Day 6: Iona to Tobermory - Six months in a leaky boat, or the storm

Morning in Iona was hopeful, I even started out with my sunglasses on. And they aren't even rose colored. The sky was clear, it was warm, sheep were baaing, it was going to be a good day. I just stuck to shorts from now on. I came to the conclusion that if I wore my waterproof trousers, my legs would be all wet anyways. Or if I wore the not so waterproof trousers, my legs would also be wet anyways. But if I wore shorts, my legs will still be wet anyways but they would dry. CS kindly lent me some waterproof socks, so I was ready for anything, even after getting my shoes all boggy last night. Bring it on.

I wish I had seen more of the front side of the island, you know, the touristy parts, the abbey, the nunnery and whatever else, but oh well. I snapped a few quick pictures as I wizzed by. A pretty island, Iona, it has a neat feel to it. We head back quickly, retracing our previous afternoon. Same stuff, the cute little port town of Bunessan, and the rest of it all. We reach the outskirts of Pennyghael and C. races ahead, I assume anticipating the post office/store, but Pennyghael is mean and goes on for a few miles before you get there. We somewhat dejectedly press on to the stop.

As we are sitting there, the weather takes a decided turn for the worst. Hey, where did our nice sunny day go? I might have to take my sunglasses off and put a jacket on again. Hmm, there's a theme I missed too, the changes. I should have kept track of how many times I took something off, changed jackets, tried trousers, or how about shorts now. Some days were just ridiculous, like all the costume changes at an Elton John concert.

Turning north then, I started out a bit late after the break so I was pretty far behind and it took a while to catch up. The road was very curved and a lot of ups and downs. I eventually caught up near where it turned into a very nice newly surfaced road through what looked like a forest that had been planted all at once and going up a very long steady climb. Once we hit the downhill, the road got a little more beat up and about 1/3rd the way down, everybody seemed to stop at the same spot, even if they were not together at the time, and knew it was time to cover up.

The next little bit is a blur in my memory. I remember it starting to rain, and I especially remember going around a corner and seeing the water off in the distance looking very rough. Somebody pointed and said that we were going to feel that. Then there was some long period of ouch after that. I remember being huddled down, trying to make as small a target as possible, still the rain found my face and felt like being poked with tons of needles. We stopped after a while to try and find a bit of shelter beside a large boulder and have some hot tea and lunch and whatever sweet we might have around. It reminds me of mountain climbers tying off their rope and hanging there under a ledge trying to escape a raging storm.

At this point, we hadn't gotten to the long ride/short ride decision point, but the painful rain made the decision for me. We pressed on, the rain lightened up for a bit and at the crossroads, three went west and the rest of us went on to Salen. We made it to Salen just as it was starting to get the worst. It was quite pleasurable sitting having a nice lunch as you watch buckets of rain, and the buckets too, being thrown at the ground. Cars kept going by and splashing our parked bikes which just seemed really rude of them and just totally wrong.

JA, our odd new adopted friend came in from the height of the rain, dripping over everything. We told him to name drop the Wheelers to take one of our vacant reservations at the hostel in Tobermory. Good deed done for the day, we head out into the somewhat diminished storm and press on the last eleven miles to Tobermory. To celebrate our survival, we head down to the pub and try to see if we can tell the difference between 80 Schilling, 70 Schilling, 60 Schilling and the rest of those.

We head back and check in and park the bikes in the laughable shed. Laughable because it basically had a river flowing through it. Anyways, showers and then nobody could be bothered to cook so it was off to the other pub for dinner. The rain was crazy in the afternoon, but at this point had turned manic. The river coming down the mountain, through the hydroelectric plant, was a bit awe inspiring. You have to wonder even with that rock basin, how long will it last with that sort of water power flowing through it. Then back to the room, insanely hot, and the sound of manic rain until probably 4 am. A painful and well earned 48.66 miles for the day.