Day 22, to Invergarry

Glencoe hostel was utter heaven. I fuelled up for the day ahead on a breakfast of porridge (in great quantity) with spoonfuls of peanut butter in it, which I washed down with lots of lovely coffee.

It rained all last night and rain was forecast to continue for another day. I set off to ride on my own to Invergarry, with Saddle Mountain Hostel awaiting me at the end of the day (a name which has the ambience of the wild west to me!). I began early, but although it’s a longer ride there wasn’t as much climbing as yesterday.

Down a little twisty lane I rode, and into tiny Glencoe where I saw a beautiful little thatched crofters cottage (now a museum?). The road now flattened out as it followed the shore of Loch Linnhe. Rain continued heavily, and the traffic wasn’t much lighter.

The road was a patchwork of old and new repairs, different surfaces varying from silky smooth tarmac through to rough grit pitted with cracks and potholes. Worst of all were the occasional raised ridges. Once in a while there was a really good cycle path – but then the road narrowed and the cycle path disappeared. Thankfully though, once I got onto the A82 the traffic quietened – well, considering that it is one of the main access routes across the highlands!

I set off with all of my waterproofs on, which kept me mostly dry in my own little microclimate under all the goretex.

I thought to myself ‘Okay, 44 miles of rain and hills – but I’ll just do one mile at a time. And then another. And then another if I feel like it.’ Then I find that I’m happily notching up the miles whilst watching the scenery go by. This was punctuated by hot coffee and peanut snacks served up from Paul’s car from time to time.

Whilst stopping for lunch at Spean Bridge the sun came out and the rest of the ride was through a transformed landscape, all the way to Saddle Mountain Hostel.

After lunch I rode along the shore of Loch Lochy, but I saw no sign of the ghostly Lochy Horse, a rival to the Loch Ness Monster.

Stats

Once again, these stats aren’t in total agreement with the route followed. This is what I planned, not what I actually did in the end!

43.8 miles (750.31 miles total), 2,025ft ascent, 2,000ft descent