Day Ten - Bridge of Orchy to Fort Augustus - 74 miles

Weather Gods: on happy pills!

Bottom State: throbbing.

Total distance: 74 miles.

Today was an early start as we had to go back just over 20 miles to Bridge of Orchy and cycle back to Glencoe for breakfast. But what a glorious morning!  We drove nearly 20 miles eastwards up Glencoe and all under sunny blue sky. We then dropped down into Glen Orchy, morning cloud still settled in its valley, and followed the road for the last couple of miles to Bridge of Orchy.

 It was a great ride back. Although at Bridge of Orchy we were down in cloud at the start, it was already clearing in the morning sun and, anyway, we soon rose above it. Then it was a gently undulating stretch across the wide expanse of Rannoch Moor, where we officially entered the Highlands of Scotland with the mountains of Glencoe off in the distance. And all this under a clear blue morning sky and warm sun. We continued cycling at a good rate into the gaping valley of Glencoe and then it was a long stretch downhill - one, two, three miles – along the valley and to the lodge where we had stayed the night before; 21 miles done and all before a leisurely breakfast in the sun.  We all agreed that the whole trip was worth this ride alone given the weather and the stunning scenery.  And we still had 53 miles to go to our evening stop at Fort Augustus which promised to be similar.

Rannoch Moor

Glencoe

Glencoe

After breakfast our route took us further west to Ballachulish and along the edge of the clear waters of Loch Linnhe and up to Fort William. Here we grabbed coffee and cake, which is where I met my new best friend for the day: Joan. Joan was a wonderful, cheery white haired lady who was in front of me in the queue at the cafe. It was a slow queue and we got chatting. Among other things, I learned from Joan that a man must have been running the cafe as it was so disorganised. I learned that her husband Peter used to race bicycles with bamboo wheels in Highland games (something I must look up on Google).  And I learned that she and her husband had ridden a tandem around on a holiday together many years before. Joan learned from me about our trip. And then she simply gave me £5 towards the Motor Neurone Disease Association. That an elderly lady trusts a scruffy, sweaty man in the queue behind her - who she has never met before – enough to hand over £5 for charity restores my faith in human nature. So Joan and Peter from Glenrothes, many, many thanks for this contribution. Another thing I learned from Joan was that her favourite song - which she not heard for many years - is ‘Forty Shades of Green’. So Joan, if you are reading this, follow this link and hopefully you will be able to hear your song once again:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=forty+shades+of+green&x=10&y=14

 

My faith in humanity restored, we headed off from Fort William and up towards the Great Glen, that great geological scar that runs diagonally upwards across the top of Scotland. Three great Lochs run into each other along its length: Loch Lochy, Loch Oich and Loch Ness. These are joined by together by the Caledonian Canal forming a continuous water route from the west coast of Scotland to east. We would ride the whole length of these over the next two days. Tonight we would get as far as Fort Augustus at the beginning of Loch Ness.

We dropped down to the shore of Loch Lochy through a mile or two of rhododendron and tree lined road and then it was an easy ride along the shore line for the last 40 miles.  A few miles before Fort Augustus we watched the Caledonian Canal in action; at a small bridge over the canal the whole road swung across to one side to allow a sailing boat to pass through. 

The Great Glen - Loch Lochy

We arrived at our Hostel in Fort Augustus relatively early and it was nice to have time to relax and not rush straight into showers and dinner. Good food in a pub at the very edge of Loch Ness and then back to the Hostel for a good night’s rest in readiness for tomorrow’s trip.