CYCLING DAY 20 Gourock/Helensburgh – Ardlui 26.77 miles 7.6.2011

Drove to Ardlui, then a train back to Helensburgh Upper Station, then cycled back to Ardlui.

We have to record the following story just to record the silliness of some staff at ScotsRail. When we waited for the train at Ardlui to take us back to Helensburgh we were met with such unbelievable bureaucracy. When the train stopped and we were about to get on the train with the bike, an agitated ticket officer came towards us waving his arms and saying: ‘No way, will I let you on my train’. Why not, we asked….because I don’t allow tandems….but our tandem has been split in half and is actually smaller then 2 bikes. No, I still won’t let you board this train. I pleaded with the man and pleaded, saying, that the whole structure of our plans would collapse in front of us. In the end he said, that we could get on. Once seated he kept arguing, that this was a one-off. I froze, as the day after we needed to come to Ardlui again. He then went off and after quite some time he emerged with a leaflet. See, he said, look… it says no tandems. But, it is not a tandem anymore, it is in 2 halves, taking less room than 2 bikes, I said. He went off again and when he came back his facial expressions were different. He was going to take another look at the bike he said. (Bikes hang up on a hook in the cycle department). When he came back, he made the statement that in actual fact, it was quite a small tandem and in 2 halves as well. I then enquired for the next day as we needed that train again. He told us to make sure we would book the train and a reservation for 2 bikes. That made sense. We had won, but how stressful that was. Other passengers on the train made the suggestion to put the bike in a box so he couldn’t see what was inside. We gathered that he had been speaking to a superior, who told him not to be silly. In the end of all this we shook hands and everyone was happy. Pfffff… What a nightmare. Once on the road, we cycled all the way on a cycle path from Helensburgh on the A818 to Arden, then on the A82 alongside Loch Lomond and the scenery was stunning. As it had rained hard during the night all the different scents were very present, wild garlic, pine and others we couldn’t define. At Tarbet the cycle path stopped, so we carried on the A82 on the road, which wasn’t too bad. Then the rain came down and we were drenched even through our rainproofs, but..that was the first time since Land’s End so we can’t complain. The countryside is really beautiful, but everyone knows that of course. So it was a good day and we feel, that the end of the tunnel is slowly coming into sight. Drove the van to our CL in Connel.