JoGLE: Day Two
Day Two
This was a tiring day - probably didn't help that I ate late and got to bed late.
I didn't get going until about 10:45 and felt quite tired from the start. My knees hurt too and the day was generally a bit of a slump, I sort of expected this after the long first day.
The ride itself was ok, with fantastic scenery all around, particularly on either side of Loch Ness. The road undulated a lot more than I was expecting and although not as bad as the first day was quite strength sapping.
At Invermoriston I reached the turn off for my possible diversion to Eilean Donan castle but was glad to have started too late to even consider the extra (considerable) distance.
The road continued Southwest and I carried on past the remnant of Loch Ness (monsterless) -the road frequently crosses the Caledonian Canal over various swing bridges and I would have been happy to have been delayed to see one in operation (but wasn't). The road then takes you past Loch Oich and then some nice flat bits alongside Loch Lochy (Loch Lochy must have been last in the queue when the Loch names were being given out: "Right, who's next? Right you can have Loch Ness. Yes I know it's a silly name but I'll throw in an imaginary monster for the tourist trade. Right, you at the back, you can be...um...Loch Lochy, yes that's it."
After Loch stupidname the road climbs up before Spean Bridge, where the Commando monument looks towards the high range which includes Ben Nevis, the UK's highest mountain. I didn'tstop to take a picture I just looked at it hard and remembered).
After Spean Bridge the road drops into Fort William after which there was a mostly flat run alongside Loch Linnhe to my hotel just after Onich.
The traffic all day was steady but reasonable and I had no problems - I saw a couple on hybrid bikes heading Northeast (toting huge backpacks) and wondered if they were doing the end to end. The bloke sort of registered my greeting, the girl just looked unhappy.
Also somewhere on the way, a guy who I had met in the Indian restaurant in Inverness had stopped by the roadside to cheer me on. That was a bit of a boost to flagging morale.
The hotel was nice but the manager/head waiter was overly attentive in a not-quite-but-almost scary way. The rooms had names as well as numbers - I was in 'Cosy Cabin III' which was probably the least silly name - there was also 'Comfort Crusade', 'Dream Corner' and 'Nature's Dawn'. "Nature's Dawn?" "I read about them in Forbes Magazine".
Overall I felt good to have finished the second day mostly intact. I took it fairly easy with the hope of recovering a bit from the previous day. Possibly fortuitously I didn't have internet access so had an early night in preparation for another 100 miler the following day.
The weather was fine overall - the occasional snowfall but none of it stuck or lasted that long. My concern was now for the next day and the climb up to the snowline over the pass of Glencoe. A heavy snowfall here had earlier been predicted as possible and could close the road overnight.
Day three report to follow...
This was a tiring day - probably didn't help that I ate late and got to bed late.
I didn't get going until about 10:45 and felt quite tired from the start. My knees hurt too and the day was generally a bit of a slump, I sort of expected this after the long first day.
The ride itself was ok, with fantastic scenery all around, particularly on either side of Loch Ness. The road undulated a lot more than I was expecting and although not as bad as the first day was quite strength sapping.
At Invermoriston I reached the turn off for my possible diversion to Eilean Donan castle but was glad to have started too late to even consider the extra (considerable) distance.
The road continued Southwest and I carried on past the remnant of Loch Ness (monsterless) -the road frequently crosses the Caledonian Canal over various swing bridges and I would have been happy to have been delayed to see one in operation (but wasn't). The road then takes you past Loch Oich and then some nice flat bits alongside Loch Lochy (Loch Lochy must have been last in the queue when the Loch names were being given out: "Right, who's next? Right you can have Loch Ness. Yes I know it's a silly name but I'll throw in an imaginary monster for the tourist trade. Right, you at the back, you can be...um...Loch Lochy, yes that's it."
After Loch stupidname the road climbs up before Spean Bridge, where the Commando monument looks towards the high range which includes Ben Nevis, the UK's highest mountain. I didn'tstop to take a picture I just looked at it hard and remembered).
After Spean Bridge the road drops into Fort William after which there was a mostly flat run alongside Loch Linnhe to my hotel just after Onich.
The traffic all day was steady but reasonable and I had no problems - I saw a couple on hybrid bikes heading Northeast (toting huge backpacks) and wondered if they were doing the end to end. The bloke sort of registered my greeting, the girl just looked unhappy.
Also somewhere on the way, a guy who I had met in the Indian restaurant in Inverness had stopped by the roadside to cheer me on. That was a bit of a boost to flagging morale.
The hotel was nice but the manager/head waiter was overly attentive in a not-quite-but-almost scary way. The rooms had names as well as numbers - I was in 'Cosy Cabin III' which was probably the least silly name - there was also 'Comfort Crusade', 'Dream Corner' and 'Nature's Dawn'. "Nature's Dawn?" "I read about them in Forbes Magazine".
Overall I felt good to have finished the second day mostly intact. I took it fairly easy with the hope of recovering a bit from the previous day. Possibly fortuitously I didn't have internet access so had an early night in preparation for another 100 miler the following day.
The weather was fine overall - the occasional snowfall but none of it stuck or lasted that long. My concern was now for the next day and the climb up to the snowline over the pass of Glencoe. A heavy snowfall here had earlier been predicted as possible and could close the road overnight.
Day three report to follow...