Day 2. Is this the road to Inveraray?

The answer, unfortunately, was "not today", which led to a day which was rather too exciting.  It's a bit of an epic story, but you can probably guess what happened.

There's an obvious route from Helensburgh to Inveraray, which involves going over the Rest And Be Thankful pass, famous for a big hill and great views from the top.   On August 9th, it was closed by a massive landslide caused by torrential rain (while London was having a heatwave).  Not to worry: within a few days they had cleared and opened the old road, called the Old Military Road, which runs just alongside this vital route.

The night before we left for our trip, I checked up on it.   It was closed again due to heavy rain and risk of landslides.

Panic.

Luckily they said it was just a night-time closure, and they were operating a one-way convoy system.   Another panic.  How would heavily laden bikes keep up with the convoy?  Were bikes even allowed?

It seemed likely, but not certain, that bikes were allowed. This was a problem, because the alternative route was a 58 mile diversion along a very busy road - the main road from Glasgow to Oban.  Another alternative route involved two ferries and a 64 mile trip, but you had to set out in a different direction fairly early in the ride. 

I asked my son Tim, who knows his way round Scotland pretty well, to make enquiries in the morning, and had a restless night's sleep before getting up at 5am to ride into London.

We were still on the train when Tim texted the answer: Transport for Scotland recommends that biles go in the van that leads the convoy up the hill.  Gold star for Tim, but obviously we were gutted not to be able to ride up such a big hill.

The road was still closed however (more rain).  Am inspection at 9am today would decide if it opened.

So (at last), here's what happened.  A lengthy breakfast while we waited for the results of the course inspection.  It was open!  So off we set, alongside Gareloch, past Faslane and all the trappings of a nuclear sub base: big 'boathouse', barbed wire, electric fences, footbal pitches, fuel dump, arms dump, waste segregation facility, firefighting foam store, no drone zone, cemetery.

A nasty 15% hill at Garelochhead, and over to Loch Long. Lovely undulating road alongside the loch, which was, well, long.

Loch Long

Loch Long, with the Arrochar Alps behind

Nice takeaway stop at the head of the loch in Arrochar. Round the corner there was a sign: A83 CLOSED.  We knew better, besides by then we were committed.  At the foot of the hill, another sign and a van, which we took to be the convoy van. Wrongly.

There had been another landslide around 10.30, and the road was closed again, at least for today. 

We had done 20 miles, it was 1pm, raining slightly, and we couldn't get over Rest And Be Thankful for the next 20 miles to Inveraray and our hostel.  Miserable, we considered our options.  1. The official diversion, 58 miles along the very busy main road to Oban road. 2.  The quieter route via crossing the Clyde twice to get to Dunoon, retracing our route a bit, so another 68 miles.  3. Get the train quite a long way to Dalmally, north of Inveraray, and cycle from there.

We caught the train.  We didn't know it, but there are only three trains a day. Luckily we only waited five minutes, enjoyed a  beautiful journey showcasing some of Scotland's finest scenery, and we were in Inveraray by 4pm. Hooray.

Bike storage on the train

Hill

Mileage (excluding train) 44.2 miles, 642m ascent. Stress level: briefly High.