This blog should have been completed by now but blogging has been banned at the table; apparently only teenagers are allowed to use electronic equipment while eating and it’s bad manners to eat moules marinieres and read emails at the same time. So says our tour photographer and lunch organiser, Sandra, who is going stir crazy with 3 guys blogging and talking cycle statistics when all she wants is a bit of conversation at the end of the day.
The day started with a good breakfast, made better for the absence of porridge. The owner came out to wish us well which was kind of him. He encouraged us not to take the A82 main road from Inverness to Fort William and having read the cycling reviews I was a little worried. The timber trucks have ferry timetables to meet and there are many blind bends. The road can only take one car each way and even overtaking a cyclist means waiting for the other side to be clear – not good if you’re carrying 40 tons of wood uphill and you have to slow down for 3 cyclists. The trucks also create a lot of draft as they pass. So the first 20 miles or so were quick (15 mph) but the views of Loch Ness didn’t really register as we were concentrating more on the traffic. This is not a road for children.
The road crossed the Caledonian Canal at Fort Augustus and carried on across the Bridge of Oich which is where Loch Ness meets Loch Lochie and is very pretty. We met up with Sandra for a banana refill after 30 miles and then had a slight difference of views on the route to take next. I was expecting to go off road as planned but an alternative view was that we should stay on the A82. Unfortunately my views prevailed and we spent the next 10 miles putting our road bikes on an unsurfaced forest trail. We had to walk a few uphill rocky sections. Many angry words and curses were on the tips of Alan and Mark’s tongues but remained unspoken for the benefit of the team. Not many words were spoken for the next hour or so but they remain and at the appropriate moment they will come out (they may already have come out on their blogs). I will take them on the chin.
From our forest track we could see the A82 on the other side of Loch Lochie and had we taken it we would have got to Fort William about an hour earlier than we did – had we survived the traffic. Another high calorie lunch was followed by oiling of chains and gears another tense 10 miles on the A82 before we crossed a bridge at the end of Loch Lochie and said goodbye to that damnable road and said hello to the A382 which in contrast provided 30 miles of good road and increasingly better views as the central lochs gave way to the western sea.
It also got better as we were approaching the end of the longest ride that any of us had done before; 91 miles with 6.5 hours in the saddle at an average of 13.9 mph. As my compatriots are telling me this should have been better but someone took their road machines through a forest.
The final destination is the Oyster Inn at Connel. I recommend it. Food is excellent and the Deuchars IPA beats anything with 70 or 80 shillings in its name. The pub is 50 yards by the sea where there’s a seal basking as the sun gradually sets over the hills. Sandra got bitten by midges on her nose taking a photo of the seal.
Highlight of the day: The A382 coastal road to Connel .
Surprise of the day: How long it takes to ride a road bike through a 10 mile forest trail.
Body report: Much, much better than expected.
Expectations for tomorrow: Unavoidable rain. Lunch with Val and Clive whilst wet to the core.
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