Well that was short and sweet, I'd started getting a niggling pain in my right knee at the end of day one, I hoped to sleep it off but it only worsened as day two progressed, into the early evening and it was clear I wasn't going to be able to ride through it. An old hiking/snowboarding injury that crops up sometimes was back with a vengeance, Looking for a bivvy spot along the west shore of Lock Eck my knee was locking up and making some interesting popping and crunching sounds, I found a nice beach spot near an old boat shed with some canoes stacked up outside, laid out the tarp and nearly tumbled backwards into the loch. Only 60 miles into a 230 mile trip and I was throwing in the towel, Thunderbirds are go, medevac kindly offered by Jurassic was called into service.
Now back home, feeling old and very sorry for myself. I've realised I need to take a different approach to bikepacking, particularly on rougher ground. A fully loaded bike with all the bags, bells and whistles isn't fun and there's got to be a better way, too much weight on the bike only exasperated the knee problem and made the uphill grinds and HABs a total PITA.
I've certainly learned a few lessons, the obvious one being the amount of food I carried, not sure what I was thinking but I decided I'd set out with everything I'd need to more or less see me through a full week. I'd never do that backpacking, I'd send parcels onto campsites, post offices etc and pick them up on the way. I've realised now that on a bike you can hit enough village shops, pubs and petrol stations that getting enough food just isn't a concern on the type of route I planned.
Just for giggles I rounded up all the food I stashed into various corners, then threw in the left over brew kit, 2060g, and that's with two days worth already consumed, there's probably 420ml of meths left in a bottle too.
So lesson number one, go easy on the food, a slack handful of nuts, one maybe two dried meals stashed away somewhere just in case, a few bars and a debit card.
Kit choices, I took a dcf mid and weather resistant bivvy bag, but it needs a roomy footprint or it pitches like a flappy bag of spuds, in Argyll I saw plenty of cosy looking bivvy spots and I think next time I will just take a waterproof bivvy and a small tarp. Of all the kit I eventually packed I did actually used it all over two days, apart from a down gilet and a pair of socks I would've used on day three probably. It still felt like too much, even though it's what I'd take hiking.
I went with two 10K powerbanks and by the end of day two I'd used a third of one of them, so another five or six days would've been about right I think. My Edge 830 seems quite battery hungry and needed a recharge towards the end of day two. My phone was a complete mystery to me again, the battery seems to have a mind of it's own, so I hardly took any photos which was really annoying as the weather was glorious.
The new InReach seemed to work okay, although I made an arse of setting up the messaging so the preset messages were going to my own email account instead of the wifes, prat. The tracking seemed to work okay for others but when I look the historic data seems patchy, missing out 30 miles of day two.
Lesson two then, a bivvy and tarp is more adaptable at lower levels, my usual mid shelters I use in the mountains are not the best choice despite being lighter.
A few words about the two days I did actually spend in the saddle (apart from when I was pushing and swearing a lot)
Day one was very pleasant, a nice ride out with Jurassic on his local stomping ground, tbh I was blowing after the first half a mile of climbing and realised I was in for a tough week. Nice paths and tracks through forestry with short sections of tarmac, we even managed a sausage sarnie and a coffee near Arrochar before Chris peeled off home and I continued on for another 10 miles before stopping to camp at a small lochan. I had a lovely evening in camp after stopping around 5pm, shelter up and I got stuck into my food supplies, the deer rut was in full swing and I was getting full dolby surround sound of roars until I nodded off.
IMG_1194 (1) by
Shewie, on Flickr
no the chair isn't mine
Day two, I'd just about packed up when three Land Rovers full of squaddies arrived to setup an OP, slightly awkward but I was soon on my way. The pass over to Lochgoilhead on the Dukes Path was quite testy with my heavy bike, I hit an innocuous looking puddle that nearly had me over the bars in the first five minutes. A rough in places but smiley descent dropped me into the village, not before porridge by a pretty waterfall through the woods. Reaching LGH I headed straight for the PO for a cold Coke, cake and pies on offer too but I really didn't need more food.
I scooted round the coast to Carrick Castle then onto a 100m HAB up into the forest again, much sweating and swearing ensued. Not sure what the temp was but it felt like 20c along the shores of Loch Long, I was regretting my winter bib choice and merino top.
I stopped on the track just before Ardentinny, was this really west coast Scotland in October
IMG_1198 by
Shewie, on Flickr
IMG_1199 by
Shewie, on Flickr
About twenty minutes after that last picture things got a bit weird, my nice route was trucking along a well used forestry track before coming to an abrupt end at a 15ft deep gorge, and with no track on the other side. My purple NAV line was saying go sharp left into the plantation, so off I went, hauling and dragging my bike over and under blowdowns for what felt like ages. When I got to the edge of the plantation I was met with a high fence and fairly deep but slow moving river. I couldn't find an easy crossing so just thought sod it waded through, the hardest bit was getting up the steep banking on the other side, it was like a scene out of one of those Attenborough films with the wilderbeast and crocodiles. I found a place where I could get the bike over the fence and trudged across a field of shin deep cow muck and bog, I'd binned my dubious Garmin route and was now making a bee line for tarmac I could see in the distance. Rounding a few bends I came to the river again, slightly deeper and faster flowing this time, up to the thighs but at least it washed the cow turd off everything. One more fence, a field and then tarmac, easy I thought as I lifted my bike over, only to get an electric shock from the fence on both nipples, I dropped the bike but if it'd got snagged I might still be there now.
After those shenanigans I rode and pushed over the pass to Lock Eck, calling at the Whistlefield Inn for a well deserved IPA, then north along the A815 to Glenbranter and the west Loch Eck shore road, and sadly the end of my ride.
I now have unfinished business, what I saw of the route it was lovely, tough in places but I'll be better prepared next time. The knee isn't great, I think I might have some patella movement going on, things click and pop after I've sat down, I've rung the docs and now awaiting a telephone consultation, in the meantime I'm giving glucosamine a try.
), though you might be a little miserable in some circumstances if you really needed them. You'll probably find all but one of them was necessary 
