Open the sky and let her come down

Such is the dedication of the Kyle of Sutherland cc that despite torrential rain four riders turned out for the wednesday evening club ride this week. The wet and dark conditions called for a fairly short choice of route but one that proved to hold a good deal of excitement, if not for the riding then purely for the chance to bare witness to the awesome power of nature.

We started a little late, just after seven as we took an extra while to layer up the waterproofs and strap on the neoprene, and headed out of "the unit" into the deluge. Out past the Gledfield primary school we took the left hand turn out to Dounie and splashed our way along the road cornering tentatively through deep floods and loose gravel. Passing along under the low grey clouds we caught glimpses of the Carron river raging to our right but only when the road took us to the bridge did we really get a picture of the sheer power of the water. Six foot waves boiled and smashed below us like the Dudh Kosi in flood, thoughts of a raft were tempered by thoughts of a watery grave!

Turning left we proceeded along through the trees and wild dogs out to the church at Croick were the road turns to gravel and mud as it goes it's own way up Glencalvie to Ullapool. We turned back into the wind and suddenly the work was harder and all seemed much colder but such a magnificent landscape as we are blessed with was plenty to keep our spirits high. Keeping to the northern side of the river we made another couple of stops to absorb the spectacle of the crashing river as it made its way down the gorge down to the Kyle. Chris picked up the pace to tow us all home acroos the flat open sections toward the end of the ride and we rode four up and happy back into Ardgay grateful for the shelter of the unit at Heaven bikes.

I love the rain.

Colin