billrider2013

LEJOG Day 20

I woke up in Oban under a slightly wet tent. The walk to the amenities block was very wet. My luck with weather seemed to have vanished.

I returned to dismantle my tent. As I performed this well-practiced task I engaged in conversation with bloke next to me. He had a very interesting Renault van with a reversible passenger seat that enable him to convert the back seat area to sort of office. The ‘luggage area was large enough to hold a mountain bike and a road bike. He told me that he simply drove to a place, say Oban, with the bikes and hiking boots and then did whichever of the three pursuits wherever he felt like it. Good one.

I went into town and found a bike shop for the obligatory tyre pressure check. I asked the bike shop owner how business was going? He told me that it was terrible: “I am being killed by the Internet”. We chatted about the demise of small ‘High Street’ shops. I observed that Oban seemed to be doing Ok. He told me that Fort William, a town to the north, was doing really badly. I can recall Fort William being a prosperous town over 30 years ago. Again, it is interesting how some towns thrive and some do not.

Waiting for the ferry I ran into a couple of German blokes. One has a ‘Silk Road’ touring bike. I have looked serious at these bikes. It had a Rohloff, hydraulic disc brakes, Brooks and so on. I guess I have all the bits. I may look at buying frame.

The trip to Barra is long. It takes you past the Isle of Mull. I recalled the Paul McCartney and Wings song ‘Mull of Kintyre. It was released iin late 1977 and was number for seemingly months. I was wiring in London at the time. The radio was often on. BBC counted down the top 5 selling singles leading up to 12 .00. It seemed that that blood song was the theme for the 12 oclock news.

I had a chat with the staff I the ferry. They were a very happy lot. They work two weeks on and two weeks off. They all seemed to like that.

Arriving Barra there was short ride the camping ground near the Barra Beach Hotel. It was very windy.
After setting up the tent I walked up to the Hotel for a beer. The only Ale was a John Smiths. I chatted with a bloke from Liverpool works servicing diesel and gas generators. He told me that business was booming. This was due to private householders and small land holders, including farmers as well as institutions such as banks and hospitals, installing generators. He claimed that this is due to concerns about the capacity of the National Network to meet demand in the future. Also there are many households and farms generating their own electricity using solar and wind that need to be supplemented with diesel or gas back-up generators.

A very windy walk back to the camping ground in fading twilight at 11.00 pm. The Vaude was tested that night.

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