Day 5. Ardlui to Tarbolton. 75 miles

A lovely sunny day, coupled with a flat first 50 miles really helped us along today - as did some of the scenery. We stayed on the shores of Loch Lomond last night - a really beautiful part of the world. the route followed the loch south and the flat terrain meant we made really good headway. Unfortunately we then stared hiitting the towns and cities. First came Dumbarton which I will politely describe as a complete shit hole. Got out of there as quickly as we could and then struggled to find the right route to get on the Erskine bridge Darrin and I eventually decided to wheel the bikes over 4 lanes of traffic, whilst Gand sensibly decided to pedal in the wrong direction to find a roundabout. After the bridge we went through Paisley - another busy place where we had to keep stopping to check the route. Finally made our way out and went through Neilston where the hills started. Despite now being in the Lowlands, the hills are steeper and nastier. A quick stop in Kilmaurs so Darrin could buy a new gel saddle (his original budget purchase from Lidl just couldn't cope with the enormity of his arse and split in 2 soon after JOG) and then a further 11 miles to Tarbolton where we found a cheap hotel. Day 6 and 7 are forecast to be raining hard - brilliant!