A ferry then Glasgow

Day 11

July 24, 2025

Stats: 19 miles, AIS: 1:37, Elev. 531 ft, Speed: 11.6 mph

A 6:30 am start out of the hostel in Port Charlotte, Isle of Islay to the ferry terminal in Port Ellen. Our fastest 19 miles of the trip.

The guys finally had a good nights sleep in their full (6) bunkhouse. This was because the non-stop snoring dude had checked out the previous morning. Hope he gets the medical attention he needs (soon)!

A small contingency plan was enabled yesterday evening at dinner when Curt suddenly became very chilled and feverish. He was unable to eat his dinner and tried to warm up with hot tea and cups of hot water. He managed to suffer and maintain while the three of us finished dinner.

Just before we finished dinner he proposed the possibility that he might not feel well enough to ride in the morning. We needed a contingency plan. Sandy was in action. He had met a guy in the bar/restaurant that was staying in the hostel. He approached him and turns out that guy, Andy, was driving to work in Port Ellen in the morning. He very kindly offered to take Curt and his bike to the ferry on time if Curt still thought he needed him in the morning! The plan was set.

Then we walked with Curt back to the hostel. His first priority was to spend a few minutes in the “drying room” then go to bed. He continued to drink hot water. We would find out in the morning whether he was riding or taking the contingency option.

So we all were up and gathering our belongings in the reception area at about 6am. Curt was up and about as well. But it didn’t take long for him to decide he wasn’t feeling energetic enough to ride. He was going to take the car ride with Andy to the ferry terminal.

Sandy, Jim and I headed out for the ferry at 6:30am on the dot. We are a team! It was a calm, cloudy morning. Early enough there were very few cars on the road. I had to stop to take a jacket off and because it was so calm those damn midges started to swarm. They’re awful! All over your face and body, inside my helmet. I spent the next mile or so itching my head with my helmet!! Had to keep moving to keep them away! All you feel is these little stings over and over. I don’t react to them but they are awful with their swarming.

We had a snappy fast ride to the ferry terminal on the usual two-way narrow one car at a time only roads. There were lots of “passing car” pullouts. We would try to get to those to let cars pass either coming or going. Every single car was respectful of us and very friendly. On Islay they give what we would call “the Montana wave”… a simple hello wave as you pass by.

We arrived before Curt in plenty of time for the ferry. Enough time to change out of our bike clothes for the day.

Took the ferry back to our van. It was a couple of hours but it seemed to go quickly. We loaded the van and jumped in for the long drive back to Glasgow. Our distillery guide/friend Rhuaridh (Rory) caught a ride with us back to Glasgow. That was fun to visit with him on the long drive.

The sun came out as we left the ferry landing headed back over the big mountain and down through Loch Lomond to Glasgow. Actually felt hot!

Sandy stopped at the bike shop where we returned the bicycles. We all agreed that they were great rental bikes with good gearing, good saddles and really good tires. Not very expensive to rent for 12 days by American standards. ($214 or $18/day). Plus the owner Joe was just a really good guy!

Next stop our farewell point… a downtown Glasgow Hotel a block from the bus station for an airport transfer tomorrow. Really nice hotel too! I laughed about the transition from hostel to hotel! We said goodbye to Sandy as he was keen to get back home to Kelso.

We settled into the hotel and started spreading out and repacking for our afternoon departures tomorrow (Friday). We’re on a different flight than Curt and leave about 1.5 hours later. All of us were anxious to shower and get into some clothes we hadn’t been wearing for the past 4 days while on Islay.

We found a nice little Asian dim sum restaurant and Curt was ready to eat something after fasting since breakfast yesterday! He seemed to be able to eat all right… cautiously and blandly but he was satisfied. He headed back to the hotel while Jim and I walked around the neighborhood a bit. I stopped at a store to buy some muesli to take home. It’s so much better in Europe and UK than anything I can find in the US.

Also stopped at a neighborhood pub for our last pint of the Pedals, Pipes and Pubs Tour! Today was a trifecta because all three happened on the last day!

Tomorrow I’ll post the final stats of the trip and hopefully our return trip will be uneventful… long but uneventful! As a reminder, we do intend to stop at customer service Alaska Airlines in Seattle to check on compensation for our departure trip. I’ll keep you posted on that as well.

Thanks for following. I hope you enjoyed it some. We sure did!