It has been a busy few months, so this is me just settling down to write up our May coast-to-coast mountain bike holiday. It was an interesting trip to say the least!

The trip started off on the right foot; it had been sunny and warm in the Highlands  of Scotland for the previous three weeks, I was driving to Edinburgh to pick up a group of coast-to-coast mountain bike adventurers from Alaska, Belgium, New York and Old York (England), the sun was shining and all planes and trains were on time – result!

Once we had reached our destination for the evening we got settled-in, built bikes and set off on a short ride around the local trails in Golspie, before returning for a fantastic dinner and a few local beers.  Once dinner was polished off we sat in front of the open fire, beer in hand, pouring (not the beer) over the maps and itinerary for the week ahead, then the “Have you heard the weather forecast?” question popped up, “yes” I said, and with the look on my face the group didn’t venture any further with that line of investigation….

In the morning we got ready in record time and hit the trails in a westerly direction, as we would for the rest of the all-mountain coast-to-coast and we were pleasantly surprised that the weather was holding.  No sooner had we met up with Alex our driver/guide at around lunchtime, the heavens opened, and didn’t stop for the rest of the day.  So on reaching our destination of Ullapool we hung our clothes up to dry and sat ourselves in front of the fire in the local pub to dry out.

Unfortunately, the next day brought the worst summer weather we have ever experienced in Scotland for a long time.  Over breakfast we had a long discussion about our options, and decided that where we were supposed to be riding would be far too dangerous, so for the first time ever we had to resort to the van.  We went to a great café en route to the smallest distillery in Scotland at Lochewe (http://www.lochewedistillery.co.uk/) where we were shown around the traditional elicit Scottish whisky (Uisge Beatha ) distillery by one of the most charismatic people you will meet in Scotland.  Just don’t ask him about putting ice in your malt whisky! You have been warned!

The rest of the week’s weather was, well, changeable! We had to alter plans and adapt to suit the changing and interesting weather we were experiencing in Europe.  But that said, each night of our coast-to-coast mountain bike adventure brought smiles, red faces, tales of the day’s riding, celebratory beers and excellent food, not to mention a birthday cake.

With all the trials and tribulations behind us, the ride at the end of our Scottish coast-to-coast into Applecross was all the more sweet, and the sun decided to pop its head out too! So after a round of drinks and cake on the beach, we got changed and made our way over to the world renowned Applecross Inn for some dinner and a few of their best local beers.

If you would like to find out more about our Coast-to-coast mountain bike adventure, you can see our trip itierary here.