Onward and Downward: South West Scotland

South west Scotland has a lot of coast

Another year, STILL cycling round the coast of Scotland.  I'll be setting off for Euston in the dead of night tonight, catching the first train to Oban, where I capitulated last year amidst midges and drizzle.  Heading south again: there is still rather a lot of Scotland left to visit, including the isles of Islay, Jura, Arran and Bute - it promises to be a fascinating journey.

This year I'm armed with a bag of cunning plans:  the first of these is to go in May instead of June or July.  Allegedly the climate is drier and less windy in May - on average.   And the first half of May was lovely - 20 degrees and sunny most days, while we shivered in London.  

The mainland and islands between Oban and Glasgow are sparsely populated, especially when it comes to places to stay, so it's been quite a puzzle to work out how to do a reasonable distance each day and still have somewhere to sleep.  I produced a masterpiece of a plan after exploring many options, most of which involved unreasonable distances in very hilly terrain.  The masterpiece includes arriving in Oban mid-afternoon tomorrow and cycling about 40 miles in the afternoon.  However, the two possible places to stay after 40 miles are both closed for renovation, so I will be cycling 60 miles instead.  Starting at 15.30.  Still, this is where the fun begins!  

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