We went down for breakfast this morning to see Doug packed ready and raring to go….little did we know that he had been up early fighting the swarm of dragon flies in his room, and eventually cut his losses, let them win and quickly vacated the room!

The morning was quite a struggle getting started…it had been a long day yesterday and the aching muscles are starting to kick in, especially in the mornings when we are just getting warmed up…(that is for all you who have said that this is ‘easy’ according to the stories we have been telling so far!!).

So anyway…back to the journey…our route in the morning took us up and around the rest of Loch Lomond on a windy, very bumpy road. On most of it I felt I was more mountain biking than road biking……or handling some kind of pneumatic drill! The road was windy and quite narrow, so we took it pretty steady.

We hit some traffic lights at one point, where a car tried to cut up in between Rob, who was up front, and me behind. Well of course Doug was not happy about this…and once again took it on himself to eff and blind to the driver (deservedly so!)….seriously don’t mess with Doug…he is called Grumpy for a reason! He even tried to chase the car once he overtook us all and drive off!

So…after getting round Loch Lomond…we hit the steady loooong climb up to the peak of Rannoch Moor. It’s weird because the roads when riding them look really flat, but in fact the climb is quite significant. The roads became a bit wider and the scenery became more stunning hills rather than Lochs. It was just beautiful…..if only is actually WAS flat and Scotland had 365 days of sun a year!

The weather just couldn’t make up its mind today, literally one minute beautiful sunshine…then next absolutely tipping it down. We therefore got to about 20 miles from Glencoe found a beautiful view point…climbed to the top of a steep incline, the heavens opened (again) so we bundled in the van and had homemade (by Little T) ham sandwiches (as we are starting to get in the middle of nowhere the ‘by request’ menu for lunch has gone to ‘get whatever we can get!).

This afternoon was a real mixed bag…the route took us over Rannoch Moor (once we finally got to the top approx 1145 above sea level) and on to Glencoe (which, being a huge Harry Potter fan, I have been looking forward to!). The scenery was just stunning, however…the weather was just insane….the wind blew every which direction…although no matter which direction we were riding the wind always seemed to be coming in to us!! Even on the downhills we had to pedal like mad to even get anywhere. Once again the Support Team rose help us out and drove the van in front to take the hit of the wind!

Once we got to Glencoe Village we had been astounded by the scenery, but severely battered and bruised by the wind…we were pretty shattered…but we only had 15 miles to Fort William our supposed stop for the night, so we battled on through. It was a struggle, but we got there…only to find out by the Support Team that the B&B booked was actually only another 10 odd miles from there……easy for them to say that in the car!!! According to Big Al it was ‘all down hill’ too…..one thing I have now learnt from this trip is…not to believe him!!! It was in fact 20 miles from Fort William and it most certainly was not all downhill!!!

That last 20 miles for me was the hardest struggle I have had, physically and mentally…I was aching all over…it was raining (still), I was cold…but just keep your head down (‘Just keep swimming’ as Dory would say)…and focus on the hot shower at wherever we are staying…whenever we get there!

So…we eventually got to our stop a beautifully located B&B off Loch Lochy (original name!)…and it was worth the last push. Tomorrow really should be a short day (as originally the trip to Fort William was supposed to be a short day….88 miles…that is definitely not short!).

Next day….cycle along Loch Ness, probably in the tail of Hurricane Billy…wet weather gear back on me thinks!

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