Two years ago I planned out a fortnight's cycling holiday in Scotland. Looking back, and bearing in mind the cyclist I am, it wasn't a very good plan.
I say that because 4 holidays and 6 weeks in Scotland later, I'm not even halfway through my original itinerary.
The original plan was this. I planned to get the train to Glasgow, whizz down to Ardrossan and whizz over to the Isle of Arran, cycle the 56 miles round there in a day, spend about 3 days doing the Kintyre Peninsula, nip over to Mull, whizz up to Tobermory, whizz back to Fishnish, and get the ferry over to Ardnamurchan, Morvern, keep going up to Mallaig, whizz over to Skye on the ferry, whizz around Skye for a bit, and then speed back to Inverness to catch the train about 13 days after my original arrival in Glasgow. Alternatively I was going to forget the Skye bit and just whizz directly up the Great Glen from Fort William to Inverness in time for my train.
Actually it may well have been a perfectly good plan, if you're a lot faster cyclist than I am, and if you don't like to be able to see the faces of individual sheep and blades of grass, but you're happy to just leave them all behind in a blur.
But, for me, with the aid of a few things going wrong, the plan never came to fruition, and this is what happened instead.
Instead of 1 day on Arran, we spent 6 there. We did cycle around a bit, but we never managed to cycle round the whole island in a day. The weather was bad, Ruth was getting over her road accident, the ferries off the north of the island were cancelled due to high winds, the planes weren't flying because of an ash cloud, the trains were full of people fleeing the ash cloud, dog walkers were being blown over, wind turbines were melting, and so we ended up going south instead of north, along Lochs and Glens Route South, and visiting such places as Ayr, Newton Stewart and Kirkcudbright before making our way home from Gretna.
So that was attempt 1. Didn't get any further north than Arran. Ended up cycling in the opposite direction, but did get to see Dumfries and Galloway which we wouldn't have seen otherwise.
Then, before I got the chance to go back and have another go at Kintyre and Mull, and a second attempt at cycling round the Isle of Arran in a day, I fortuitously met the manager of the Port Charlotte Youth Hostel (which is on the Isle of Islay) during a slightly confusing search for Bhandari Swiss Cottages up a hill in Rishikesh in Northern India. She was very lovely, and the first English person I'd seen for ages, and I wanted to shake her hand, but she was busy picking up filth out of the street, and so she wouldn't shake my hand because she didn't want to give me any horrible diseases. But I resolved to go and meet her later in the year in Islay, to get my handshake.
This chance encounter knocked my original plans sideways again because now I wanted to take a detour to Islay before I went to Mull. This I did in April this year, I shook lovely Lorna's hand on the Isle of Islay, I got lectured by a shopkeeper who was running for Parliament, I met a sheepdog called Len and I had the most amazing time, cycling around the Atlantic Coast seeing golden beaches under pure blue skies and it was great, but as I said, not my original plan.
On the way to Islay I did finally get to cycle round the Isle of Arran in a day, although this nearly resulted in my divorce and only the fortunate incidence of me electrocuting myself in front of Ruth averted a full scale marital disaster. I also did get onto the Kintyre Peninsula off the north of Arran but only did the 5 miles to get the ferry to Islay and didn't do the other 115 miles to get to Oban for the ferry to Mull.
So, that was attempt 2. Ended up on a completely different island, having an absolutely fantastic experience, but no trip to Mull. No visit to Tobermory. No 120 miles of exploring the Kintyre Peninsula, no ferry from Oban.
Then in May this year, I went back and had a third attempt at my original route. This time however, instead of the planned whizzbang trip to Tobermory, we spent nearly a week on Mull. We hung out at Craignure for a while, played on a big swing, we swerved around the tourist traffic and made our way to Fionnphort, stayed on a lovely campsite on the beach, took a wonderful day trip to Iona, and then took a breathtakingly beautiful and scenic route around the back of the island, and back to Craignure. The trip to Tobermory did take place but it was very short, and we were buttonholed for most of it by a retired boxer who kept trying to tell us new and exciting ways of chinning people or tripping them up with just two fingers.
So that was attempt 3. We were still nowhere near the Great Glen, or Fort William, or Skye, or Inverness. We could see Ardnamurchan and Morvern, but we didn't get to visit them.
Then last week I had another go. Attempt 4. And even after that we're still nowhere near completing my original route. This time we did get north of Oban, but instead of hot footing it up through Morvern and Ardnamurchan to get to Skye, or sprinting up the Great Glen, we discovered that time spent pootling around the NCN Route 78 between Oban and Fort William was to reveal a treasure trove of unbelievable scenic gems. In fact we didn't even get as far south as Oban, or as far north as Fort William, but we did discover the magical island of Lismore, and the just as magical 20 mile circuit of Loch Leven on a B road near Glencoe. And lots of other places, leafy lanes, beautiful wide tarmacked cycle paths, sea views, blah blah blah.
So after 4 holidays in Scotland, I'm still nowhere near completing my original planned route. At times I've been frustrated by a perceived lack of progress towards my intended goal, but along the way I've discovered that there's really no need to worry.
I'm sure I would have had a good time, if my original 14 days of scurrying and hurrying, and whizzing around and speeding here and there had gone to plan.
But what would I have missed, if I'd succeeded? Those amazing weeks spent on Islay and Mull, and the equally magical week I've just spent in and around Port Appin and pottering around Route 78. And Lismore, and Glencoe, and Kinlochleven....and Len the dog, and the big swing, and the campsite on the beach, and the Atlantic Coast, and Lorna's handshake....and all the other things...
I think with holidays in Scotland there's always more to see, and more to do. I've already had 11 holidays there so far, and still I've only scratched the surface.
When things went wrong on that first trip last year, and when the route I planned got literally blown away, I lapsed into thinking of it as a failure. But it wasn't. Because inside that trip were the seeds of the three trips we've had this year, and all the fantastic things that have happened on those.
As my friend Stephen is fond of saying, when it comes to plans, it's not the plan that's important, it's the planning.
And with each return trip to Scotland, my determination to stick to that original plan gets steadily weaker. Because I've realised that main thing with holidays isn't to reach a target, or a goal or a particular destination. It's just to enjoy the journey, and the experiences you have along the way.
I say that because 4 holidays and 6 weeks in Scotland later, I'm not even halfway through my original itinerary.
The original plan was this. I planned to get the train to Glasgow, whizz down to Ardrossan and whizz over to the Isle of Arran, cycle the 56 miles round there in a day, spend about 3 days doing the Kintyre Peninsula, nip over to Mull, whizz up to Tobermory, whizz back to Fishnish, and get the ferry over to Ardnamurchan, Morvern, keep going up to Mallaig, whizz over to Skye on the ferry, whizz around Skye for a bit, and then speed back to Inverness to catch the train about 13 days after my original arrival in Glasgow. Alternatively I was going to forget the Skye bit and just whizz directly up the Great Glen from Fort William to Inverness in time for my train.
Actually it may well have been a perfectly good plan, if you're a lot faster cyclist than I am, and if you don't like to be able to see the faces of individual sheep and blades of grass, but you're happy to just leave them all behind in a blur.
But, for me, with the aid of a few things going wrong, the plan never came to fruition, and this is what happened instead.
Instead of 1 day on Arran, we spent 6 there. We did cycle around a bit, but we never managed to cycle round the whole island in a day. The weather was bad, Ruth was getting over her road accident, the ferries off the north of the island were cancelled due to high winds, the planes weren't flying because of an ash cloud, the trains were full of people fleeing the ash cloud, dog walkers were being blown over, wind turbines were melting, and so we ended up going south instead of north, along Lochs and Glens Route South, and visiting such places as Ayr, Newton Stewart and Kirkcudbright before making our way home from Gretna.
So that was attempt 1. Didn't get any further north than Arran. Ended up cycling in the opposite direction, but did get to see Dumfries and Galloway which we wouldn't have seen otherwise.
Then, before I got the chance to go back and have another go at Kintyre and Mull, and a second attempt at cycling round the Isle of Arran in a day, I fortuitously met the manager of the Port Charlotte Youth Hostel (which is on the Isle of Islay) during a slightly confusing search for Bhandari Swiss Cottages up a hill in Rishikesh in Northern India. She was very lovely, and the first English person I'd seen for ages, and I wanted to shake her hand, but she was busy picking up filth out of the street, and so she wouldn't shake my hand because she didn't want to give me any horrible diseases. But I resolved to go and meet her later in the year in Islay, to get my handshake.
This chance encounter knocked my original plans sideways again because now I wanted to take a detour to Islay before I went to Mull. This I did in April this year, I shook lovely Lorna's hand on the Isle of Islay, I got lectured by a shopkeeper who was running for Parliament, I met a sheepdog called Len and I had the most amazing time, cycling around the Atlantic Coast seeing golden beaches under pure blue skies and it was great, but as I said, not my original plan.
On the way to Islay I did finally get to cycle round the Isle of Arran in a day, although this nearly resulted in my divorce and only the fortunate incidence of me electrocuting myself in front of Ruth averted a full scale marital disaster. I also did get onto the Kintyre Peninsula off the north of Arran but only did the 5 miles to get the ferry to Islay and didn't do the other 115 miles to get to Oban for the ferry to Mull.
So, that was attempt 2. Ended up on a completely different island, having an absolutely fantastic experience, but no trip to Mull. No visit to Tobermory. No 120 miles of exploring the Kintyre Peninsula, no ferry from Oban.
Then in May this year, I went back and had a third attempt at my original route. This time however, instead of the planned whizzbang trip to Tobermory, we spent nearly a week on Mull. We hung out at Craignure for a while, played on a big swing, we swerved around the tourist traffic and made our way to Fionnphort, stayed on a lovely campsite on the beach, took a wonderful day trip to Iona, and then took a breathtakingly beautiful and scenic route around the back of the island, and back to Craignure. The trip to Tobermory did take place but it was very short, and we were buttonholed for most of it by a retired boxer who kept trying to tell us new and exciting ways of chinning people or tripping them up with just two fingers.
So that was attempt 3. We were still nowhere near the Great Glen, or Fort William, or Skye, or Inverness. We could see Ardnamurchan and Morvern, but we didn't get to visit them.
Then last week I had another go. Attempt 4. And even after that we're still nowhere near completing my original route. This time we did get north of Oban, but instead of hot footing it up through Morvern and Ardnamurchan to get to Skye, or sprinting up the Great Glen, we discovered that time spent pootling around the NCN Route 78 between Oban and Fort William was to reveal a treasure trove of unbelievable scenic gems. In fact we didn't even get as far south as Oban, or as far north as Fort William, but we did discover the magical island of Lismore, and the just as magical 20 mile circuit of Loch Leven on a B road near Glencoe. And lots of other places, leafy lanes, beautiful wide tarmacked cycle paths, sea views, blah blah blah.
So after 4 holidays in Scotland, I'm still nowhere near completing my original planned route. At times I've been frustrated by a perceived lack of progress towards my intended goal, but along the way I've discovered that there's really no need to worry.
I'm sure I would have had a good time, if my original 14 days of scurrying and hurrying, and whizzing around and speeding here and there had gone to plan.
But what would I have missed, if I'd succeeded? Those amazing weeks spent on Islay and Mull, and the equally magical week I've just spent in and around Port Appin and pottering around Route 78. And Lismore, and Glencoe, and Kinlochleven....and Len the dog, and the big swing, and the campsite on the beach, and the Atlantic Coast, and Lorna's handshake....and all the other things...
I think with holidays in Scotland there's always more to see, and more to do. I've already had 11 holidays there so far, and still I've only scratched the surface.
When things went wrong on that first trip last year, and when the route I planned got literally blown away, I lapsed into thinking of it as a failure. But it wasn't. Because inside that trip were the seeds of the three trips we've had this year, and all the fantastic things that have happened on those.
As my friend Stephen is fond of saying, when it comes to plans, it's not the plan that's important, it's the planning.
And with each return trip to Scotland, my determination to stick to that original plan gets steadily weaker. Because I've realised that main thing with holidays isn't to reach a target, or a goal or a particular destination. It's just to enjoy the journey, and the experiences you have along the way.
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