Day 6
June 16th - From Locharron to Armadale, Isle of Skye

As soon as I looked out of the window at the b&b this morning I could see that the weather was not going to be as good as it had been for the previous 5 days. Having said that it was only cloudy, not wet and having seen reports of a tornado in Yorkshire on the news last night I can't complain.
This was another excellent b&b with a great view across Locharron and run by a very friendly elderley couple called Edith and Willie Mackenzie (great scottish name !). Twice on this trip I have paid £20 for b&b and three times I have paid more than that and the two best ones have been the cheapest. The breakfast was huge and I did my best but it beat me in the end.
Following a 40 minute telephone conversation with my navigator last night I set off from the b&b at about 9.30 with three pages of written directions. My route involved going to Plockton, then to Kyle of Lochalsh and over the Skye bridge. When I got into Locharron last night my left knee was starting to hurt a bit but I thought nothing of it. As soon as I got on the bike this morning my knee reminded me that it was still there. I made the 6 mile trip round the loch, the first half of which was hard work into a chilly east wind but as I turned right it became easier with the wind behind me. It didn't stay easy for long, that hill I had been told about soon reared up in front of me and I took about four attempts to get over it. I thought that would be it until Plockton but soon I was heading sharply downhill which is always a bad sign because there is always another uphill to follow. Sure enough there was and this one was even worse than the last. My left knee was really complaining now but I took my time and got there in the end.
Just over the brow of the hill I saw the turning for Plockton but there was also a sign for the Skye Bridge telling me to stay on the road I was on. If I had checked my notes I would have taken the Plockton road as Kirsten said it was a more direct route to Kyle of Lochalsh. I carried straight on and when I bought a map later in the day I could see I had gone the long way round. Still, I could do with the exercise !
Just before I got to Kyle of Lochalsh I heard a few clonks from the rear deraillieur. I knew something wasn't right but before I had time to think about it the chain snapped. After those two enormous hills I had gone up it decided to break on a downhill bit. Anyway, this was one of the mechanical problems I expected so I had a chain link remover in my toolkit. It took about 10 minutes to remove the broken link and reconnect the chain and a lot longer to get my hands clean.
I went through the busy little Kyle of Lochalsh and soon I was crossing the Skye bridge and heading for a place called Roadford and a garage there that sells pretty much everything. I bought some picnic stuff and when I got served in the garage I found myself saying 'Aye' instead of 'Yes'. I haven't been here a week yet and I'm already picking up the lingo! Next week it'll be "By eck lass" and "ecky thump".
After leaving Roadford I headed back down south towards Armadale. There were some great views along this road and occasionally the sun broke through which made them look even better. This part of Skye reminded me very much of Dartmoor except that the hills here are much more dramatic. I've noticed that the sheep are a lot braver on Skye, further north when I shout 'Mint sauce' at them they run away but here they just stare at me. Maybe they only speak Gaelic.
This was probably the busiest road I've been along so far, I must have seen at least one car every five minutes ! Thankfully, given the state of my knee, this road was relatively flat and eventually I reached Armadale. It will be from here tomorrow that I will get the ferry to Mallaig on the mainland. I checked the ferry times (first crossing is 9.40am) then got some fish and chips at a cafe next door then headed back up the road a bit to the youth hostel. As there were not many people staying there this hostel had a real homely feel about it. It also had an excellent shower - a bit like standing under a warm waterfall and was just what I and my dodgy knee needed. The lady who runs the hostel said they get about 6 people a year staying there who are doing the end-to-end so maybe this is not as much of an 'out of the way' route as I thought.
Todays mileage was 51 which brings the total over the 6 days to 337, an average of 56.1. Fort William was on my original route so if I can make it there tomorrow I will know exactly how much this scenic route has added to my original plan. Then I really will have to get a move on.

The Routemap

The Speed (in blue) and the Elevation (in green)