Day 8 – Bute to Salen – 280 Miles.

The midges that had been so mercifully absent last night we back with a vengeance this morning – camp was hastily packed up and we set off on another day. A 5-minute ferry ride took us back to the mainland from the northern tip of Bute, and we then took another across Loch Fyne to the pretty town of Tarbert on Kintyre; I went on holiday there about 20 years ago, and not much had changed We stopped here for coffee and fuel, before heading down to Campbeltown and then on toward the Mull of Kintyre. Some of you may recall the Chinook crash that occurred there in 1994. A cairn memorial has been erected near the crash site, so it seemed fitting to pay our respects before heading north again, past the former site of RAF Machrihanish.















We again went through Tarbert, on to Lochgilphead, and Oban – about 100 miles of the best roads I have ever ridden (I think I may have said that about some roads in Wales too!) We refreshed ourselves in Oban, and made the final push for the day – the Corran ferry. This was a fairly short ride, but again the roads were great. After the crossing of Loch Linnhe, we started out West and found a camp site near Salen. We were going to free camp again, but the lure of a hot shower was too hard to resist! The midges were back again, but not as bad as this morning. Today's weather has been really changeable, not too windy but heavy showers one minute, then blazing sunshine the next – difficult to dress correctly for!

Tomorrow will see us visit Ardnamurchan point – Great Britain's westernmost point (just further west than Land's End) and then onto Skye.