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Drew says:
Last night the B&B owner, very kindly, gave us a run in his car to the Village Inn in Arrochar a mile and a half away. The place was very busy and after a wait for a table we had a pleasant meal and drinks before walking back to the house. The inn had a Midge Magnet outside which appeared to be doing some business but the walk home was remarkably midge free.
Today was a relatively short and easy day - still very few midges!
We woke to find mist down over the mountains and a dramatic reduction in the air temperature. When we set out the air felt pretty cold - wind shirts were required on the descent into Arrochar. The long grind up Glen Croe to the Rest and Be Thankful was nowhere near as bad as it is billed, but the descent on the Northern side is more than worth the effort of the ascent.
We did NOT stop at the original Loch Fyne Oyster Bar near Clachan but continued on to Inveraray where we bought postcards and enquired in the tourist office about accommodation near Connel. 'Plenty available. No need to book'.
After Inveraray we climbed Glen Aray which is a tougher undertaking than Rest and Be Thankful, and made another fast descent to Loch Awe, stopped for coffee and cakes at the Cruachan power station visitor centre, crossed the Connel bridge, and found B&B at a farmhouse in Balcardine. The traffic on the main A85 to Oban was fairly unpleasant but seemed reduce from mid to late afternoon. In the height of the tourist season it would be scary.
Total distance today is about 64 miles and we both could have gone considerably further if we had been sure of finding accommodation. As it is we have a good sized family room with patio doors looking out towards the sunset over Lismore and the Lynn of Lorn.
Tomorrow we are off to Fort Augustus at the foot of Loch Ness by way of the forest tracks on the West side of Loch Lochy, the East side of Loch Oich, and the Caledonian Canal.
Stats:
Distance 101km, ascent 388m, moving time 5hrs 7min, moving avg 19.7km/h, max speed 53.7km/h.
- comments
Gill Don't forget to buy the bunting for the bikes this weekend.
Kay We are in the middle of 'Tweedlove' bike festival here in Peebles. Gordon had about a mile detour thro the town to get home from work last evening. Bloody bikes! All the street 'furniture' padded with plastic balers of what looked like shredded paper - hope they were removed before the worthies came out of the pubs - could make quite a mess if attacked with a flick knife. All the names of places on your trip in Scotland making me feel quite nostalgic for the old country - can't envisage seeing it from a bike saddle though!
David Now now Kay. I'm sure you'd rather have bicycles rather than hordes of 4*4, motor caravans, motor bikes and forestry lorries. This is still the low season but the traffic is too busy for me on the Oban to Fort William road.