Together - at last!

[Backblipped due to illness to be explained in later posts - or guessed from below...]

This was a day of two parts: (1) travelling from Lochboisdale on South Uist to Arisaig; (2) fun and games in the sunshine on the mainland around Arisaig with Paddy and Caitlin (finally).

It was a very early start for us this morning. We had three alarms set for 4:00am. I didn't trust any of them, so barely slept at all, worrying that we would miss our ferry. In the event, we were the first passengers to board with our bikes. The crossing was not the most comfortable: the sea was a bit bumpy; the Lord of the Isles is one of the older CalMac boats with less luxurious seating than the newer vessels; and I am finding travelling early in the morning more difficult as I get older (see also my blip of 20th January 2020). We were delighted/relieved to arrive in Mallaig at 8:30am, two days later than scheduled.

The 10 mile cycle from Mallaig to Arisaig doesn't sound much, but it was very hard work up and down the hills after the gentle terrain of North and South Uist, and Benbecula. I was very grateful when we reached Arisaig, knowing that all my holiday cycling was over. It was also wonderful to find a welcoming committee of Paddy and Caitlin waiting for us outside the hotel.

Part 2 of our day began with assembling everything required for fun on the beach, e.g. picnic, swimming costumes, wet suits, fishing tackle, deck of cards. Then we headed off to the Back of Keppoch for the rest of the day. The weather was beautiful and we had a fabulous time. Paddy didn't manage to catch any fish to cook on our disposable barbecue, but other than this it was a perfect day. We swam, skimmed stones, photographed each other (blip) and birds (sandpiper extra), sunbathed, chatted, and played card games.

We found it really difficult to drag ourselves away from the beach at the end of the afternoon, but we needed to get back to the hotel for a game of Catan (I lost) and our dinner reservation. I selected a big bowl of mussels from the menu at dinner. At the time, I didn't realise that this was a terrible mistake...

Exercise today: 10 miles of (hard) cycling; 4151 steps.