I haven't posted for a while because I haven't been out for a while what with one thing and another including my depression getting the better of me for a while.
But we are on holiday now, and having recovered from travelling up here (which took a lot out of me), we finally got around to trying to cycle around the loch.... in the past it was an afternoon jaunt, taking under 2 hours, now it is an expedition that took over 3 1/2 hours total time, though ride time was under 3 hours for the 23 miles!
The morning hadn't looked that promising, in fact it looked down right like nothing was going to happen, but by the afternoon and just before setting out we had this...
A typical Scottish scene really. So we set out in full waterproofs and it promptly threw it down really heavily and we were left wondering how much of the ride was going to be in full waterproofs. Going down the track however, it stopped, as it so typical of the weather here and we were promptly rewarded with this - it never fails to amaze me how you can have both the above and the below pictures at the same time, just looking in opposite directions!
Sadly, the camera could not capture all of the light and if I make the brightness of the picture any greater, I loose the detail and highlights in the cloud.
Going around the loch was uneventful. It was quiet enough to cycle side by side most of the time and it was a case of spot the differences from the last time we were here. One of them was a bull dog that has changed colour and we were sad to find out that a friend had died in the last few months, but has now been replaced with another rescue bull dog called Blue. Blue however, is not that sure of strangers right now, so we have 2 weeks to make friends with him. We had a chat with his owner and failed to get him to overcome his fear of strange people and things... one to work on and we have her permission. We had known her other bull dog for many a year and used to have great fun trying to out cycle him as he play chased us across the fields back to his home. He would actually come out and say hello to us and then run back each time and his owners always knew when it was us and he always knew it was a game. Anyhow, I don't know what type of bulldog, but both of them were the same, lovely and tall and slender. Never pudgy or overweight...
One from there and well not much has changed, so I won't bore you with any of the little differences.
We stopped twice, at the hour mark each time. It's my first ride in a month and 23 miles on a heavy trike is probably pushing it a touch (
) so I needed to be careful and pace myself carefully which I am glad to say I succeeded in doing. I ditched my waterproof trousers very early on, and other than a few spots at the other end of the Loch (it gets known as that because it is usually the end that has disappeared yet again (as it is currently).... But one thing the weather did mean was beautiful light and highlights... storm fronts are excellent for that!
One the way back I was able to get these 2 pictures...
And then it was back to the holiday home and as the sun was setting (which was roughly as we got back) we were presented with this...
(taken on the tablet, so it doesn't really capture the light quite as well as the camera, but it was all I had to hand at the time!)
My average was higher than I had hoped for and I managed to keep it in the mumble mumbles, ...
https://www.strava.com/activities/407541526
;
with all your health issues that amazing alright you cut back on the milage but little and often seems to be working keep on riding 
