The “old gal” taking in the sunshine and stunning views towards Millport Town.
This blog is the story of how my dynamic crew had fab fun on a truly epic Sunday clocking up Team Matilda’s 7000th mile in #tandem on a celebratory “overseas” ride on Millport What’s On Millport, Isle of Cumbrae complete with an amazing new round the island speed record!
The big 7k was approaching and – unable to attend the Tandem Club rally in Nottingham – the “old git” and “old gal” decided that there was no better place to hit the mileage mark than a day trip to ‘Costa del Millport’ Visit Cumbrae.
You can check out the details of our route by clicking on the Strava map below.
It was definitely one of those sun-kissed, wind free, days when the Isle of Cumbrae lived up to its slogan: “Millport – in a world of its own!”
Up at 6am and after a near 80 mile drive to Largs my dynamic crew boarded the 10 minute CalMac Ferries trip from the mainland.
The “old gal” with her Cal Mac ferry ticket just before boarding.
The “old git” and “old gal” enjoying the short 10 minute crossing from Largs to Cumbrae.
On arrival on the island there was a quick pedal clockwise from the ferry slipway to the town of Millport and a very welcome yummy strong morning coffee at Crocodeli Millport – seated in their new outdoor seating table with wonderful views across the bay.
Coffee spot with a view … fab coffee too from Crocodeli Millport
Lap one was a fairly brisk clockwise pedal with my crews breathing in the fresh sea air and taking in the wonderful coastal views all the way round the 10 mile perimeter road. The sunny vistas towards the island of Arran were just spectacular.
The ‘Sleeping Warrior’ of the hills of Arran was a spectacular view with crystal clear visibility.
The “old gal” captured the “old git” making sure the camera angle is just right!
Millport is known as a cycling paradise due to the virtually flat and quiet circumference route – and it was great to see the island so busy with visitors. Super to see big queues at bike hire shops like Mapes of Millport. Round the island is not an official The National Cycle Network route – but it should be!
Back into the town and there was a look at some of the shops before going anti-clockwise to our fabulous “table with a view” – situated just before Fintry Bay – which overlooks the beach and has stunning views across to the island of Bute. Team Matilda’s retro AG2R CITROËN Team tops perfectly matched the blue of the sea and sky!
This is one of my dynamic crew’s favourite spots and naturally it was the ideal venue for one of Team Matilda’s signature prosecco picnics.
Picnic table with a view – the stunning outlook across to Bute!
My dynamic crew took a fun selfie on a walk on the sun-kissed beach.
It was idyllic sitting in the sun having the picnic, before a walk on the beach and some madcap photos at a spot potentially earmarked for a future top secret Team Matilda project!
The “old gal” having fun on the beach – with cycling top matching the blue of the sea and sky!
On the rocks! The “old git” posing for a madcap photo on the beach.
With still a good few miles to pedal to hit the 7k mark, the “old gal” decided that our picnic spot would be the ideal place to hit the milestone. So recharged after the picnic, my dynamic crew did some calculations to work out just how far was left to pedal, and completed the anti-clockwise lap cycling back into Millport for a loo stop and coffee and cake at The Dancing Midge Cafe.
Now it was time for the “speed lap” with the “old git” determined to break Team Matilda’s record of 38 minutes – which they failed to do by just 5 seconds on their previous visit!
The Strava sector is known as “Millport TT Clockwise Out and Back from Royal George Hotel” and my dynamic crew were totally up for the challenge – helped by the warm sunshine and hardly any breeze.
The “old git” knew they had to pedal at above the average speed of 15.6mph on their previous attempt to break my dynamic crew’s existing record for the 10.02 miles circuit.
And amazingly the energy levels held all the way round as the “old git” and “old gal” completed the circuit in 35.01 minutes, at an average speed of 17.2 mph. And that spectacularly shaved some 3 minutes off their previous best! Wooooo!
The “old git” feeling the pain after smashing Team Matildas round the island record by 3 minutes.
The “old git” was more than a bit out of breath by the end, so made a call for a celebratory – and recovery – refreshment in the new beer garden at Millport Pier, which is the new name from the recently taken over Royal George Hotel. The celebrations were helped by Strava informing my dynamic crew that they had registered the “seventh fastest worldwide” time for the lap of the island for a female as this “old lady” tandem is obviously registered as a female. Fabulous to get such recognition!
And proof from Strava of the 7th fastest time ever!
Team Matilda next paid a flying visit to the great new island business – Isle of Cumbrae Distillers – set up by a group of five women on the island who distill gin to match the mood of Cumbrae.
Team Matilda had to pay a visit to the fab Isle of Cumbrae Distillers – a local gin distillery!
A purchase was made of Croc Rock gin – which has a hint of ginger and therefore seemed highly appropriate for the “old gal”! The “old git” decided that the only thing to be done was a fun photo opportunity – with the Croc Rock gin at the iconic Crocodile Rock on the promenade!
A purchase was made of Croc Rock gin and there was only one place for the photo ….
… naturally the “old git” had to introduce Crock Rock gin to the iconic Crocodile Rock!
There was now just 5 miles to go to hit the 7k mark so my dynamic crew headed clockwise back towards their favourite picnic stop. And as luck would have it, just as it came into view, the milometer clicked over to 7,000 miles! What an amazing coincidence!
The actual magic moment was captured by the “old gal” on video – so click here to view or on the image below.
There was a burst of mutual celebrations, especially as the “old git” had worked out that a 7000 mile radius of non stop cycling from our home base would take Team Matilda as far as Tokyo in Japan; Jakarta in Indonesia; or Buenos Aires in Argentina! Quite an amazing distance really!
And there it is… 7000th mile clocked up by Team Matilda!
There was a small celebration toast – complete with a superb congratulations video call with our great tandeming friends Jane Termini Taylor and John Taylor – who are fellow founding members of the self-proclaimed Nutty Tandemers Club! Sadly they were unable to be with Team Matilda on Millport, but have shared several previous thousand mile landmarks in person on some of our amazing tours.
The 7000 miles landmark is obviously worthy of a small celebration toast!
Fellow Nutty Tandemers Jane and John joined us by video link to celebrate!
Mission accomplished, my dynamic crew pedalled back into Millport and had a most tasty alfresco fish and chips by the harbour. Why does it always taste so much better outside at the seaside?
Superb end to the epic day on Millport with alfresco – and very yummy – fish and chips!
It was a perfect way to finish an epic action packed day on Millport, before a frantic dash back to the ferry slipway and the ferry back to the mainland.
On the ferry back to Largs the “old git” checked Strava which officially recorded the ride as being a brilliant 30 gongs – made up the “seventh fastest in the world” plus 16 personal bests, 10 2nd bests and three 3rd bests. No wonder it was an energy sapping day!
The detailed Strava figures showed my dynamic crew tandemed a distance of 46.9 miles with a moving time of 3 hours 08 minutes. The average speed was a very healthy 14.9 mph. Elevation was just 418 feet, given the island is virtually flat. The maximum speed was 22.6 mph and Team Matilda managed to burn up 1,852 calories and produce an average power output of 147 W.
As always the route is brought to life in our Relive 3D mapping video – so click here to view or on on the image below.
One final piece of news in this blog is that my dynamic crew were asked by Sustrans Scotland – the charity that makes it easier for people to cycle – to join in on publicising The Scottish Governments Net Zero #LetsDoNetZero campaign on Twitter, to help reduce the country’s carbon footprint and be “net zero” by 2045, by making a journey by bike.
So the “old git” calculated that by pedalling our 7000 miles, Team Matilda had saved the planet a staggering 3.5 tonnes of co2 emissions – compared to driving the same distance. And of course there’s an argument for saying you could double that as there are two cyclists on board!
Here’s the series of tweets:
So epic adventures – and helping to save the planet – its all part of Team Matilda’s ethos having fun on a bicycle built for two!
Matildas Musings 
Hello Matty ! Love the grin on Croc Roc ! He obviously heard of the amazing 3 minutes and was wondering what you used for rocket fuel ! Amazing ! With regard to the Co2 emissions, the oldies would need to both be pedaling with the same vigor to claim double savings! Just saying !
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Well Dot my dynamic crew were certainly fuelled by something!!
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Congratulations on the ‘Magnificent Sevens’ … Matilda’s 7,000 miles plus the seventh fastest time around Cumbrae in the world (allegedly!) A great effort by the ‘Old Git n’ Gal’, you deserve a toast with that gin…cheers!
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Thanks Skelbo Cyclist… it was a great day! Not sure as to what you suggesting re “allegedly” because … you know … if its on Strava it must be true!!!! Oh and the gin was superb!
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