Day Two
Set off from Tongue heading right out into the wilds, RV'd with
Debbie at Altnahara - you want remote - Altnahara is it but so
beautiful
Then we headed down to Lairg, this ride musat rank as one of my
all time great rides, challenging enough to feel like an
achievement but still manageable unfortunatley the weather and the
road both deteriorated down to Bonar Bridge and sat in the car for
a very wet lunch.
After lunch the weather improved and I decided to make the route
a bit longer - yes definitely mad! So rather than riding to Alness
I cycled to Tain and then down to Nigg and got the ferry across to
Cromarty. Very odd seeing a bird sanctuary cheek by jowl with the
storage facility for dozens of massive North Sea oil rigs.So when I
got off the tiny (one car) ferry I cycled across the Black Isle to
meet up with Debbie in Fortrose at the home of my cousin Richard
and his wife Jean. They have a fabulous house - Richard you really
should run a B&B!! The food and hospitality were great, it was
really nice to feel we were in a home rather than a commercial
place to sleep. Thanks to Richard & Jean. This will hopefully
be the longest day.
Day Three
Set off from Fortrose heading for Inverness and then up the
mountain on the East side to link up with General Wade's Military
Road. Unfortunately the rain set in with a vengeance and the
temperature dropped dramatically. Made it upon to the top of the
mountain, beautifully peaceful but very wet. At one point I rode
for over an hour and didn't see another living soul, fabulous, just
very wet (did I mention that already?) . Meanwhile Debbie was on
monster spotting duty on the west shore of Loch Ness but I had
opted for the quiet route on the other side of the Great Glen. This
road would be absolutely stunning on a nice sunny August
day................but this wasn't one! Actually the veiws were
still good even in the rain I was just getting a bit cold even with
pedalling hard. Finally the rain stopped just as I rolled (actually
plummeted down) the very steep hill down from the mountain to Fort
Augustus. Now only a dozen miles before a nice warm bath at
Invergarry. That's it for day three, a shorter day but probably the
hardest so far as my legs felt a bit heavy, hopefully the slightly
earlier finish and a good nights rest will stand me in good stead
for tomorrow, when I have the biggest days climbing of the trip to
get up into Glen Coe.
Day Four
Set off from Invergarry heading along the A82 and soon reached
the Commando memorial at Spean Bridge. stopped for the obligatory
picture kindly taken for me by a lady from Wellington who was
driving back south with her husband having just cycled the south to
north version of my ride in 20 days, she was however 73 years old!!
Then the sight of the magnificent Ben Nevis rising out of the mist
and the ride along the coast from Fort William followed by the long
long climb up into Glencoe. See the lower picture below of the
somewhat daunting view from Glencoe village. The climb was actually
ok and the views were really spectacular. Then onto Rannoch Moor; I
can testify that in a cold driving downpour this is a very bleak
and unpleasant place – I’m sure in the sunshine it would be lovely
but unfortunately I didn’t get to have the experience. Then the
wonderful entry into Stirling and about a 5 mile downhill stretch
to Crianlarich and a very welcome hot shower – easily the toughest
day yet. then we find we are staying at a B&B run by a
submariner with a sense of humour - see weather forecasting device
below,
Day Five
Started with lovely weather and rode gently down to Loch Lomond
and spent the next couple of hours enjoying some beautiful scenery.
A quick stop at Tarbet and on to the end of the Loch where I joined
a really good cycle path to take me down to the Clyde. Debbie went
for a boat cruise on the Loch, capturing some great photos. A
couple of strange bits of routing through Dumbarton but all was
well until somewhere near the Clyde all the signs stopped. Had I
mentioned it was raining again by now? Anyway I got the phone out
and proceeded to get hopelessly lost somewhere in Glasgow in the
rain. Finally I stopped a cyclist who kindly led me onto the
Clydeside cycle path and I was back on track. This path through the
very centre of Glasgow is great path, good views, well signed etc.
I did have a new experience though, for some reasons at various
places through Glasgow, passers-by who noticed the GoPro camera on
my helmet threw themselves about in attempt to get captured on
film. Little did they know the battery was flat in the camera! Then
up through East Kilbride and finish at Strathaven. The picture
below is where I had lunch and was taken within 5-6 miles of
Glasgow city centre (and before the rain started)
Day Six
It isn’t raining! However, what it is doing is blowing a 30mph
wind straight at me! Oh well it has to be done. So I head off to
join national cycle route 74 heading south to Carlisle paralleling
the M6 most of the way. The cycle paths are in places absolutely
brilliant, there is one bit south from Lesmahagow, which must be
the best cycle path in the country, two lines wide, surfaced like a
billiard table and even with lighting built into it. Debbie,
meanwhile, stopped off at the famous Blacksmiths at Gretna Green to
see the history of marriages. Overall today the provision of
cycle paths is excellent, some of them have a bit of a bone jarring
surface but much safer than contending with all the people using
what I assume must be the pre-motorway route to try out their fast
cars / motorbikes. Not a very exciting ride today just a very long
very hard slog into the wind to arrive just outside Carlisle for a
long soak in the bath, tomorrow the lakes! See the picture Debbie
was sending me for encouragement! Of course we are now back in
England - guess what - it isn't raining, just thought I'd mention
it.
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Day Seven
A fabulous ride down to the lakes from Carlisle, I hadn’t banked
on the 17% hill but I guess a measure of the effectiveness of the
on the job training so to speak is that it wasn’t a big deal
whereas I’m sure a week ago I would have struggled. The views of
Thirlmere and Windermere were fantastic, no rain, wind only bad for
the first two or three hours so all in all a fantastic day.
Unfortunately it appears that it is better to do the lakes by bike
than car as Debbie had a day from hell fighting traffic and trying
to find parking spaces. We finished up just north of Lancaster and
drove down to stay with my cousin Michael and his wife Kate in
Lancaster. This was my view for lunch (Thirlmere) The shot below
that is one of the approaches to the lakes.
