Oban And Done With (Almost)

After nearly a week in Oban – which is about five days longer than expected – I woke this morning knowing that my exodus from this beautiful little town was near. If all went well, today would see me picking up my new bike, packing up my old bike, and resuming my tour of the UK before eventually making my way to Amsterdam.

For the first time in almost a week, my day began with packing up my gear. It seemed like an eternity since I had done so. Unlike the past several mornings, the skies were somewhat clear which meant I was able to do said packing in dry weather – and the lack of rain through the night meant I didn’t have to deal with a wet tent. Of course, in keeping with Scotland’s weather patterns, the skies clouded over and the rain began just as I was pedalling away from the campground. All things considered, I’d rather bike in the rain than pack up my tent in the rain. That theory was put to the test minutes later as the skies REALLY opened up. I responded by hiding under some trees in an attempt to avoid the full brunt of the onslaught. About five minutes later, I abandoned the sheltering trees and continued into town. By the time I arrived the rain had stopped again.

My first stop on my day’s agenda was at the tourist information centre. While reviewing my upcoming routes, I came across a cycle path that would lead me out of town but I couldn’t tell from the map if the path was paved or not. After consulting with one of the people at the information centre, I was told that it was in fact paved (or tarmac as it’s called in the UK).

Moments prior to entering the information centre, I was approached by a fellow cycle tourist. I had seen him briefly at the library yesterday but we didn’t speak until today. Coincidentally his name is also Mark … well, he’s from Italy so he’s actually Marco. We chatted for a bit. Discussed our respective trips including our respective incidents – he was hit by a car early in his trip. Fortunately the damage was minimal. Unfortunately, the vehicle that struck him didn’t stick around. Grrrrr. Some people! Anyway, he was taking a ferry to the Outer Hebrides today but told me I should contact him if I’m ever in Rome. I definitely hope to be able to take him up on his offer. Some day.

From the information centre I wandered back over to Oban Cycles to check on the status of my bike. The good news was it had arrived. The bad news was that Mark was sick and not at work. Apparently he had been sick all weekend but was still planning on coming in later to assemble my bike. I really can’t say enough about how great Mark and Christina have been. They’ve made this difficult situation a LOT easier. That said, they’ll probably be very happy to see me leave town!

Despite Mark’s absence, I decided I should begin disassembling my bike. Not being a mechanic, I knew it would take me some time as I was planning on stripping everything off the bike so that it would fit into the smallest box possible.

As I boxed up my bike I was very much torn as to whether or not shipping it back to Canada was worth the expense. In theory, the bike is fixable. However, now that I have a new bike (plus I have another Nishiki frame at home), it started to occur to me that wanting to hang onto my bike was more sentimental than practical. Not that there’s anything wrong with sentimental decisions (well, in theory anyway), but practicality and logic are more suited to me. That said, I remain torn. Keeping some of the components (i.e. handlebars, shifters, derailleurs, chain) makes sense as those can all be used on another frame. And the cost of shipping just those items would be much less (I suspect). Clearly, I know what I should do. And the more I type the more I’m realizing that I’m just trying to convince myself. I know, I know. It’s just a bike. But it’s my bike. And there are a lot of memories in that bike. Sigh.

Fast-forward a couple of hours and my bike was essentially ready to go. Where, I still hadn’t figured out. Or how for that matter.

My new bike, on the other hand, was still a couple of hours from being ready so I decided to go back to The Lorne for another of their lunch specials. I mean, I’ve spent so much money in this town already – what’s another £8.50?

By the time I returned to Oban Cycles, Mark had arrived and was putting the finishing touches on my new bike. My front rack was pretty badly damaged and needed to be replaced. Fortunately, Mark had one in stock. Whew. Sadly, he didn’t have a kickstand in stock – that’s one upgrade I would’ve liked. I’m not sure why, but North Americans don’t seem to like the kickstand. I find it SO helpful. Especially on a tour.

While I was optimistic I would be on the road today, that was clearly far TOO optimistic. On the upside, my new bike arrived and had been assembled. On the downside, I still had to figure out what to do regarding shipping. As such, I decided one more night in Oban would make the most sense. While camping was an option, I didn’t really want to go back to the campground. So, for my (hopefully) last night in Oban I’ve opted to stay in one of the local hostels – after essentially blowing my whole UK budget in the past four days, a hostel will be the most luxurious accommodation I can expect to see for quite some time. That said, the Curran House is very nice. With very nice views. As for my accommodation, I’m currently in a six bed dorm (three bunk beds). I don’t know how many of the other beds are spoken for, but I’m currently the only one here.

If all goes well tomorrow, my Scotland cycling saga will begin again. I need to return to Oban Cycles to put the final touches on whatever decision I end up making about my bike – plus make a couple of adjustments on my new bike (the seat is WAY too high at the moment). From there I will hit the road. I have no idea how far I will go – we’ll see how well my new bike and I work together. My next major goal is the Isle of Skye. As far as I can tell, that should be reachable in three days.

While I will obviously miss my 1977 Nishiki International, the time has come to move on. As the song goes, “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” That seems pretty true to me.