It rained hard till half ten, so I sat it out in Tobermory and got the 11am ferry north to Kilchoan, on the Ardnamurchan peninsula (picture). The rain had followed me, and it threw it down until four. 
I thought, What's the point? The point is, of course, Ardnamurchan, the westerliest bit of the British mainland. There's a lighthouse, though it was so dark and rainy you couldn't even see if it was illuminating (picture). I chatted to the Polish lass in the cafe there. I asked her if it ever stops raining here. She said I don't know, I've only been here six months.
After three coffee breaks, I eventually set out vaguely towards Hull into the driving rain. There was some spectacular scenery. When the rain finally relented I even saw some of it (picture).The last three hours of cycling, from four to seven, was gorgeous, all along the wonderful shore road of Loch Sunart.
I'm at the campsite in Strontian ('stron-TEE-an', I now know), one of the select places in the world with a chemical element named after them. So I must cycle to Ytterby, in Sweden, some time. Especially if it's as scenic as this.
Miles today 42
Miles so far 103
I thought your reference to Strontium was a joke, but well I never, Strontium was indeed named after Strontian, where I now know the element was first discovered. Highly educational, this blog.
ReplyDeleteHmm. Ytterby (an island in the Stockholm archipelago) seems a pleasant place, though the 20 mile bike ride looks a bit tedious. Easy enough to bag, though, if you're collecting elements. Someone's made a list, of course. It appears I can tick off almost all of them already. Not been to the city that Darmstadtium (no 110) is named after, though.
Good spot, that list of element-places... Ytterby seems unique in having four elements, using increasingly contrived parts of its name. I've been to several of them, such as Scandinavia, which seems rather general. And I've also of course been to the Sun, the Moon, Uranus etc, thanks to the famous York Planets Cycle Path...
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