6.Day - Thursday, 17.May 2001
6.Day - Thursday, 17.May 2001
Route: 396km, 246mi (GPS track)
Diary:
Some birds joined us today for breakfast.
It's easier for them to get fed by some tourists than looking
for food themselves.
On the picture you can see, that they even picked up some break from my hand.
After breakfast, we started for our Isle of Kintyre roundtrip. I had prepared it yesterday evening, so I led today. We had ideal driving conditions: Dry, sunny and not too warm. Kilmartin was our first destination (GPS waypoint KILMAR). Some real old gravestones are on display there. And the stone circles, of course, are even older. Unfortunately, we couldn't visit the grave hills from 3000 B.C., because access was denied because of foot and mouth disease; same for Castle Carnasserie and Dunadd Fort.
We continued on the east side of Isle of Kintyre on really nice roads to Tarbert, where we had a little snack. While continuing to Southend, we had a nice view of the Arran Island. It was a really relaxing day.
In Southend (GPS waypoint SOUEND), we saw that the weather on the west side of Kintyre was worse. Nevertheless, we decided to drive back in the west, because we didn't like to drive back on the same road. The trip back to Tarbert was dry, but very windy. Normally, the long and straight road back to Tarbert would have been boring, but the wind was a challenge. Sometimes, we even smelled and tasted the salty water, which was blown towards us from the breaking waves of the sea. In Tarbert, we turned left and tried out the little single track road over Kilberry. When we came back to the main street A83, Manfred and I started speeding and got faster and faster over a distance of about 50km (30mi). At some bumps I even jumped several meters, which was not so healthly for my chain, but who cares. The road and conditions were just too inviting. Some kilometers before Oban, we stopped and both smiled at each other without saying much and waited for Torsten and Uwe. It's always fun going to one's limits on a motorcycle.
For diner, we bought an instant barbecue package containing the coal and grill for exactly one meal. At 11pm, I climbed a little hill behind the camp ground and watched some wildlife (owls, rabbits) in the dim night light. It doesn't get completely dark here in May.
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