837 Miles / 1347km
Today I headed North into the Highlands of Scotland!!
I was pretty anxious about today, knowing I had to start way later than I wanted to. I knew today would be a hard ride with the hills, and because I had to get a boat taxi over Loch Lomond this morning I can to work around the boat times. I could have ‘cycled’ the West Highland Way on the east coast of the Loch up to the top, but having done a mile on this yesterday I knew it was a cycle path. I would be walking my bike through a wet and muddy footpath for around 8 Miles. So choosing the boat instead, I head over to Luss, which is actually 5 miles south on the West side. But Id take 5 miles of road over 5 miles of a ‘cycle’ footpath!
The boat left Rowardennan Hostel at 9.30, getting me across to Luss at 10. The lovely guy driving the boat took care of my bike, getting it on and off the boat – glad to see my extra £2 for having a bike on board meant some extra service 😉 It was raining this morning… and the forecast was meant to clear before midday. Maybe a good thing about starting a little later today – I really didn’t want to be in the rain today. It was freezing this morning, and I had about an hour of cycling in the rain – at least the roads were smooth and flat.
The guy driving the boat was full of fun facts about Loch Lomond, so here we go with a few…
- Loch Lomond is a freshwater lake and it is the largest stretch of water in Great Britain by surface area.
- Its the second largest lake by water volume (after Loch Ness)
- Its 24 miles long (Felt like 50) and between 0.75 miles and 5 miles wide!
- It has an average depth of 37 metres (121 feet) and a maximum depth of 190 metres (620 feet)
- Ben Lomond on the East side of Loch Lomond is one of the most popular Munro’s to summit in Scotland. (More on Munro’s in a later blog post!)
The ride along Loch Lomond was of course beautiful, and I hit the top of the Loch just as the sun starting coming through! My aim for this morning was to get to Falls of Falloch by 12, I knew today was going to be a struggle, with the hills and the distance and getting to glencoe before dark. My body was still incredible exhausted. Anyway, I get to the falls just after 12, go for a wander, snap some photos, get to see a cool little art installation there called ‘woven sound’ by John Kennedy. It was made to provide a sheltered space to experience the Falls of Falloch at closer range – providing a brand new viewpoint to take in the thundering falls.
This is the quote that he used on the installation…
“Being at a great height on the mountain, we sate down, and heard, as if from the heart of the earth, the sound of torrents ascending out of the long hollow glen. To the eye all was motionless, a perfect stillness. The noise of waters did not appear to come this way or that, from any particular quarter: it was everywhere, almost, one might say, as if “exhaled” through the whole surface of the green earth. Glenfalloch, Coleridge has since told me, signifies the Hidden Vale; but William says, if we were to name it from our recollections of that time, we should call it the Vale of Awful Sound.”
Dorothy Wordsworth 1803.
After Falls of Falloch I was aiming for the town of Tyndrum, which would be the last town before Glencoe. 20 miles away from my hostel for the night. I had to stock up on food for dinner, and get something for lunch before I was hitting the dreaded uphills of the afternoon! I stopped at a cool little place called ‘The Green Welly Stop’ Which had everything from gas station, cafe, restaurant, gift shop and bathrooms. It was like being back at the resorts in Canada! A little resort built up for the tourists stopping by! After spending half hour here to eat lunch I start the giant uphill to Glencoe! Oh and the hills were long. They were gradual but miles and miles long. I felt like I got no break in uphill all afternoon. The weather was on and off drizzling with rain, and the wind would pick up every now and then. I was feeling tired and just wanting these 20 miles to be done with.
And then this happened….
The weather was crazy, and your’ll see form some of my photos from viewpoints along the way how the sky was almost full of all 4 seasons! After the big uphill from Tyndrum I pass the ‘Welcome to Highlands’ sign. Ahhhh, finally feel like I’m in the last stage of the bike ride! Still smiling from cycling into a double rainbow, I’m feeling okay about the gradual uphills. I cycle through the Lochaber Geopark, which is just beautiful. Apparently it boats some of the best geology in the world… hmmm!
Another 10 miles on and I hit the valley of Glencoe, and there is finally some down hill! The scenery is incredible, I mean out of this world. To be so in the mountains was insane. Even though I was cold, wet and tired I was pretty happy. I snapped a few photos biking through but really I wasn’t ready to stop much on the downhill and I was ready to get to my hostel as the sun was starting to go down! I arrive at the hostel at 6, check in, shower, and Im ready to rest this tired body!! Tomorrow I get to relax a little as my bike ride is only 18 miles to Fort WILLIAM!
See you at the bottom of the tallest Mountain in the UK!!
