I set off as the sun was changing the sky again, it was pretty cold and there was some ice around, so I picked my way up and down the hills.
The morning was lots of the same as yesterday, long climbs, long descents, warm and sunny. I stopped at a cafe for some coffee and tortilla, then refueled before heading back up.
As I moved further west, the terrain changed from the rocky peaks to a more rolling moorland type terrain. This also meant more mud and more villages. These lower heights are where a lot of stock seemed to be as well, so I encountered about 10 of the wired gates. You do have to be looking for those little plastic bags swinging in the wind to see them though!
Water run off seemed to be greater too, suggesting its wetter along this section. The cold temperatures meant sheet ice, which you can usually bypass on the trails, the tarmac is a bit scary though.
At one point, I dropped down a fantastic ridge line past an isolated chapel and entered an obvious quarry section. No one was around, so I scooted through to the village below and then back out and up into the lovely deciduous forest above.
The trail climbed and climbed, it was again getting dark, with the true full moon on show and the fading sunlight highlighting the high ridges across the valley.
I kept going, with a plan to get to a col and camp there, but luck saw me find a bothy, a really nice one too, with somewhere undercover for the bike as well.
A local guy turned up on an old AJP dirt bike, neither of us spoke the others language, so with the help of his phone, he asked me if I was planning to use the bothy for the night and then showed me where the wood pile was as it is under cover and wished me a good night.
A cloud inversion was coming up the valley, lit up by the moonlight, but as the wind was getting up, I heading inside and settled down for the night.
