An unfortunate accident

On Sunday we headed 2 km down the road from the Aultguish Inn and cycled up the Strathvaich valley. James cycled 18 km each way to climb Carn Ban which is an out of the way Corbett. This was a substantial six and a half hour day for him. Meanwhile I cycled at a more sedate pace, just 6 km up to the Vaich Dam and then back. I really enjoyed myself and sat up at the dam for a while taking in the scenery of loch, river and mountains. When I returned to the car I decided to drive back to lovely Ullapool where I walked about in the sunshine and a had a coffee.
When I got back to the pick up point I cycled around a bit more and then I spotted a tiny figure approaching from the distance. But the person was not riding their bike, they were pushing it. As they got closer I could see that it was James and that something wasn’t right. It turned out that he had taken a bad fall from his bike - it was actually lucky that he was quite near the car when it happened because he was in quite a state. He had been cycling along at a fast pace and had been looking ahead to see if he could spot the car, and he didn’t notice that the path had turned sharply to the left. He tried to turn but it was too late and the bike went over, and both James and the bike skidded along the gravelly path for a good few feet. Oh dear, what a mess he was in. He has scraped a good deal of skin off his left shoulder and arm in horrible long scratches, and there are particularly deep gouges in his left elbow and hand. He also has bad grazes on his side, and the handlebars of his bike stuck into his right thigh, cutting and bruising it. He made it back to the car but felt faint and had to lie down while I tended to the worst of his injuries using his very well equipped first aid kit.
I had to drive all the way home but I actually felt very alert, I think perhaps because of the adrenaline. We stopped briefly at Contin and I ran into the shop and got James a full sugar can of Irn Bru out of the chill cabinet, and a Mars Bar, which he consumed happily. When we got home he had a bath to try to soak some more of the gravel out of his wounds, and then proceeded to bleed on the bed sheet during the night!
He went up to hospital this morning and had his wounds properly cleaned and dressed under local anaesthetic which was a relief. He was also given antibiotics in case of infection. He is in quite a lot of pain, mainly his elbow and thigh; he says that he feels as if somebody has been kicking him! We are however both relieved that he is not worse injured.