R + R

Loch Chaim Bhain


Taking a month off the bike at the end of the season to rest and recover and only ride the bike once or twice a week, it's the most time I've had off the bike in the past four years and I felt like I needed it after what has been a long and arduous racing season.



One week was spent in the Scottish Highlands on a little inlet on Loch Chaim Bhain just near Kyleski Bridge, (although the exact spot I have been sworn to secrecy!) this is only 25 miles south of Cape Wrath so a 500 mile journey from the Midlands meant an overnight stop after picking Mick up at Tebay services in the Lake District. We camped on the way up in a rain storm which did not auger well for the week as we only had 'bivvy' bags and a 'basher' tarpaulin for cover and no Ray Mears to help out!


We called in at Inverness to do a bit of a shop at Morrison's and had to wait until 12 o'clock to buy some beer for the trip, and then Ullerpool for chips our last prepared meal of the week as we would be cooking over an 'open hearth' although with so much food we were hardley going to starve as we had all brought 'private' supplys of jam and treats for emergencies!


It's a long time since I've done this sort of thing (Scouts?) but Adrian was pretty prepared and does this thing regularly with his son Ben on the outskirts of Upminster (in the snow!) all the time so I'm told. Also along is my old drawing tutor Mick (from Poly days) and Adrians dad so three generations of the family. They have been coming to this spot (known only as the 'Special Place' on the sat nav) for 25 years, Ben he's only eleven but still on his third trip so I'm honoured to be asked along


The camp is on the Loch by a river in a secluded valley populated with Birch and the odd Rowenberry tree, there is plenty of dead wood but it is all pretty damp and does not burn well so we hoard pine driftwood for kindling and move the fire three times to avoid the smoke settling for a separate 'kitchen' in order to have a bigger fire under its own 'tarp' our supplies of wood dry out and make the fire easier to control



To augment our supplies we find a recently dead rabbit on the road 'for the pot' and the discovery of lobster pots in the bay the lure of some fine dining, we bate the traps with rabbit skin & innards. Out in the Loch a Salmon farm has a daily visit and the gulls sit on the rails of the netted pontoons waiting for one of the leaping fish to make an escape and an easy lunch.
The days pass with a couple of squally days and one a real misery when we visit the local village of Drumbeg to make calls back to civilisation (postal strike) and buy supplies of whiskey! Long haired highland cattle are indifferent to our presence and at dusk a stag by the road makes a striking pose in his habitat as opposed to by the road in Richmond Park
Two days are bright and clear and we go walking in the sun and scatter the sparse sheep on the dense heather strewn hilltops, we only meet one ranger & see the odd car heading over Kyleski Bridge to NW Sutherland and the tip of Scotland. It still rains on and off but as the week progresses we ignore this as we become more attuned to our surroundings



To be fair we eat like kings as most of our energy goes into the meals and we build an oven between two stones and have roast lamb (done overnight) under a mass if wet moss. We make flat bread with rosemary (nearly everything is tinged with rosemary!) to go with our lamb curry and the rabbit stew a real treat as all free meals but no success with fishing or with the pots apart from crabs which we leave to the gulls
Soon the week is up and we take our gear up the hill leaving this private place, soon all trace of our visit erased and nature will do its thing in this beautiful part of the country.

Kyleski Bridge