Day 8 of the big ride

Today we set off and took the most direct road to Glasgow without going on the motorway only to find that the road we planned to use was closed, so we took off onto minor roads to discover some stunning scenery and quiet country lanes with no lorries rattling past and some seriously fun decents.

Next we had to try and navigate Glasgow and surrounding areas, which is a huge place that seemed to take forever to cycle through, and we seemed to add about 3 or4 extra miles. This route proved quite difficult, and it seemed to take a very long time to get anywhere and was quite disheartening.

We eventually caught sight of the Erskine bridge, at which point Graham J's heart sank and his face went white as he realised it was a very hight suspension bridge.
After a couple more detours, we eventually found the road to get onto the Erskine bridge, by which time it had started pouring with rain. We cycled over the bridge, with Graham J clinging onto his bike, so you could see the whites of his knuckles and refusing to look at the view, just concentrating getting across in one piece.

We then met up with our support driver, (Charlotte is on her own again now, as Christine went home this morning) in Old Kilpatrick and as it was still raining, we ate our lunch stood in a bus shelter. The bad weather was quite disheartening during a long ride and we started to get cold so had to put more layers on.

Soon after setting off, we picked up the Loch Lomand cycle route which suited Graham R's riding style, but not Graham J's. Shane found it okay, apart from it was fairly bumpy.

The scenery was stunning when we were riding alongside Loch Lomand, and seeing the mountains. At one point Graham J had to stop when going down the cycle way to let a cow go past him. The whole trip Graham R was dreading the last climb from Tarbet to Arrochar, expecting it to be completely horrendous, but it turned out to be middle ring all the way, much to his relief.

As a short ride, "rest day", this was a total failure, as it was wet and painful. We look forward to the mountains tomorrow with sore legs and heavy hearts. Tomorrow's ride is a 72 mile ride, with massive climbs, which is going to be incredibly difficult.

So we will head to our beds now. And post you tomorrow. Goodnight world!