Cycling in Scotland Part 1 | Isle of Arran

My blorg has been so neglected oh my goodness! Apologies dearest blorg! I still love you so. I've just been so incredibly busy, ya know ... with work and festivals and work and life in general and all that jazz. It's been legit 8 BLOODY MONTHS since I wrote in my public diary and that's blasphemous to say the least! It was once one of my favourite hobbies to document things on my blorg, and I wish to rekindle my love for typing all the nonsense spewing out of my head. Here it is then! Tons of updates coming your way!

Anywho, since moving to the Southside in Glesga, Gian and I have taken up cycling as our primary form of transportation. You'd be pleasantly surprised at the amount of places you can get to just on your wee bike! It's more fun too and goddamn my ass is FOINE after cycling err'day. Yoga + cycling is a pretty great combo, I must say! Did I mention that I have thighs of steel? Cause I do. I could dent a pole with these babies!

I'mma split my recent cycling adventures to a few parts so that these posts don't end up being boring and long af. The dates of these posts don't reflect the actual dates of the adventures I might add cause HEY I haven't blorged in ages! I'll at least note down the dates of the trips, for my own records, because I'm neurotic like that.

***

Cycling Part 1 | Isle of Arran, June 2016

So a few of months ago, the Italian and I went to Isle of Arran for the first time and we thought, "Oh hey, let's cycle cause ya know, we fit and we gotta save money. The island's not that big right?". 

Ha ha ha. Boy were we in a pickle.

The island is rather large when you are on 2 wheels ... like ... LARGE. Took us about 3 hours of cycling from the port to the south part of Arran, where we had booked our weekend at a glamping site. To be fair, this was our first ever trip on bicycles. We were SO ambitious and clueless! We didn't know that Arran would be so full of the steepest hills on the face of this earth (x.x) I blame Gian! He said it'd take 30 minutes of cycling, padahal it was 30 miles. "I was right about the 30 part at least" he said as I roll my pupils to the back of my eye sockets. But luckily, we pulled through, slowly but surely. Our decent level of fitness DID help us survive the cycle. And after the initial shock of it all, what's even 3 hours of cycling anymore? Haha a ~breeeeze~

So anyway, in terms of transport, we took the train to Ardrossan Harbour, a ferry to Brodick and then cycled all the way to Kilmory which is basically at the edge of the south part of the island. IT WAS INTENSE, but amazing and rewarding.

This was literally taken 30 minutes into cycling, after facing our first ever steep hill of like ... I dunno ... 3km? Intense shit right derrrrrr gurlll. My thighs were burning with the strength of a thousands hoooooo nelly. Look at that view though! That's the Holy Island. 

This is the yurt that we stayed in for the weekend. I swear to all the higher beings in this universe, this yurt is AMAZING. Gorgeous af!!! It has everything too; a stove, bed, books, cutlery, kettle, ERRTHANG! And the owners of this glamp site are the sweetest people you'll ever meet! They were so kind to us. I think they realized (as if we weren't obvious enough) that we were new at cycling at the time and were so exhausted and starving upon arrival. Kilmory is literally a tiny village with no grocery stores or cafes at all so we were kinda screwed, until the owners brought us fresh milk, eggs, pasta and veges! I felt so grateful! And all the produce were from their farm! AWESOME. 10 outta 10 would go back and live there for like ... ever. 

The next day, we cycled from Kilmory to Blackwaterfoot where we bought a lot of fresh food for our wee BBQ dinner and also had an amazing 2 hour walk along the coast to King's Cave! Btw we had like incredible weather. My armpits have never sweat so much in Scotland honey. I also got legitimately sun burnt on my face. What on earth?! We were so lucky tho. 

I have never in my life experienced such a free-ing way of travelling. Cycling in great weather, with a view that's undeniably to-die-for, with wind in your hair and brushing your face. It was incredible and to this day, I feel like cycling is an amazing lifestyle I want to continue having no matter where I go in this world. I mean c'mon, look at this picturesque view! As much as I love driving and having road-trips, it doesn't beat leisurely cycling around new environments.

"No handed bike club!"

This was the beach we picnicked on. I am rather impressed by how my legs look in this photo. Results of cycling for hours that weekend? Perhaps. Totes feelin' it tho.

We were having our own wee adventures along the coast and cliffs by the golf course. It's a beautiful and easy walking route to take! Really relaxing and not challenging at all.

Do you spot Gian? The King's Cave was quite pretty but in all honesty, Scotland has better landscapes. It's not the most impressive scenic route but it most definitely is one that's pleasant and super chilled out.

This is us cozying up to the fire (or maybe pretending too for this photo, I have no idea but aren't we convincing?!). The yurt is just behind us!

Check me out. This photo needs to be printed and framed asap cause I'm lookin' awesome with my bae bike and dat view #loveyoself #independentwoman

On our last day, we head back to Brodick via Lamlash and had a super chilled out cycle. Mid-cycle, we stopped by a forest reserve walking path to check out a waterfall and grab some lunch. I can't begin to describe what an awesome day it was! I mean lookit the pic yourself! We cycled by farms by the sea!!! I also baa-ed/screamed at a lot of goats and sheep, and they baa-ed/moaned back at me. We were basically communicating y'all.

This was suppose to be a picture of me and Gian by the waterfall but alas, you cannot see it. Looks like the waterfall will only be in my memories. It's really pretty though! Definitely would recommend anyone to take about 2 hours to go for this walk. It's easy and you get to walk through a beautiful forest!

And hello. A photo with Goat's Fell in the background. That will be the next goal, to climb Goat's Fell the next time I'm in Arran!

Part 2 of our cycling adventures will be up soon! 

Abrupt end.