Thursday, May 30, 1996
From the Sleat Mountains on Skye to Portree
42.5 miles
I didn't sleep well that night and so it was no wonder that I got up early at 5 o' clock. The weather seemed to be better this day but that was an illusion that only lasted for about 3 hours. It took me two hours to make breakfast and pack up all my things and so I set off at about 7.00am. I first went on the road I came up the day before which took me back to the A851 coming up from Armadale. In Skulamus I joined the A850 running up from Kyle of Lochalsh and went on towards Portree.
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The countryside was beautiful but between 7.30 and 8 o' clock it started to rain again. It was no heavy rain, but it continued to rain all day long. As far as I could see the weather on the mainland wasn't any better. When I came to the place where the road curves around Loch Ainort I stopped because I didn't believe what I saw: On the other side of the lake the road was climbing up into the mountains at what seemed to me a horrible climb, the traffic was very heavy that day, it was raining and I was cold. But then I saw a small road running along the coast. I checked my map and saw that this road would join the A850 again a couple of miles later. Without hesitating I took that single track. There were climbs there as well, but nearly no cars. I had a wonderful look down on Loch Ainort with the fish farms and over to the isles of Scalpay and Raasay.
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After being back on the main road I rode down Glen Varragill until at about 1.00pm I reached Portree. Dripping wet as I was I drove straight to the Tourist Office and booked in a hotel in the center of the town (as far as I can remember it's name was The Tongadale). I first had a beer and then took a walk around Portree --- of cause the rain had stopped as soon as I arrived in town --- looking for a bicycle shop to get me a new spare tube.
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But when I finally found one it had already closed so that I would have to go there again the next day. When I came back to the hotel I laid down on my bed to rest for a while. I had just dozed away when one of the smoke detectors outside my door went off. As I'm a member of a volunteer fire brigade you can image how fast that sound got me out of bed. But just as I went to the stairs somebody came up saying "False alarm!". Great. I went down to the pub and spent the evening and early night talking with some of the locals. It really was a nice evening after that hard day.
Before I went to bed I looked at my map thinking of where to go the next day. I hoped that the weather would be better and that I could take the road along the coast past Old Man of Storr and Kilt Rock and then going on to Dunvegan before heading back to the mainland.