of the Ardnamurchan peninsula, tomorrow's route. After a very welcome hot shower, we wandered down to the bar for a beer and to make a reservation for dinner. Then a brief wander around Salen before returning to the hotel for dinner - warm goat's cheese salad with aubergine chutney, followed by roast venison with a rather good fruity sauce. Dessert was Dutch apple crumble.
View 2010 Tour Day 7 - Mallaig to Salen in a larger map

32 miles (but the hardest miles of the trip!)Today was the best weather of the trip so far, and we spent the cycling the length of Ardnamurchan. The eastern part of Ardnaurchan has some of the most glorious native broadleaf woodland - and is pretty tough cycling as the road rises and dips repeatedly from the shores of Loch Sunart. We stopped to talk to a couple of girls packing up camp to head back to Glasgow (train from Fort William), then carried on, to stop at a tearoom/wildlife centre with an RSPB person - tea and icecream, enlivened by the aerobatic antics of swallows.Shortly after, the landscape becomes quite bare, and the road climbs up - a long but steady climb that eventually descends to Kilchoan. In this section we saw numerous red deer.From Kilchoan we rode onwards to visit Ardnamurchan Point, which is the westernmost place on the mainland. This was 6 of the toughest miles of the trip, and we still had to ride back to Kilchoan! After walking up to the lighthouse, we rode back down the road a short distance and stopped to heat up some lunch. Checking our watches, we wondered whether we'd make the 15.15 ferry from Kilchoan to Tobermory. In the event the ferry men saw us whizzing down to the ferry and waited for us! The crossing was terrific, warm enough to sit outdoors.Once in Tobermory, we finally found a B&B - most had no vacancies (something of a pattern on this trip). This involved cycling the loaded tandem up some of the steepest streets we've ever ridden up. After a hot shower, we wandered around Tobermory, stopping for scallops and chips and then a beer.
View 2010 Tour Day 8 - Salen to Tobermory in a larger map

22 milesAn easy day, as we cycled down to the Craignure ferry terminal to return to Oban. We had shelved plans to cycle round the north of Mull, spending a second night in Tobermory partly because of the difficulty in finding accommodation, and partly because of the weather forecast. In the event, this was probably a good decision, as the cloud was very low, and for much of the morning we h drizzly showers.The first half of the day's cycling, as far as Salen, was quite tough with many climbs on singletrack road, made harder by vying with motor traffic while avoiding potholes. After Salen, the road's wider and flatter. Not much to report, with the only notable nature points being a pair of seals who took a great deal of interest watching us watching them watch us watch them...The ferry crossing to Oban is quite quick, taking only 45 minutes. Then we had to tackle the hurlyburly of Oban traffic (a bit of a shock after the last few days of relatively quiet roads) as we returned to pick up the car.
View 2010 Tour Day 9 Tobermory to Oban in a larger map

This year's cycle tour once again takes us round our favourite haunts: the Scottish west coast Hebridean islands. This year we're planning an itinerary that sees us visit some islands for the first time, and in so doing sees us take seven ferries (eight crossings) in nine days cycling! These are Barra (which we've never visited before), Berneray (only been as far as the ferry jetty before) and Iona (we've never even been as far as Fionnphort on Mull before).
Day 1 Our trip will begin by arriving in Oban by car, in time to catch the 1540 ferry, to arrive in Castlebay on Barra. This is quite a lengthy crossing, not arriving until 2040. We plan to find a B&B for two nights.

Day 2 This day will be spent exploring Barra, and it shouldn't be too taxing, as we can leave most of our kit in the B&B. We hope to visit the linked island of Vatersay to the south and the promontory of Eoligarry to the north. In the past, we've been on ferries that call at Castlebay: usually they are stuffed with birdwatchers.


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Day 3 On the third day, we plan to ride to catch the morning ferry (crossing number 2) from Barra to Eriskay, a small island now attached to South Uist by a causeway, and then on to LochMaddy in North Uist. This route takes us northward through Benbecula, a strangely wet landscape seemingly mostly composed of pools of water!


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Day 4 We're planning on staying two nights on North Uist, probably in Lochmaddy (we have our eye on one particular accommodation, which on our last visit looked to have a rather nice menu), in order to look around in more detail than we've done in previous visits. On one occasion, we stayed over a Sunday (because getting to Harris on a Sunday is pretty much impossible), but unfortunately bad weather in the form of appalling gales prevented us from getting far on that occasion. We're quite keen to have a look at Berneray.

Day 5 From Lochmaddy it's off to Skye, by ferry crossing number three, which should deposit us at Uig in the early afternoon. Probably just enough time to cycle over the Quirang to find a B&B for the night. An alternative might be to travel round the northern tip of Trotternish.

Day 6 We'll be remaining on Skye for another night - aiming to stay in Broadford, with the particular aim of enjoying seafood at Creelers, one of our favourite seafood restaurants.

Day 7 Skye, of course, is less and less of an island, now that the Skye Bridge is there. This has increased the amount of motor traffic and resulted in road "improvements" - we'll cycle down one of these roads to Armadale to catch the ferry to Mallaig on the mainland (ferry crossing number four), from where we hope to reach Salen for the night. We have an idea for accommodation, one whoich specialises in local produce

Day 8 For the eighth day, we plan to ride through Ardnamurchan, though the possibility of diversions to beaches really depend on the weather - last time we were on Ardnamurchan, the weather was unbelievably good. We'll cross from Kilchoan to Tobermory (ferry crossing number five) and stay overnight in or near Tobermory.

Day 9 We have visited Mull on a few occasions, but never got as far as Iona: on day 9 we plan to cycle down to Fionnphort to catch the ferry to Iona and back (ferry crossings six and seven). No idea where we'll stay, but probably try and spot somwhere en route.


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Day 10 The final day of the tour will see us ride from Fionnphort to Craignure, to catch the ferry back to Oban (ferry crossing number eight).

I've high hopes for this tour, it'll be an interesting mix of the (to us) novel and the familiar, of long riding days and short,of road and sea.

A nice morning, and we drove to La Lucerne d'Outremer, with the tandem on the roof.  We left the car and rode down to Genets, on the coast and with very nice views of Mont St Michel in the haze.  Mont St Michel was surprisingly close, and indeed the pilgrims' route takes them across the sands to the Mont.  Presumably this is the quickest way to heaven in more than one sense!.  From Genets we rode up the coast in the direction of Granville.  Along the way there were several viewpoints from which Mont St Michel could be spotted, all bar one very quite with the exception being one that was heaving with people. 

ventually we stopped for moules & frites after climbing out of St Jean de Thomas.  We turned inland through a confused set of one-way streets at Jolouville and returned via the ruined  Abbaie de La Lucerne.

Today it was still windy, but rather than rain we had broken cloud and sunshine.  We cycled down to Hambye on the tandem and then on to the the ruined Abbey.  The abbey lies in gorgeous surroundings in a wooded valley.  Unfortunately, only 25 mins remained before it closed for the lengthy French lunchbreak, so we pressed on through beautiful wooded lanes to Gavray (twinned with Launton!).  At this point we debated what to do next, and ended up riding on to the coast.  We headed first of all to Brehal, and then carried on across saltmarshes to Les Salines, in the hope of finding some seafood for lunch.  While we saw loads of bouchots on the beach, there wasn't anything near the beach in the way of eating (just a large car park, and many people either hanging around on the car park or traipsing around the beach looking for shellfish.

Faced with this disappointment, we rode over to St Martin de Brehal, but only found pizza cafes.  So back we went via Les Salines, from where we headed home via Ligneville (everything shut) and Quettreville (where we finally had sandwich and pains au chocolat from small supermarket).

We woke to very threatening skies, and even stronger winds.  It looked a bit better to the north, so we loaded the tandem on the car and drove over to the Utah beach museum carpark, with the intention of going for a ride along the coast to St Vaast le Hougue.  In the end, we sat in the car looking at the flagpoles bending in wind and rain, so we drove back to the house.  Later on we went for a walk down to Notre Dame de Cenilly.  

Still a bit depressed about the weather, so we checked forecast which now predicted better weather for Thursday and Friday, but poor over the weekend (i.e. for the race).

Very windy and wet, so we drove over to the coast.  We had intended to go to northernmost point of Normandy, but in the end made it as far as Portbail, where we walked on the beach then wandered along the causewy, stopping to look at a wrecked boat and then into Portbail itself for a galette for lunch.  After this we had heavy rain, so we went back to the house again.  Rather worried about the weekend's weather, looks grim in the online weather forecasts.

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First thing after breakfast, Team Grumpy rode the training circuit once more, slightly faster this time. (15.5 miles).

After second breakfast, Carol and I rode the tandem over to the coast.  We took unmarked roads from the house, and eventually ended up at Hautville Plage as we did last year.  And again, as last yeat we had moules and frites and a beer, in the same restaurant.  We then rode over to Regneville to visit a castle.  Very much in ruins, to the point that it seemed pretty improbable that they could actually stay up.  Nevertheless, the ruins were spectacular.  After a map consultation, we saw direction signs to a set of limekilns.  We'd seen these on one of the Cicuit Thierry Marie placards near our house, and had thought they were fortifications.  These turned out to be four huge furnaces for making lime for agricultural use.  There was a big exhibition, though mostly in french, after which we wandered around the kilns.  There were audio tour points around the site, all with a English option.

Woke late, after 9h sleep (which is most astonishing for me!).  We walked up to Cerisy la Salle to see what the food shops offered.  There's a small mini-supermarket, and a couple of artisan boulangers.  We bought some grub and also bread and pain chocolat.  The we wandered back to the house, via a small war memorial to a Lancaster crew.  Many villages in this area of Normandy have small memorials, often commemorating individual incidents during the D-Day landings and their sequelae. 

After a second breakfast of coffee and pain chocolat, we went out for a short ride on the tandem.  As well as familiarising us with some of the local roads, this proved to be an excellent training circuit in the lead up to the Duo Normand on the following Sunday. 

This year, we had little expectation of a good performance in the Duo Normand time trial. You can read reports of previous events over at the Team Grumpy web pages and the Team Grumpy Blog, as well as the preview of the race.

One addition this year was that we planned to record a video by strapping a small video camera to the tri-bars - if this can be made into manageable file size, I may post it on the web.

As usual, pressure of work led to frantic packing on the morning of departure.  This was followed by the drive to Portsmouth for the Brittany Ferries afternoon sailing to Cherbourg.  We arrived with plenty of time to spare (about 1h30!).  As was the case last year, we were the last car on, and so first off at Cherbourg.

I'd realised a few days before that I'd bought a return ticket to Poole rather than Portsmouth.  This was on the Brittany Ferries Normandie Vitesse.  I'd booked this because I wasn't keen on rolling off into British road traffic in the dark.  As it turned out, the ferry was still badged as "Condor Ferries" - presumably bought up by Brittany Ferries comparatively recently - but it was very quick, with a crossing time of 2h15.

Exiting Poole was a bit of a shock to the system after the gentle traffic we'd had in Normandy - but once out onto the motorway and A34 we rolled along OK, except for a major hold up due to an accident on the A34.  The A34 becomes more monstrous in its traffic levels each time we use it.  Astonishing to think that a few years ago we were still using it as a time trial course, albeit early on Sunday mornings.

We decided to investigate Agon-Coutainville today, and also try and find a village called Grouchy on its outskirts (some play on words re Team Grumpy!).  We set off via the small lanes near the house.  This practically was our undoing, as they proved very difficult to navigate due to the limited sinage on these tiddly roads.  Our aim had been to avoid the big intersections near Coutances.  We eventually crossed the D972 near Belval-Gare, after about 16 miles cycling, only to see signs proclaiming Cerisy La Salle 7km!  So we'd really come via a circuitous route. On the other hand, the roads had been delightfully rural, though populated by lots of barky dogs!

We narrowly avoided the Coutances industrial estates and the associated big roads ad in the end rode straight down the sea front at Agon-Cotainville.  Here we stopped for another excellent lunch in restaurant (pigeon breast salad & skate for Carol, assiette de bulots and skate for Robert).

First thing, I went round the 15 mile circuit with Gerry (15.5 miles), stopping to buy bagettes and pains au chocolat. 

After second breakfast, we drove over to Utah beach for the ride we'd hoped to do the previous Wednesday - it was an altogether better day, with brilliant sunshine most of the time.  After unloading the bike in the Utah beach car park, we cycled to St Vaast le Hougue.  Initially along the coast road, but due to roadworks, we had to cross to the bigger D14 road.  Pretty nice cycling for the most part.  Lunch was galettes & crepes in a creperie in St Vaast le Houge.  Bizarrely we were supplied with the strong Leffe 9 instead of Leffe Blonde (!) - this made us feel rather sleepy as we set off to return to the car. 

We had the usual rest day after the Duo - we drove to Granville to amble gently about.  In particular the citadel area and the old town were very attractive, with the interesting wartime additions of the concrete gun emplacements that formed part of the German "Atlantic Wall".  Interestingly, it looked as though someone had had a go at chipping them apart but had given up.  Over 65 years since they were installed, the many concrete structures left by the Germnas still look quite robust.  We decided not to go to the aquarium, but wandered bak down to the habour where whe had an excellent lunch.  I had an  assiette de fruits de mer (whelks, winkles, oysters, crabs, langoustines, clams, etc) - while Carol had a salad nicoise and an excllent white fish (we think trigger fish) in a greenish spiruline sauce.  Then back for a lazy afternoon back at the house.

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As usual, a rest day before the big event.  We drove over to Villedieu les Poeles, where we left the car in a supermarket car park and walked into town.  The town is full of touristy nick-nack shops, much of it copper pots and pans.  However, we did visit the bell foundry museum.  This was very interesting.  The tour looked like it was pretty good, but it was of limited use to us given it was in French, and well beyond our halting capability in that language. 

We then wandered back to a creperie, where we has excellent crepes and quaffed some equally excellent cider.  While we were in the creperie a heavy rain shower blew in.  We went back to the car, via the supermarket, then returned to the house, where they'd not had any rain.