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Sat 29th
An emotional au revoir to my parents starts off the decond leg of the journey.
Cycle into town centre of Milngavie (mill-guy, remember?) to have a coffee with John and his son Scott who are doing the West Highland Way walk.
Milngavie is the start and since its a bank holiday, loads of people are setting off, including someone playing the bagpipes. Not to everyone's taste, but very rousing for me.
A cup of coffee together and we are off on our separate ways.
Today we experience the best and the worst. After 5 or 6 miles we discover the Loch Lomond trailwhich keeps us off the main road and along the river Leven. A bonus as this wasn't planned.
Almost inevitably we have more rain in the first hour than we did in the first 11 days. Mostly its light and not windy or cold, so quite pleasant cycling. The route continues along Loch Lomond well away from the busy A82 and with the loch and the mountains beyond, its breath-taking.
We couldn't find a supermarket, so had to lunch on the loch shore. Cut short by worsening rain. The cycle path continues until Tarbert where the road divides west and north. As well as the beautiful scenery and being car-free, it is more or less level all the way.
The road frm Tarbert narrowed with the loch on one side and a steep rise on the other. Just wide enough for two cars, twisting and turning along the lochside. Today ois one of the busiest days of the year; the rain is now heavy and the road surface is poor, making progrees slow and shaky. Now we want to reach our destination asap.
A few miles of gradual incline brings us to Crianlarich before 4.00 - are we not challenging ourselves enough?
The YH conforms more to the traditional hostel then its Englich counterparts. Bed linen given out on arrival to be returned on leaving; more people doing their own cooking and washing up etc. Its a walker's hostel, so the talk is of rainwear, boote and Munros rather than bus passes.
The old routine reasserts itself - shower; rest; pub for meal and drink and back for early night. Hope our dormitory is free of snorers and farters (self excluded).
Sun 30th
Writing this sitting in the sun with Ben Nevis rising majestically above me. Still some pockets of snow near the top as there has been all the way toiday.
Woke this am to more blue sky than we had all day yesterday ie a wee bit.
I started out the trip with 3 pairs of reading glasses and am now down to one, so mission today is to replace them.
Afetr being lulled into false sense of security by first few miles, the road begins to rise and does so, on and off, for about 20 miles. Manageable climbing, but hard enough to assuage my guilt about not pushing ourselves hard enough.
Only a few spots of rain but a chilly northerly wind, sometimes bufeeting from the side, sometimes head-on.
Crossed bleak and exposed Rannoch Moor before the descent into Glencoe. No Lidl's here either, so lunched at Glencoe Visitor Centre.
Stupidly continued along a cycle path after the tarmac changed to compacted stones, leading to the third puncture of the trip - 2-1 to me. Repeated previous difficulty with bike pump (how is it possible?); frustartion all round, but then sorted and on our way.
The road into Fort William has B&B after B&B for miles on the right and the loch on the left. ( out of 10 B&Bs have "no vacancy" signs out.
Fort William not the crummy town I remember - main street has been pedestrianised and is very pleasant. Mission accomplished with open British Heart Foundation selling glasses.
YH is a couple of miles outside Fort William, which takes me to the beginning of today's blog.
It is 6pm, the sky is blue and we have debated the temperature - mein farenheit and Ewan in Centigrade. We've settled on 65 and 18 respectively. AND NO MIDGIES!
Tomorrow is the 2nd shortest cycle of the trip, so feeling very relaxed, but disappointed that the end is not far off.
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