Day 8 - Dull and Hilly

We started the day with our first Scottish Breakfast (mmm...Haggis), and met 3 guys that were heading from John o’ Groats down to Land’s End over 13 days. They had their own custom gear, and it looked like they’d been pretty successful gaining corporate sponsorship.

We set off in the wind and rain at about 9.30. The first stint on the A76 was unpleasant, but we soon headed off on some minor roads for a few miles. We then rejoined the A76 for about 30 miles. The road surface was pretty terrible, and we seemed to be heading uphill and against some strong wind all the way. We were relieved to finally leave the A76 after Mauchline.

You’ll notice that there are no photos from today. The scenery was largely uninspiring and bland. Thankfully, the final few miles on some unclassified roads were in amongst pleasant scenery, but it’s pretty difficult to remember any particular part of the day.

We averaged over 13mph (that includes stops), but both felt that today was the most difficult day of the journey. At over 100 miles, tomorrow won’t give us a chance to recover. Hopefully we can get a hefty meal in Paisley tonight to give us some energy to carry over to the early start tomorrow.