The youths are in town

Despite me having substantially grey hair, and Andy thinning a little on top, we having returned to younger years and checked into the Oban youth hostel. And very nice it is too, an old Victorian mansion, refurbished last year and must better the your average travelodge/premier inn shoebox.

So today we did another 65 miles and put in probably the most amount of hill ascent so far- even more than cornwall.

Andy's bike continues to perform faultlessly. My bike continues on northwards despite the ongoing back wheel nightmare. The new spokes seem to be holding strong, but today the tyre wall started to give out on the rough roads. Luckily we found a bike store en route in lochgilphead and bought a new one. By this point the wall had shredded so much you could see daylight through one part, and we're sure it would have gone before getting to Oban. As Andy pointed out, all that's left now from originally starting is the rim and hub unit !!!

Tomorrow we have a short 35 miles run up to glencoe, where we will have a rest day, before the final push north.

We stopped today for coffee and a bacon roll in the small village of Tarbert.

A group of old ladies started chatting as we got ready to leave and the very Kind Frieda dipped into her purse and donated £5 to the charity. It's amazing the generosity you can find in people who don't even know you but are impressed by our trip. Frieda said we deserved it just cycling up the Oban road !