Day  12 /16           Saturday.   Sept 1.

Crianliach to Lagan Lock

Distance:        120 (Km) 

Time:     6:41

Average Speed:            18.0 (Km/ hr) 

Ascent:               964. (m). 

Heart Rate:          93. (beats / min). 

Cumulative Distance:           1244 (km) 

Cumulative Ascent :           10,994 (m) 

Punctures so far : 0

Another lovely day’s cycling over the higher parts of the Highlands in lovely weather.

Up early again but not as early as Rod, the man of the house. He’s up at 5 every morning to take his dogs up the forest. He had a s,all breakfast ready for me and off I go at 6:30 in the chilly air.

Again the A82 was busy at that hour as the sun started to catch the hillsides.

By 5km the road was rising ahead of me but not too punishing as I passed through Tyndrum (Taigh an Droma…the house on the ridge). A cafe was open there already and the Green Welly opening up for business. At Tyndrum the road divides, one heads off west for Oban and mine for Glencoe. Traffic thus got lighter but the road kept rising up around the bend. Oddly enough also, the small village of Tyndrum has two railways and two railway stations. Tyndrum marks the start of the Rannoch Mor.

It’s relatively easy to understand the Gaelic versions of the place names ; very similar to our own.

Sun was still attempting to beat off the chill as I was now up on higher ground. The road was just single -lane with no pulling off places, no opportunity for motorists to stop to take a photo. No such problem for me, could stop just about anywhere. And I had just crossed over into Argyll.

At 20km (1 hour) I arrived at the Bridge of Orczy built as part of a military road in 18C. The river Orchy is regarded as one of the best white-water rivers in the UK, probably not at its finest at this time of the year.

The Orchy flows from Loch Tula (4km X 2km) known for its salmon but this morning being the perfect mirror for a stunning backdrop.

Just after Loch Tulsa and over an iron bridge an 180m ascent started and wove around anti-clockwise to give me a fine view back on the road I had just cycled.

Up here any growth of any height shows the effect of continuously being subjected to strong winds. And here I was officially welcomed to the Highlands…Failte go dti an Ghaeltacht. At the top of the ascent (32km) I had my first break looking out over a vast landscape.

After 44km the road started to descend ever so slightly but traffic was visible way ahead; no surprises. At this point there was great signs of activity as walkers left their cars and all headed off in various directions. I was now in Glencoe so popular with walkers and rock climbers and I’m told it appeared in one of the Harry Potter films. One travel book I read described the road from Tyndrum to Glencoe as one of the most dangerous roads in Scotland. I couldn’t agree with that author. It was a gradual descent with perfect visibility.

Back down on level ground at Ballachulish (Baile an Chaolais….the town at the narrow point) the bridge just opened in 1975 turned me north-east and now I was heading into the Great Glen Fault stretching all the way to Inverness (130km).

This 23km from Ballachulish to Fort William was a busy one like yesterday but had quite a few places to pull off to let traffic pass me.

I approached Fort William close to Upper Loch Linnhe at 12:30 and time for lunch….just sandwiches etc from a petrol station. 83 km done already.

Fort William marks the start of the Caledonian Canal, starting with Neptune’s Staircase, a series of 8 locks over a short 500 feet lifting barges 64 feet. The canal is 100km long but only 30% of it is man-made linking a series of lakes along the way.

I didn’t cycle along the towpath by the canal but on a roughly parallel road on the northern side, a quiet road. From this road I had a fine view across to dark Ben Nevis over Fort William with its head in the clouds.

I crossed over the canal at Gairlochy with its lock and swing bridge and headed up to Spean Bridge with its Commando Memorial erected in 1952 in memory of commandos who died in WW2. It was up here they would have done their training .

Another stretch of A82 brought me down to the shores of Loch Lochy and on to my home for the night in the Great Glen Hostel. Not many here and not much around.

Another adventure while enjoying the cycling.

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Thank God for the health and thank God for the energy.