Waking up to a warm sun in an almost cloudless sky on day two was immensely pleasing to us all. Packing up one’s tent in midgy-free, dry conditions is a joy and something we never took for granted in those parts.
In the pub on the night previous, Ivan and I were chatting about my riding and unbeknown to me, I discovered that Ivan is an advanced instructor for ROSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) – a Godsend..! I was grateful that he offered to accompany me on a twenty mile 1:1 ride over to Oban to practice some overtaking. Six weeks of training condensed into a twenty minute brief. I arrived in Oban feeling more confident when overtaking vehicles at speed, ‘big ass’ coaches included.
The ferry to mull
Midday saw us board and ride onto the first of three ferries in order to start our island-hopping. First port of call was Mull. There was a good buzz about our trip already and that was down to a combination of being on bikes, the natural beauty of Scotland and a bunch of like-minded blokes.
What a view
The island of Mull was fairly remote, full of mountainous terrain and a gravelly single track meandering around countless lakes and undulating hillside. It was panoramically scenic on a big scale.
We stopped for lunch high up on a hill overlooking a glistening body of inviting water; one minute we’re chewing on beef jerky and the next I watch two of our bikes go down, dominoes style! No serious damage but it had to mark the first of the mandatory blips every trip has as part of the adventure.
Another beautiful view
The best part of the day was spent gliding up and down hills, around sweeping bends, over cambers and negotiating a few hairpins. It was a tad hairy in parts but nothing that got the better of us. Well, albeit from a small visit in a ditch where Ian gets deposited but Daisy, his bike stays put on the bend. Ian was laughing his socks off as he went down..!
Mister conehead
Gone 6.30pm we find a quiet campsite tucked away after a hundred miles of pleasurable riding, sixty of which were reserved for exploring the marvels of Mull. We felt pretty weary but it was a happy fatigue. Cracked open the carton of red wine and all was well again