Wednesday 14th April
On leaving Rowan Cottage, we had been advised that we would immediately head north and not retrace our steps from yesterday. This would take us to a rocky path which, although less than a mile long, would save about 3 of the previous day’s hilliest miles. We would rejoin the metalled road at Drinan, then straight back onto the B road towards Torrin. This proved to be excellent advice and saved us at least an hour of struggling.
Again the weather was stunning and we took some memorable photographs towards Sleat.
At one point we saw something disturbing the otherwise mirror-like surface of the loch below. I trained the binoculars onto whatever it was and was delighted to see a school or porpoises surfacing and diving.
We made good time and having started cycling around 10, we were in Broadford about 12. We were still armed with peanut butter rolls (prepared in rather more civilised circumstances, using youth hostel cutlery), fig rolls and flapjack so we pressed on and stopped at about 1 p.m. for lunch on the Armadale road. Just as we turned off the A87, who should we see coming the other way but Gwyneth & Steve, our host and hostess of the night before.
Once again we were rewarded with unbroken sunshine and on this southbound stretch we had the sun in our faces and the wind at our backs. We arrived at the Armadale jetty with almost an hour to wait for the 3.50 ferry, so we celebrated with an ice cream and a conversation with an antipodean visitor who wanted a picture of a typical pom couple on their quaint half-timbered bike.