Just an old man riding his bike: Another Scotland trip begins

I'd finally planned another Scottish tour after months of deliberating, investigating, waiting for the right opportunity, and so today I set off on the pre-adventure trip. Yes, it is a thing, particularly when it takes you six hours plus stopping time! I drove up to Oban where I'd planned on riding down to Campbeltown and then back to Oban on the Caledonia Way.

The drive up is a journey of four quarters. The first part is the tedious urban trip from Sandbach up to the Lakes, passing Warrington, Manchester, Preston, Lancaster and Blackburn (and numerous other Northern conurbations). I don't particularly enjoy it, I just suffer it, and once you get past Kendal it morphs into the second quarter, characterised by some lovely scenery as you go through the Lake District and northern Pennines, then into the Borders and through into Scotland's beautiful rolling hills.

Then comes Q3, the outskirts of Glasgow and then the absolute horror that is the motorway system through Glasgow itself. I can't begin to fathom how it was designed and built, but there's traffic and roads coming at you from all directions and Google Maps isn't particularly clear on which roads are where. To cap it all, today there was a long long hold up due to roadworks by Dumbarton, however I just chilled my way through it and was rewarded with Q4 : Loch Lomond and the road to Oban.

Loch Lomond gives up plenty of sneaky peeks through the trees and today it was deep blue in the full sunshine. After the turn off at Tarbet the road is windy and narrow in places, so there were plenty of stops for HGVs to squeeze through, however the cracking views of the Loch are still there and provide some relief for any delays. After Tyndrum the A85 Oban road branches off west and is a stunner of a drive. It passes Lochan an Bi as a precursor to the real treat of Loch Awe, which is the longest freshwater loch in Scotland, and which I'll be cycling past in the days ahead. There are also plenty of hills to provide viewing pleasure.

So, after a near seven hour journey, I parked up at my hotel and checked in, had a walk around before returning to the hotel for tea. After this I walked up to McCaig's Tower, a folly which overlooks the town, and was built to provide work for local stonemasons during the winter months. It was an incredibly stiff climb up to the tower, but worth it for the views of the bay with the setting sun illuminating things. I walked back down and headed back to the hotel to prepare for the following day, the first of my five day cycling tour of the Kintyre peninsula.