Day 1 - Ben Nevis to New Cumnock (167 miles cycled)

I managed to get up alright at 2.30, forced down a muffin and peanut butter sandwich and started the climb at 3.01am. I'd brought my free 'Reading Bicycle Kitchen' bike light with me as didn't have a headtorch. Unsurprisingly the cheap free light didn't do much to improve my view of the path so it went back in my pocket. I was wearing my trail-running shoes, running tights and cycling jacket over the top of one of my tri-suits with my Camelback backpack on. Conditions were pretty good to start with - dry, virtually no wind and the moonlight was allowing me to see the path ahead. I was able to run on some of the flatter sections of path (the ascent consisted of a lot of steeper sections lower down before flattening off to an extent, and then piles of rocks marked the path higher up). The temperature dropped, wind increased and fog came in as I neared the summit making running impossible. The only option was to walk quickly whilst concentrating on the piles of rocks ahead. There were a couple of snow patches just before the summit that I had to walk across (I didn't know it was possible to find snow in the UK in August). It reminded me of being in Iceland and walking over the glacier. Anyway very shortly after the snow I came across what I can only describe as an old abandoned stone hut and small concrete pillar on top of another pile of stones. I wasn't 100% sure that this was the top as there wasn't any plaque or anything denoting this. I got my phone out with the intention of googling 'Ben nevis summit image' but of course there wasn't any signal. Of course nobody else was silly enough to be up there at this time so I couldn't ask anyone. After about 15 minutes of dithering and walking around trying to spot higher ground I concluded that this must be the top. I was now cold and needed to get down quickly to warm up. Shortly after I started the descent the first light appeared - unfortunately it was cloudy so it wasn't as spectacular as it could have been. Progress (at least initially) was much quicker on the way down than the way up with the improved light and gravity on my side. I had to reduce to a walk about halfway down as started to need a poo. Having overtook one group on the way up on the way down I ran into several people/groups making their way up. I stopped for chat once or twice, keeping it brief not wanting to lose too much time. Thankfully I was just able to hold the poo in until getting back to the campsite toilet. The sign at the bottom said to allow 7 hours to get up and down the mountain - the running and minimal stopping allowed me to do it in about half of this. Packing up wasn't much fun with the midges now out in force - it was a case of throw everything on the bike as quickly as possible and get going. After eating as much as I could comfortably manage and ruthlessly throwing away any uneaten stuff (not wanting to carry any additional bulk/weight) I got pedalling at approximately 8am. I was wearing my tri-suit with cycling jacket over the top (I had thrown the tights into one of the pannier bags). The weather was great in the morning (cool and cloudy with the odd outbreak of sun). Progress was rapid (there was no navigating required as there was only one main road (the A82) to follow). It also helped that I'd cycled along the A82 previously during my Lands' End to John O'Groats ride in 2012, so I knew what to expect. I'd forgotten how beautiful Glencoe was - this was one of the very few times I stopped to take a photo. Another highlight was a small lake just north of Crianlarich - very reminiscent of Lake Myvatn (again Iceland). Remembering a pub by the side of the road just south of Crianlarich I opted to bypass the town (which would have meant deviating from the A82) and stopped at the pub instead. It was sometime between 12.30 and 1.30 and I'd covered well over 60 miles - on course for my 165 mile daily target. After a swift hot chocolate, food and Facebook update I got going. It wasn't long before the weather took a turn for the worse - there was a heavy downpour halfway down Loch Lomond. I pulled over, put my tights back on, put my exposed trail running shoes into a plastic bag to stop them getting wet and battled on into the rain. Thankfully this didn't last long and it brightened up soon after. The A82 into Glasgow (which I was unfamiliar with) was fine - other than an increased volume of traffic it was straight forward. I finally came off of the A82 at the Erskine Bridge just before the city centre. Progress between here and Kilmarnock was a bit slower with navigating taking a bit of time (I had my notes taped to my tri-bars tucked inside a clear oyster card wallet so that I could see them whilst cycling) but it wasn't always obvious which road to take. I stopped at a big Morrisons supermarket in Johnstone for food. I went straight for the meal deal section (the first of many over the next few days) and was stuffing my face within 10 minutes. After Morrisons I opted for the cycle path that followed alongside the sketchy dual carriageway that I'd been on for the last few miles. This was much more pleasant, but as tends to be the case with cycle paths it wasn't long before progress slowed - this time navigating being the issue. There were a few duff turns and asking people for directions along this bit and it took a bit of time before I was back on the road I needed to be on. A pretty sketchy dual-carriageway section around Irvine was next. I was relieved by the time I got to Kilmarnock with the much nicer A76 road south towards Dumfries ahead. Just before embarking on the A76 I got another meal deal, this time from a petrol station. I was struggling with fatigue (it was probably around 8pm at this point) so got the speaker out and cracked out the tunes. This helped massively and the speaker stayed on for a while. I remember a group of kids walking up to me at one point when I pulled over briefly and praising the music. It was just a case of getting as many miles under my belt as possible before stopping. Darkness properly kicked in at 9.45-10pm. I pushed on until about 10.30pm having pedalled 167 miles and found a decent wild-camp spot in a school. The school was in a small town and everybody had gone to bed. The school gate was open so I stealthily wheeled the bike around the back and popped up the tent on the smooth/mellow concrete ramp to one of the back doors. Stupidly I didn't buy any food at the petrol station for later, so I had to make do with a Mars bar before tucking into my sleeping bag for the night. I did a quick Facebook update before going to sleep, the alarm set for 4.5 hours later.