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!
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