Day 7 Oban to Lochgilphead

A cold chill could be felt in the tent this morning. Gone was the balmy heat of the previous evening, and back was the gloom of previous days. A slight lay in was had as nobody wanted to venture outside of the relative warmth of the sleeping bags.
Once outside one thing was clear, the midges were also up, and they were hungry! The experience was one I had not had before, and Chris seemed to suffer the worst! I have never seen him move so fast as he did this morning to escape them. Bacon was cooked, tea drunk, and camp dropped and rolling by about 10am.
It started to rain.
All of a sudden we were even more grateful for having done some miles yesterday, as it meant less time in the miserable drab that was today. We set off and soon reached the point just outside oban where our route took a left onto a single lane road to the west. A quick "do you want to go to oban for supplies? " was asked, but Chris insisted on "cracking out the miles". So we forged on. The road was a bit up and downy and contained the first of our 3 major climbs of the day. About 350 foot or so up. We dealt with this and rejoined the main road feeling fairly pleased.
after a while hunger started to set in, and we hadn't seem so much as a shop, let alone a cafe or fish n chip shop. The miles were racking up and after we found a 4 star hotel for Rachel to pee in, we decided to eat the ham rolls I had sorted at the campsite.
Partial lunch done we continued and found the second climb of the day. This one was tougher, some swearing was heard - ok a lot was heard. But again we triumphed and on the long descent after; we spotted a sign for a cafe ahead, genius!
Sure enough it appeared and we entered the cafe, err...wait, its a shop "this the cafe?" "No lovey, tis a shop"  ..."but..." ,  "only pulling ye leg, tis up them stairs"!
Finally! Chip time. Except it was a posh cafe, so more like soup and cake time. Extremely tasty all the same and well needed. We bought some supplies in the shop and asked about the road ahead. The lovely lady informed us that the road got "1st gear in the car" steep at Adfern but once over it was pretty good. This frightened us. And indeed the climb of 550 or so was signed up as 1 in 8, and was nasty as you like. Some pushing was required (ironically not the 1 in 8 bit). Once over the top sure enough the road became alot more forgiving, and the last few miles into Lochgilphead itself were pan flat. The sun also put in an appearance,  shame it was still freezing.
We arrived at 5.15pm a record - shops were still open and everything. Quick shower, and we went for fish and chips in town, for which many birds surrounded us for a chance if getting one. One in particular seemed to be "top bird". We watched him bully the others for a bit, and gave him a scrap chip for his efforts, before retiring back to camp.
Miles cycled: 48
Biker nods reciprocated : 3 (not the best)
Smug Scotsmen driving over hilly terrain: 2 (I would be too)
Funniest moment if day: Chris very nearly adding meths to his tea instead of milk.