It's 4:00 am. I am awoken by a nearby owl for the fourth time tonight - on the hour, every hour since midnight. I look out the window for my noisy hidden neighbour but just see the low cloud drifting through the pine forest I am parked next to. Sleeping in my car, it would seem, wasn't the best plan after all.

Winter is often a time that we set aside our finest carbon and threads and begin a season of shorter rides or increase our time on the rollers/turbo. But it doesn't have to be that way. Longer challenging rides are still out there to be had - even with the shorter days.

So it was that I decided to drive to Killin - on the very edge of Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park - the night before our group's 8am(ish) depart. The idea was to try and avoid having to wake at an absurd hour by sleeping in the back of my 4x4. With around 80 miles ahead of us and some unknown (to us) climbs, we are going to need all the daylight we can get, and I could do with all the energy I can muster.

Day 1 - Inverness to Applecross

Ronde Bicycle Outfitters > Gleneagles Hotel, Scotland

Searching for gravé in Hertfordshire