The day began with a phonecall to Scott at Alpine Bikes in Inverness who very kindly offered to repair our injured bikes free of charge (faith in humanity restored: thank you Scott). The trip to the bike shop also enabled me to purchase a new ‘pair’ of gloves. At around 11.00 am we were back by our hotel ready to start the day’s stage which thankfully, given the delayed start, was only 77 miles. Apart from some poor road conditions, the stage started well with all feeling relieved now that the bikes were back in working order, although Corinne’s wrist was clearly very sore and she rode for most of the day with only one hand on the bars (I’m not sure any of the rest of us would have been so skilled). The mood was also aided by the fact that most of the ride was in forested areas next to several lochs (Including Loch Ness: no sign of Nessie though), giving us some shelter from the wind. At around 25 miles we started up the big climb of the day which levelled off after a short while to reveal what we felt was a lovely spot to pause for lunch. The fact that the sign in front of the ‘Red Squirrel’ cafe said ‘no bikes on the decking’ should, in hindsight, have sounded some alarm bells. Nevertheless, we went inside and ordered some food and four hot drinks. We then sat outside and nibbled on some snacks while we waited for our order. When the first of the food arrived he owner was upset that we were munching on our snacks and asked us to stop. We understood his point to some extent, but felt that we had spent more than enough money to deserve a little discretion. Anyway, when he returned a second time with Jon’s sandwich he became enraged to the point where he preferred to dispatch it straight into the adjacent waste bin rather than serve it. After getting our money back we proceeded up the road and had a picnic by the roadside next to a bend in the adjacent river. After enjoying the break we continued up our biggest climb so far to a peak height of approximately 1200 feet. After a great descent which was briefly interrupted by Corinne dropping her (what turned out to be indestructible) camera and the rest of us taking a few minutes to locate its battery, which had bounced out on landing, we continued at a good pace until pausing at a much friendlier highland cafe (Scottish country music in the background) where I was finally able to get a sandwich (Phew!). We then pressed on towards Fort William after which, the sunshine that we’d enjoyed for most of the day turned to rain. Although we only had 15 miles to go, it was one of those days where 15 miles still seemed like a long way and although I felt better that I did on day 1, those final miles felt pretty tough. Moreover, in the last few miles Tom developed a puncture which thankfully was slow enough to only need a short blast with the pump to enable us to reach our destination. Jon’s GPS had been great for directing us, but at the end of the stage it took us up a short climb to nowhere. After a quick phone call to our hotel, and getting the reply that all people who use GPS end up where we did, we arrived at the Strathassynt guest house where we were greeted by our very friendly hosts. After quickly getting showered and changed, we took advantage of the laundry service offered by the hotel to get our cycling kit cleaned, before heading over the road to the local pub for some great food. Between courses we popped into the local Co-op to buy snacks for the next day and finally retired to bed after counting our blessings that the day that we’d needed bike repairs turned out to be the shortest stage of our trip.
Loch Ness
Ray gets saucy.