If yesterday was the starter on the weather menu, today was the main course. There is a severe weather warning for today covering a large part of Scotland. If you want to know where we are, look at the met office map attached- we're right in the middle of the orange patch. The winds were forecast to be 30 mph, gusting to near 70.
Plan A had been to get to Ardrossan to catch the last ferry to Arran. By bedtime last night that was looking dubious, and when the first 3 sailings were cancelled this morning, we had to decide on a different route.
We thought about heading for the east coast, but the wind seemed to be bad everywhere. We decided to head for the Erskine bridge instead and carry on up Loch Lomond side.
In the end, we only managed 36 miles today. The first 9 flew past in about half an hour. Then we were back to battling with the wind.
Apart from a brief moment when the wind was behind blowing us up the hill, we were either head into it, or worse, it was blowing sideways. A steady wind would have been bad enough, but the gusts were really challenging. We stopped in Cumnock for lunch, then made it another mile or so to Auchinleck where at a junction the wind seemed to come from all directions and first blew me sideways, then almost stopped me in my tracks as it changed direction. At that point, we decided that it would be too dangerous to carry on and we stopped. Fiona looked on the internet and found us a room in the Railway Inn and we took refuge there.
A challenging day for sure, but not without reward. I was treated to the sight of a hare running across the road in front of me, dart through the fence and power away up the field, its whole body seeming to be made for speed.
There was also the sight of the hills, our companions at the side or the road.
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