Day 4 - To Inverness Take 2

Day 4 - To Inverness take 2!

So anyone who followed the blog last year knows that my mum and I didn't quite make it to Inverness - but we promised each other we would come back and finish it off this summer - this time routing round the south side of Loch Ness!

The date was set for Saturday the 10th of August, and we would do the 33 miles from Fort Augustus to Inverness following route 78 - which is what we should have done the first time round.

The prep was minimal it was just one day's cycling after all.

The one issue we had was logistical. There is no train station at Fort Augustus, and generally you can't take bikes on buses, so how could we get there with the bikes? The only way we could work out was to drive there, leave the car, cycle to Inverness, leave the bikes, bus it back to Fort Augustus, pick up the car, and then drive back to Inverness - all a bit of a faff...but if that's what we needed to do then we would do it.  I turned to the Women's Cycle Forum group on Facebook for advice. Unfortunately the suggestions were pretty much what we had already considered - a bike transfer service that would cost us a lot more than the petrol would if we drove ourselves, train? not an option. but one comment struck me - someone said the coach buses would take bikes but they might need to be in a bike bag. I looked up buses from Inverness to Fort Augustus, and it turned out there was a City Link Coach I contacted them and yes they would take bikes but only in a bag or box.

I knew from others and previous experience that individual drivers might allow us on without them, but I discussed it with mum and she agreed we should get bike bags just to be safe - they were only a tenner each, and could be reused in future. The next issue was the connection. The train I was booked on from Edinburgh got to Inverness at 8.05pm. The bus from Inverness was at 8.15pm. I would have 10 minutes max to get around from the train to the bus and bag the bike - doable as the stations in Inverness are about a minute apart, but as anyone living in the UK knows relying on a train service getting you to where you wanted to be on time is a risky business!

Sure enough, as I was waiting on the train it was announced it would be 4 minutes late, then 6, then 8. Finally it arrived over 11 minutes late. Would the time be made up on the journey? I asked the conductor about the likelihood of this and he said there was a slight chance but he couldn't say for sure.

Meanwhile, the bike bags hadn't been delivered to mum as they should have been. I contacted the supplier by email, but there wasn't much we could do as she had to leave home for Inverness herself in the early afternoon. We would have to chance it with the driver - if my train was on time. Mum called me about 8pm. 'Where are you?' she asked 'I don't know exactly' I said, 'pretty sure we are still running late though, the train has been stopped for southbound services to pass a couple of times' I was pretty sure that I wouldn't be there for 8.15.  'Well, the bus is here and I've spoken to the driver and she will take the bikes without bags'. The driver had made it clear that the policy was they should be in bags, mum explained the delivery issue, and since there was little else in the way of luggage the driver had agreed to make an exception.  When we hung up I checked the arrival times for Inverness station on my phone and texted mum. I'm not going to make it, I told her, the arrivals board is saying we get in at 8.19. No reply, but at 8.19 I got another phone call. 'Where are you? The driver is holding the bus!' What? 'She's holding the bus?? That's amazing! I'll head to the carriage closest the bike storage so I can get it and round to the bus station as soon as we stop.'

I had just started talking to the girl next to me and told her about our trip, sorry I said now, they are holding the bus! I need to get round there as quick as I can. We were on one of the LNER trains which has a separate carriage for bikes and bulky luggage, this one was right at the front. I headed as far up the train as I could, and was off as soon as the train stopped. The conductor was already unloading, and I grabbed my bike and headed round to the bus station - now 10 minutes late and hoping they hadn't had to leave after all, as I rode round mum was standing at the corner watching for me, the bus was still there, luggage compartment up and ready, I jumped off grabbed my pannier, and thanked the driver for waiting while I quickly lifted the bike in. As we got on the bus mum apologised to the passengers and thanked them for being patient.  'You owe us all a drink!' one of them called, 'yes, it's all been written up by a lawyer and everything' another one said  we all laughed, and we were on our way. Only in the highlands. I asked mum later if the driver had asked the passengers if they minded waiting 'she didn't so much ask them as tell them we were waiting on someone coming on a train that was running late' she said. Our main hurdle crossed, we relaxed and chatted our way through the journey.

That night we were booked into Morag's Lodge, a very welcoming and comfortable hostel in Fort Augustus. It's a rambling building, with a bar, self catering kitchen and big comfy couches you can sprawl in. There was also a piano in the reception area which someone began to play, and books on most of the windowsills. All in all, a nice place. (Although take a tin opener if you are self catering and need tins - they didn't have one for us to make the tuna sandwiches we had planned for lunch!). After a quick shower to freshen up we headed downstairs with the bottle of Prosecco mum had brought - not knowing there was a bar on site! The cork was off with a pop and we toasted each other. We polished off the bottle, had one in the bar and headed to bed relaxed and ready for the ride next day.

We were up and ready to leave by around 9.30 - the hostel also having provided a continental style breakfast at a slightly additional cost to the room. We handed in our key cards, unlocked the bikes and we were off!

The first bit of the route coming out of Fort Augustus follows a quiet B road past fields of sheep (and in one a couple of pheasants!) The Loch safely on our left hand side we enjoyed heading into open country.  But we soon hit the first of the slopes. I knew from the route planner that there were 2 ascents involved on this side, but I hadn't realised we would hit the first one quite so quickly. I had said to mum that I hadn't done much more than 20-30 miles in one day for the last few months - most of my free time was taken up with my MA project, finally submitted the day before,  she responded by telling me she hadn't been on the bike in a year - since our previous attempt! Oh well. we would manage anyway.

South end of Loch Ness Just outside Fort Augustus

The weather was pretty much perfect cycling weather, dry, not cold, but not hot either, a little cloudy, but still with some blue in there, not much wind to speak of except for the occasional refreshing breeze. All in all it was a great day for it. Considering the day before had been downpours we were pretty lucky. With much starting and stopping, and getting on and off again, we climbed the 1200 or so feet of the ascent. Looking back part way up we got a really decent view of Fort Augustus behind us before the route turned away from the water for a bit. Bye Bye Loch Ness, see you in a while!

As the road climbed the terrain on either side changed between windblown trees and open marshland with broom and yellow wart in abundance along the side of the road. We reached Loch Tarff - a reservoir - sooner than I expected given we had walked a good portion of the climb.



It is a beautiful spot, with the water on one side and open ground on the other. we paused just after the Loch to let a car pass, and spotted some deer - on the hill rising above us a group of 6 young stags were grazing on the grass amongst the heather. 

There are Deer in here somewhere! 

Carrying on the climb became a bit easier, still with an upward trend, but undulating more. We were still stopping occasionally to catch out breath, and at one point a car came by the driver and passenger both giving us an encouraging thumbs up - I soon saw why, we had paused just a little way from the top. As we crested the rise the view opened out before us, a landscape  of hills, water and signs of human habitation lay before us. It was a recognised stopping point with space for cars to park and a short walk marked. We stopped for a little bit and just admired the scenery of rolling hills, open country dotted with lochs, remains of long ago settlements from the picts right through to the present. The highlands truly are a map of the history of Scotland.

From here, we could see a good portion of the road ahead of us, still undulating, but this time with a downward trend, and still with that fabulous view. It proved the mantra I had shared with mum on the climb up (and that I've mentioned before). Worth it for the View, Worth it for the Downhill. I repeat this to myself when I am really struggling up a long climb. Coming down the other side of the hill was fabulous, barely peddling for a good couple of miles. it wasn't long before we passed Whitebridge and then turned towards the falls of Foyers. A couple of miles through shaded pine forest down and up again a little brought us to the Falls of Foyers Cafe, where we decided to stop for lunch.

Made it to the top! Just look at that view....

The photo's really don't do it justice. 

We shared a salmon and cream cheese bagel, and a pulled pork panini between us (along with one of the most tasty and varied side salads I have ever seen accompanying a sandwich!), and spotted that the ice cream shack was selling Capaldi's of Brora icecream! Brora is the next village along from Helmsdale where my mum lives, and is on the far northeast of Scotland. We didn't expect to find their delicious  ice cream goodness in this tiny little place. We bought a cone each and took the short walk down to the falls of Foyer, the fall was pretty, but quieter than we had expected given all the rain the day before, and someone else there told us it had been gushing over the top a couple of days prior.  we headed back towards the bikes, and after a quick pee and a top up of the water bottles we were on our way again.

Capaldi's Icecream in Foyers! Who would have thought...

The road from Foyers was still heading downhill as from here we would be following the waters edge for the next few miles. We soon found ourselves back on the shores of Loch Ness, looking across the water at the mountain we had been up last year. We agreed that this years attempt was much less trying. and enjoyed the views and the relatively flat tarmac beneath our wheels. The road was a little busier than I expected, but most of the cars (with the usual odd exception) gave us a good amount of room - although as a lot of this stretch was single track there wasn't a huge amount of space available, and we frequently pulled in to passing places to let a car or 2 go by us. We also found that cars coming towards us didn't tend to slow/wait at passing places til we were safely by, which was somewhat frustrating given most of the time we were literally 2-5 metres away from one. Not far out of Foyers we met a backpacker sitting by the side of the road - he was heading towards Foyers from Dores in search of a shop and a post office, and was trying to decide whether to carry on, or head back the way he had come. We couldn't really help him with that not having visited the shop at Foyers, but mum offloaded the tin of tuna to him that we had planned to have on our sandwiches but couldn't open because of a lack of a tin opener in the hostel (although we didn't for one second regret our lunch in Foyers instead!) We carried on and soon saw Urquhart Castle and Drumnadrochit across the water, finding the going much easier now that the major climb was behind us.

Coming along beside the water - the view beside us varied between trees ferns and open water 

Urquhart Castle is in the background there somewhere....

Looking at the map we were expecting another sharp climb just after Dores, but this never really materialised, instead the route took us away from the road on a path and quiet back roads, with a very gradual climb up, and an equally gradual descent into Inverness. We knew we had made it when we came across the Nessie roundabout, and it wasn't long before we were in the city centre having our photo taken at the Terminus sign! It had only taken us a year and a bit, but we had finally completed our Caledonian canal adventure!

We made it!   The terminus of NCN Route 78

Day 4 - To Inverness!

The night before the heavens had opened as we were cosied up in our pod, it rained all night and was still going around 7.30 in the morning. However when we got up at half 8 we were glad to find it had stopped. We had booked breakfast for 9.10, and it was brought to us in the pod. we had a good meal and well fortified we called our taxi for 10.30 and got ready to go.

While eating we had been looking at the next part of the route, and discovered that it was pretty much uphill for the first 4 miles, before flattening out and then descending into Inverness. While this didn't sound too great after the day before, we didn't have much choice but to carry on.

Taking the taxi back to where we had left the bikes we picked them up and started on our way - luckily we had left them pretty much on the route. The first part of this was along the A82, a very busy road with lots of fast traffic. Thankfully for this part there was a pavement! We came to the turnoff and our hearts sank. It was another narrow dirt track heading up a short steep ascent. it levelled out and then turned down again, and Mum took one look at it and said that enough was enough. She wasn't up for 4 miles of this terrain, and we didn't know if or when it would change to something more manageable. While I would have carried on if she hadn't decided against it, to be honest I was just as glad not be spending a good few miles pushing the bike up a hill. On the other hand we really didn't fancy the road either.

The turnoff up the hill had been at a place called Temple Pier, literally as it said a pier for private and hire boats so we headed back there to see if there was any possibility of getting a boat ride across the Loch to the easier going on the other side! This was really wishful thinking, but we gave it a go speaking to a couple of different people at the pier. Unfortunately we had no luck. The best suggestion we got was to head back into Drumnadrochit and decide on what to do from there. We got back on the bikes and cycled the mile and a half or so back into the tourist information centre in the village. Making enquiries there we were told that there was no way to get the bikes to Inverness other than cycling the Great Glen Way, or the A82. The cycling part of our trip was over.

The only other way to Inverness was by bus. Unofficially the local bus company D&E coaches might let us take the bikes on, they ran less frequently than the stagecoach/citylink ones, but city link/stagecoach definitely wouldn't take the bikes. Since D&E was also half the price of citylink we decided to wait and and see if our luck was in. The bus was at 13.49, so we had a couple of hours to spend having a look round the village.

We decided to go into the Loch Ness Experience Centre, which has tracked the history and investigations into the mystery of Nessie! We found it well laid out and quite interesting, it took the form of several audio visual presentations set in a rocky underground cave system. Moving from room to room each video lasted a few minutes before you moved in to the next one, with equipment from the different investigations which have taken place on display, along with recordings of some of the 1000 or so sightings that have been reported. Although it probably wouldn't keep the attention of children under 8-10 we really enjoyed it.

After this we took a look in the gift shops and just generally wandered for a bit before jumping on the bus, it was fairly busy and we couldnt take the bikes on, so left them locked up securely nearby. Drumnadrochit is a really pretty little place, and there was a piper playing on the green for much of the time we were there. While this was nice for an hour or so, as Mum commented you wouldn't necessarily want to live or work in one of the houses or shops nearby!

In Inverness we had arranged to meet a couple of my friends who live not too far away, and my Mums husband Eddy who had got a lift down from Helmsdale with my cousin that morning. We spent the afternoon socialising before getting the train back to Dingwall and going for a celebratory dinner.

While we hadn't quite completed the Great Glen way, we had done a good portion of the hardest part of it, and gained great views along the way. After dinner we spent the evening finishing off the Raspberry Gin still in my pannier, and doing the Press and Journal crossword - something of a ritual for Mum and Eddy, normally done while making dinner!

Next morning we took the car back to Drumnadrochit and picked up the bikes before going back to Inverness for me to catch my train home.

Despite everything Mum has assured me that she has not been put off cycling, and we have already discussed doing the NCN 76 section between Fort Augustus and Inverness at some point next year. As for me, it will be back on the bike on Tuesday as I need to pick up the cat from my friends straight from work tomorrow, and she is definitely not in favour of travelling by bike!

Until next time, keep cycling!

Day 3 - what's the difference between the Great Glen and the Caledonian ways anyway???

Wow. What a day today has been. Lovely, amazing views, but hard. Really hard.

It started off well, we left the hostel in good time and it was pretty easy going to Fort Augustus, We passed Invergarry station on a well maintained, but unsealed packed gravel path and followed the disused railway line along Loch Oich with intermittent views of the loch through a mix of birch elm and beech trees on the left and a mossy tree lined embankment on the right, it was easy going. coming to the end of the loch we had great views back across the water, and I found a raspberry bush and picked a good couple of handfuls for later.

The route then rejoined the Caledonian Canal and followed it all the way along to Fort Augustus. It was a gorgeous day with just a slight tailwind and very slight downward gradient. With the river Oich on the left and the canal on the right we had lovely views of tree covered mountains on all sides sloping down to rolling farmland. It was an easy run the rest of the way.

Stopping at Fort Augustus, we took in an open theatre show called Waters of Time, staged by the Walking Theatre Company. The show was brilliantly acted by just 3 actors changing roles, and gave a fascinating glimpse into the history of the canal and how it affected the lives of those along it's route. It is on until the 5th August with the exception of the 30th and 31st July, and we would definitely recommend it. Following the show we had lunch a lunch of split pea and lentil soup, and shared a scone before continuing on our way around 2.30, with the thought of only having 21 miles to go. Little did we know what was in store!

Up until this point we had been following NCN Route 78 - The Caledonian Way. From Fort Augustus we switched routes following instead the Great Glen way. Those of you who have cycled or walked this you will know that the better option would have been the The Caledonian Way!

Coming out of Fort Augustus we began the first major climb of the day. At this point we were on a small lane and the going was alright if mostly up, however the route marker soon turned us off the road, and up a fairly narrow and very steep track through woodland needless to say we were walking. thankfully it didn't last too long, and we were soon on a forestry track running parallel to the A82. Here, the ground was slightly on the rough side, but not too bad, and every so often the trees opened and we had fantastic views across Loch Ness - although, no sign of Nessie!

The gradient varied and to be honest we were on and off the bikes depending on the terrain, until a nice descent, and then a rather steep windy narrow track back down to a short road section before we found ourselves in Invermoriston at around 5pm. We stopped here and admired the old bridge no longer useable, but also built by Thomas Telford as was the Dean Bridge in Edinburgh and the old bridge in Helmsdale - along with the Caledonian Canal. He certainly got about!

We stopped for a rest and a snack in the green, and also decided to double check the check in times for our stop for the night, we had a 2 person pod booked at Loch Ness Glamping in Drumnadrochit. Just as well we did as I thought check in was between 4 and 9, but it was actually between 4 and 7! We gave them a call and left a message saying we were in Invermoriston and hoped to be with them by 8. I didn't realise at the time, but it had taken us 2 and a half hours to cover barely 8 miles, but given the distance to Drumnadrochit on paper was 13 miles I figured 3 hours should do it. How wrong I was.

Coming out of Invermoriston we soon hit another climb. and this one was a monster - made worse by the fact that looking at the elevation map in Invermoriston we had thought that we were over the worst of it with just one climb left not as bad as one we had already done! It turned out this was the most challenging section. We were off the bike most of the way and it took us over 3 hours to get to the top, never mind the rest of the way. Luckily, it was a nice enough evening, and every so often the views would open up and present fantastic sights of Loch Ness and the mountains opposite, but we hadn't bargained for the steep gradient, or the roughness of the terrain. We carried on climbing and met a couple of cyclists coming down, one of them smiled and said 'it's a long way up!' I didn't realise how true that was initially, but we kept going.

We were on forestry tracks for the most part, but there was a lot of loose rock underfoot, and I was seriously worried about the toughness of it, especially since mum hadn't really done any preparation. Pushing the bikes up was hard going, and every time we thought we were coming to the end the trail would switch back and climb some more. about half way up I realised it was nearly 7pm and we phoned the nights accommodation again and this time managed to speak to someone. They had received the message and it was fine if we were later. They would see us when we got there. This was a relief as we had no idea what we would have done if they had not been OK about it!

Finally reaching the top, the view opened out before us, with the whole of the great glen valley open to our sight. A slight shower came on cooling us down and we were relieved to find the trail flattening out a bit. From here the going was a bit easier although it still undulated and seemed to go up more than down! eventually we got a nice slow descent, through woodland forest, which led to a narrower forest trail. Mum didn't like this so much as every so often there are little humps and the track was more of a mountain bike trail than most of the terrain, something she has never been keen on. This led through a couple of gates and eventually out to a single track road. Thank goodness!

We were back on tarmac, and the view opened out across open moorland, unfortunately we were too tired to really appreciate this properly. Especially since the road was still going up as well as down! we had also thought that we must be just about there so to find ourselves still with a bit to go was a little disheartening. We also couldn't contact Loch Ness glamping as both of our mobile phones had died. By this time it was 9pm and we were both feeling the strain. Eventually the road started down and we were enjoying a wonderful descent, when I spotted a marker pointing us to the right. I called mum back and we went and checked it out. The route pointed to by the marker was another rocky trail. we had a look at it, and weren't keen, but not having any way to navigate didn't fancy leaving the route in case it took us off track.

We went back to the road and flagged down the next car that came along. 'Does this road go to Drumnadrochit?' Yes, but it's very steep was the answer. We were happy enough with that and stuck to the road. She was right it was a really steep windy descent - to the extent that not only was I holding on to the brakes all the way down, but at points I wasn't sure whether I would have been able to stop at all if I had wanted to!

Coming into Drumnadrochit at about 9.30 we passed the shop but decided to push on to the pods, and then see if we could call a takeaway, unfortunately another problem arose. I knew that the place we were staying was off the A82, but hadn't printed off directions.

Confident we would see a sign we carried on through the village as I was fairly certain we had to pass through it before we would get there, and would come to it out the other side. A mile or so on we still hadn't seen it, and decided to see if we could flag down another car to help us. 3 or 4 went past without stopping, before a lovely lady called Donna came to our rescue. We had happened to stop in the entrance to the road leading up to her brothers farm, and knew where we should be - there was a turn off in the village where the A831 joined the A82. We should have taken this, and followed it for about a mile and a half. She tried to call us a taxi, but no luck. She then said she would have given us a lift if we hadn't had the bikes. All it took was a look, we abandoned the bikes tied up to the gate, and gratefully accepted a lift to our overnight stay, we would get a taxi to go and retrieve them in the morning.

We finally arrived around 10.15, too late for shops and takeaways. It was especially disappointing as the pods came with a firepit and bbq house, and I had been looking forward to an evening spent relaxing by an open fire and a bbq dinner. However it was not to be, and being perfectly honest it was my own fault for not doing more research into the difficulty of the route.

When we had been discussing what way to go mum had said the max she wanted to do was 30 miles a day, and when I was looking at routes it had seemed that taking the Great Glen way and stopping at Drumnadrochit would be the better option for splitting the route into more equal sections. When googling I had also been getting confused between the Caledonian Way and The Great Glen Way I knew that they shared part of a route, but didn't realise they split at Fort Augustus, and how different they actually are. in retrospect, if I had done more research we could have continued following the NCN 78 and stopped for the evening in Foyers instead of Drumnadrochit, but when I had been looking I hadn't realised this as an option, and had thought it would be too long a day from the Great Glen Waterpark to Inverness in one day.

However despite the challenge and difficulties, we did enjoy most of the day, and feel a sense of achievement in having completed this section!

The couple who owned the place were really understanding about our late arrival and showed us to our pod. We booked breakfast, and gratefully accepted some milk for a cuppa and the information that some homebaking was available from an honesty box.

We bought a couple of cakes, and dinner that night was a boiled egg each, some vegetable crisps, homebaking and hot chocolate. After some food, a shower and Mamma Mia in the background we felt much better and ready for a good nights sleep. 18  miles to Inverness...Tomorrow would be another day!

Day 2 - lots of locks.

We had a fairly relaxed if early start this morning. We were getting the 8.40 ferry from Armadale to Mallaig, and then catching the train to Corpach to avoid busy main roads. From Corpach we would pick up the Caledonian way and then the Great Glen Way the rest of the trip to Inverness. So we were up at 6.45 to get packed up and have our lovely cooked breakfast. Stornoway black pudding cooked in the oven is truly delicious, especially when paired with egg, sausage and toast, followed by strawberries and yoghurt, and washed down with fresh filter coffee and oj! After all that we were glad only to be cycling to the ferry port to begin with.

Once back on the mainland we had half an hour to wander before getting the train, so climbed a little out of Mallaig to get photos back across to Skye. Not being sure where we would be come lunch time we also picked up a sandwich from the local coop. We had looked at getting the steam train from Mallaig, but decided against it on the basis of the bikes not being easily catered for, cost and that the regular train takes the same track across the Glenfinnan viaduct anyway. We did pass the steam train on the way, so got a look at it, and the views at certain points along the tracks are stunning.

The conductor was really friendly and happily helped us on and off the train with the bikes, and we were off again. The scenery at Corpach was gorgeous with views across Loch Linnhe, where it meets the basin of the Caledonian Canal. The canal is classed as a 200 year old monument, and the first part of the path along it was gorgeous.  Especially in the blazing sunshine! It was a beautiful hot and sunny 🌞 day today, which was lovely, but also tiring when cycling. A mile along the towpath we came to Banavie, and decided to stop and sort ourselves out before carrying on up the fabulous Neptunes Staircase.

I wanted a loo and the opportunity to put some suncream on and mum wanted a pair of sunglasses as she had forgotten to pick hers up. (We had also discovered that I had picked up someone else's from Grans by accident - possibly my cousins! Nyree, if you're reading this and they are yours sorry! I will get them back to you...) with the confused help of a local we found there was a wee shopping area with public toilets where we managed to get everything we needed.  Refreshed and ready to go we headed back to the tow path and Neptunes Staircase.

The staircase is a series of canal locks on the Caledonian Canal that allow boats travelling to safely move up and down above sea level as the land rises inland from the seas edge. We didn't count them but I think there are 8 one after the other (we will find out tomorrow in the Caledonian canal visitor centre in fort Augustus I expect!). It truly is an amazing piece of engineering and we spent some time around them while eating some Isle of Arran ice cream bought at the restaurant - really tasty it was too.

The day before mums bike had been constantly making a noise like something was rubbing the tyre, but we couldn't work out what it was  and it seemed worse today. Before heading off again we decided to investigate it properly and try and sort it. Looking at it closely I realised it was actually because the supports  for her mudguard were uneven, and it was rubbing on the tyre. We loosened  it off, aligned it properly and tightened it back up, and lo and behold it was no longer rubbing and the noise was gone.

We were glad that we had waited a bit longer too as at that point several boats ⛵ started through the locks (4 relatively small sailboats all together). We stayed to watch them through the first  Lock. Mum had been on a canal trip down in York on the Leeds - Liverpool canal a few weeks back - a present to my Gran - and was interested to see how it was done, as they had had to manually operate the lock gates themselves - which  was pretty hard going by all accounts. The gates on Neptunes Staircase however are electronic and operated by lock keepers, so much faster and easier to navigate. She got chatting to one of the keepers and we found out that it takes around an hour and s half to get boats from top to bottom and slightly longer the opposite way, as the locks take longer to fill than they do to empty.

We finally got on our way again at around 2 o clock, for what I thought was a fairly straight forward 15 miles cycle to the Great Glen waterpark, where we are staying tonight.

The first section was fantastic, the sun shining, following the canal on a wide flat gritted path and a slight tailwind helping us along. mostly open views at least on the canal side of big gentle looking hills. We soon made it to Gairlochy, with another lock on to Loch Lochy where we decided to stop for lunch. A chicken and avocado sandwich between us, and some fruit served us well, and we were thinking of packing up when a family came by doing the route the opposite way. They were lovely people, 2 adults and 3 kids, although one of the girls had her seat much lower than it could have been.  Mum heard her say she was tired and we decided to go and say hello and see if we could work this into conversation.

Next to the start of the loch were some toilet and shower facilities for the boaters. The family had managed to tailgate someone using the loo and held the door open - they had been cycling for miles without water and needed to fill water bottles and get hydrated. They were looking for a shop but none being around we gave them some of the Robinsons squash we had for our water - the mini condensed concentrate size is great for taking on a ride so you can top up without carrying a huge bottle with you - and some sweets mum had with her to tide them over till their mum got back.

As the kids were fairly young - especially the youngest boy, they were limited in what they could carry and the distance they were doing each day, and had worked out a system where they would cycle 10 or 11 miles, and then one of the parents would cycle back to the start, pick up a van with all of their gear for camping and baggage, and drive it to where the rest of the family were waiting. It seemed to be working for them, and they were able to tell us about the terrain back to the Great Glen where they had come from.

We took the opportunity to use the facilities, and mum dropped into conversation that I am a cycle trainer and thought the girls seat could be higher. We raised it a bit and she seemed to find it a bit easier, we then also checked the youngest and the dads to make sure they were also at comfortable heights! I had also raised my mums saddle an inch the day before and she had found it easier going after, so I hope it helps them have an easier day tomorrow too.

Taking our leave of the family, we carried on and soon found ourselves climbing. The single track road around Loch Lochy to the Clune forest from the west starts with a series of short steepish gradients, and then evens out into a lovely gradual descent that undulates for a bit before the turn off to the forestry path. There are some beautiful houses built round this point, and the views alternate between wild greenery, and fantastic open views across the Loch - stunning on a day like today.

The road was quiet with very little traffic and not bad going despite the hills. Mum did really well considering, occasionally getting off to push, but soon getting on again to continue cycling. When we reached Clune forest we paused for a bit seeing the rougher ground ahead, I checked my suspension was on and had a look at mums - she has front suspension as I do, but I couldn't find a locking mechanism, so I'm not sure if they can be locked out or are always on, although there was no give when we pushed down, so I think there must be one somewhere. We decided to push on however, and immediately realised the road forked, and we didn't know which one to take. There was a man with a van working right next to us, and we asked him. It turned out he worked for sustrans and was in the process of moving the signage to make it more obvious! He pointed us in the right direction and after a few minutes chat on we went again.

The  route here is earth and gravel forestry tracks, not in too bad condition (I've seen worse!), but with loose stones, and potholes in places. I like a bit of off road occasionally so wasn't too fussed at the change, but mum did find the terrain a bit more challenging than the road. The path also undulated, rising more than falling, as we were climbing away from the coast. However the climbing was again mostly short steeper sections with downhills in between. I had said to mum before about maintaining momentum, and she practised this as we went although a bit hesitant about going down too fast on the terrain, it did seem to help. The forest was lovely to cycle through with Ash, Elm and Conifers rising up around us (among others). The forestry commission is in the process of removing non native species and encouraging growth of native trees and other flora. We saw a few butterflies and dragonflies fluttering through the undergrowth - and very little in the way of midges!

Every so often on the left were picturesque streams trickling down the hillside to the loch, and on the right again the views differed between greenery and open views across the water. All in all, a really enjoyable stretch of cycling. After a while we noticed the Loch narrowing and knew we were getting close to the end, although as mum commented, every time we went down we were expecting it to be the last descent and then were presented with another climb!

We did soon come the the end however, and in the last 200 yards or so before meeting the canal path discovered where all the midges had been hiding! Mouths shut and trying not to breath them in we ran the gauntlet and in very little time were back across another lock and on the canal path again. We had expected the path to be similar to the earlier stretch however it was much narrower and oh horror wasn't flat, although not particularly steep or hilly in comparison to what we had done, and still enjoyable, we had been looking forward to the wide, flat and  relatively smooth track of earlier in the day!

We made it along however and soon came to the turnoff for the hostel. Unfortunately you can't get to it directly from the canal path, and we had 5 minutes on a fairly narrow and pretty busy road before we could settle the bikes down for the night.

We had discussed the possibility of doing a canoe or kayak from the Great Glen waterpark, but it was too late by the time we got there, and we also decided to  forego the swim in the loch we had considered as an alternative as it would have meant braving the road again!

I would really recommend The Great Glen hostel if you are just looking for a bed and aren't too fussed about sharing facilities.  We had booked a twin room, which was tiny, but perfectly adequate for what we needed, with one set of bunk beds and a one person shared bathroom/shower room on the ground floor (the main facilities being upstairs) along with the usual common room/dining room and kitchen. It was clean and welcoming, with lovely staff and a tiny shop selling food and essentials.

Instead of our swim, we bought food for dinner from the hostel shop, while we were eating I made a confession to mum. When we stopped for lunch I had been checking the route and realised that today's cycle was actually 21 miles rather than the 15 I had initially thought! I didnt like to mention it at the time as it added 6 miles on to the mental thought of the days ride, but now that we had finished i felt she should know. She was actually quite glad to hear this as it meant that the 31 miles the following day didnt sound quite so bad after today! 

After eating in lieu we took a walk up the hill in front of the hostel.

It's a pretty steep climb and we made it far enough up for a bit of a view of a lovely sunset over the treetops without going all the way to the top, then headed back down to the hostel for a cheeky wee raspberry Gin (I had carried it with us and put it in the freezer pretty much as soon as we arrived so it was deliciously cold) and lemonade (no tonic being available in the shop!) Before heading to bed for a good night's sleep ready for a long day tomorrow.

Night all 🌙

First Day Cycling - no prep needed!

Today's plan was to cycle from Kyle of Lochalsh to Armadale. When I had been route planning I had given mum two options the direct route of around 22 miles, and a longer route taking in Tarkavaig and Tarskavaig, which was around 32, and is a bit hillier. We agreed on the longer route, and I had recommended that she do 5 miles 3-4 days a week, and a longer ride of 15-20 miles at least once a week a couple of months prior to prepare. However this morning started off with a conversation that went like this:

Me: so how much preparation did you manage to get in for this week?

Mum: umm. About 3.5km. Oh and Eddy and I did that 15 miles ride about a month ago....

Me: Mum!

So, we decided to see how it went and then make a decision, as the first few miles were the same anyway.

Saying goodbye and Thank you to Yvonne and Dex our first stop was the garage to see if they had an automated air pump to put some air in mums tyre as I had noticed the day before it was a bit low. No automated pump, but as we were looking at it a man who worked in the garage happened to drive up and park next to us and was kind enough to bring out a foot pump. The tyre was soon sorted and we were in our way.

Once over the bridge we followed the main road towards Broadford for the first few miles.  Most of the drivers were great and gave us a wide berth when passing, but occasionally we felt they were a little on the close side. We did stop periodically to let traffic pass us by as well.

The scenery here was beautiful. It varied from wild flowers along the roadside, to trees, to wide open spaces with fantastic views over the water to Scalpay and what I think was Beinn na Caillich looming far ahead of us in the distance. Most of the pictures are on my action cam so will be uploaded when we get home! 

The road here was wide and smooth going. Very slight gradients up and down, but nothing too strenuous at this stage. We reached our turn off to the South around 7 miles in after about 45 minutes. Hoping that this road would be slightly quieter we headed off. Sure enough there was slightly less traffic but what went by was still fairly fast, and the gradients were getting a little bit steeper. Mostly longer slower climbs than anything really steep though. I didn't find it too bad but it's fair to say mum started to struggle a bit.

Soon after the turnoff we stopped in a layby for a quick snack, and I spotted a path that seemed to run alongside the road. While we were wondering whether it rejoined the road, some folk were walking along back to their car parked in front of us so we asked if they knew. They didn't, but said there was a map on the gate. We checked it out and it seemed we were right. We had a lovely mile or so of completely traffic free riding through natural boglands. We think this was part of the old road as we passed a new bridge on the main road dated 1999. If so it is amazing how much nature has taken back in just under 20 years!

We were soon back on the main road before finding another stretch of old road. Unfortunately this came to an end all to soon, and we were on the main road again. For the most part this was fine - the road is wide and well maintained and again most drivers gave us a wide berth, but twice drivers honked at us and passed by very close. In both instances there was good visibility of the road ahead and no oncoming traffic, so there was really no need for their behaviour.

For anyone who doesn't cycle but drives, imagine driving a small car, and having a huge lorry or hgv coming up behind you, blaring their horn and then passing within a foot and a half or so of your car at 4 or 5 times your speed and you may have an inkling if how this feels! However, no major harm done, and after passing Duisdale, we decided to find a spot for lunch.

Spotting another road that looked like it followed the main road we decided to take it and found a nice spot quiet spot on a little hillock. We feasted on smoked cheese and tomato poppy seed rolls and some cherries prepared at Yvonnes that morning. Delicious! Back on the small road we discovered it didn't lead anywhere, and had to backtrack a little to the main road again.

We had discussed our route options during lunch as the turnoff for the long route would be coming up fairly soon. We decided to wait til the turn and then make a decision. As well as being longer we thought that route would be slightly quieter, but i knew from the elevation map that it was also quite a bit hillier.

The lead up to the turnoff was a fairly gentle but long gradient and when it came to it we decided to stick to the shorter route along the coast in the end. This suited mum better, and also meant that we would have a good chance of making a Gaelic taster session being held at Ostaig Mor Sabhail the Gaelic language school in Sleat.

As the road followed the coast every so often the view opened out on beautiful scenes of rocky beaches and promontiries leading into the crystal clear waters of Loch Hourn as it meets the North Sea.

When we got to the gaelic school, it was only ourselves and 2 other ladies who were there for a fiddle course in the class, in their own words skiving off a practice session on the cello to learn a little about the language.

The tutor was really good, and told us a little about the language and culture as well as some basic Gaelic phrases. Turns out that Gaelic was brought to Scotland in the 6th century, and was actually spoken all over Scotland from the 14th to the 18th century, with only a small part of Caithness and East Lothian where it wasn't the main language, rather than only the West coast and islands as most people believe.

The class finished  just after 4 and we were soon on our way again for the last couple of miles. Shortly after we paused at Armadale Castle, and had a quick look in the gift shop. We considered going in, but would only have had about 45 minutes to look around, so regretfully we decided to leave it this time round.

Soon after we were pulling up at Hazelwood bnb and saying hello to Elaine and Malc who are our hosts for tonight. They are a lovely couple and have a beautiful place. We decided to settle in and had a hot chocolate and relaxed for a bit before heading to the Ardvasar Hotel for dinner - pretty much the only option!

While eating, we found out that the musicians from the Gaelic school had a ceilidh planned in the next door community hall this evening. While mum and I both enjoy a good ceilidh, we decided to bypass it this time as we would need to be up early. However, some of them would also playing in the bar so we decided to take a walk and maybe come back in a bit for some music. Heading up a small hill we got seperated, and I had a lovely walk along to the ferry port, while mum stayed nearer the yacht moorings and called Eddy on the phone. Walking back I could see the musicians were arriving en masse, and before long we were settled back in the pub for an hour or so of live fiddle music and a soft drink - alcoholic ones being likely to lead to more and a late night instead of the planned walk back to the bnb at a reasonable hour...

All in all a pretty relaxed days cycling, and a lovely evening to finish off! It's not the speed or distance that counts, it's how much you enjoy it. :)

Oidhche mhath all...

Starting off.

Today was a bit of a rush to start with, up fairly early and finishing packing up the panniers - I had separated out the things brought for the stay at mum's beforehand in a rucksack - this would be left in the car to be picked up on the way home.

Saying goodbye to Gran and the other relatives still around, we were on our way just after 9. We had to drop my brother off in Inverness to get his bus home before heading to Dingwall for the train at 11.30.

A couple of larger vehicles slowed us down a little, but we made it to Inverness in good time arriving around 10.30. We dropped off David, and I also took a minute to pick up our tickets and bike reservation for the train from Mallaig on Thursday. Heading off again we made it to Dingwall station just after 11, got the bikes and our gear sorted and were on the platform for 20 past.

It turned out that a coachload of visitors were also getting the train, but we made it on ok with the bikes and managed to snag the last sandwich off the refreshment trolley not having packed any lunch! Chatting to the conductor we found out that he had done a similar trip in the opposite direction last year. He and the hostess were both very friendly and we spent a few minutes talking before  finding our seats.

Once sitting down we got chatting to the couple sitting opposite us. They were over from Sweden on holiday. They wete lovely and the 2 hour journey passed swiftly in conversation with them. All in all a good start to our holiday!

On reaching Kyle of Lochalsh, we made our way to my Aunt and Uncles airbnb place, to be enthusiastically met by Dex the collie and Aunt Yvonne. Tonight's bnb guests were having a day on Skye, and we were to be in the attic room. We moved our things up the stairs and stopped for a cuppa before heading out for a look around.

We decided to head towards the bridge and check out the beginning of our ride tomorrow. We went as far as the top and then back down to Kyle.

We realised that we had forgotten to take any pictures to start off our trip! We headed back to the station to get a picture and stopped at the co-op to pick up dinner and some snacks for the road. Coming out of the coop we were surprised to find cars backed up from the exit back into the car park. Walking our bikes down the road we soon understood why - the road was blocked by another vehicle. And after another minute we found out the reason. 3 huge vehicles went past carrying blades for wind turbines. I've never been as close to one before. They are truly massive and had several vehicles escorting them on their journey!

Back at the house we relaxed for a bit before eating dinner and then headed out for an evening walk round The Plock - a community owned piece of land with a nature trail. The community has plans to build some self catering pods, an outdoor and indoor activity centre and a water sports centre.

It's a beautiful place with fantastic viewpoints over to Skye one of which was a second world war battery point, a really good trail through open heathery peatland, leading through what could easily be an enchanted forest or jungle playground with ferns, gorse and Rowan trees among others. Dex loved the walk, and we really enjoyed it too. Benches are scattered throughout and we followed a couple off offshoots to the fishermans bay, a lovely little cove - home to a couple of rowing boats, and as mum said like something from The Famous 5.

Another offshoot took us to another small bay, this is the old mooring, but along with a couple if wrecks there were several boats tied up that were obviously still in use. Continuing along the trail we came to another open patch of ground which was originally a golf course, this was not maintained and is now the planned location for the pods I mentioned earlier. The community are currently raising funds for the first part of this, if you want more info or to donate, you can find it here - 

https://www.lochalsh.uk/projects/plock-of-kyle/masterplan/

Coming out of this we were back on the road. And 10 minutes later we were back in the house for some strawberries and creme fraiche, a wee cheeky GnT and a couple of episodes of the chase before bed!

Its been a lovely day to start us off. Looking forward to getting on the bike tomorrow!