After a
sociable breakfast of fruit, porridge and scrambled eggs at the Premier Inn, I
started out at 10.15am. Fiona and her
Mum were going to visit Helensburgh Hill house, designed by Charles Rennie
Mackintosh, but it did not open until lunchtime. We joked about using the drive-through Costa
opposite the hotel, but I decided not to try it on a bike.
I made my
way out of Dumbarton by going the wrong way through a one way system in an
industrial estate and then crossed the river on a steeply stepped pedestrian
bridge with a track for rolling your bike.
I followed the river on a smooth cycle path and enjoyed the peace of the
Sunday morning – most of the houses were still quiet. I soon reached the bottom of Loch Lomond and
the cycle path continued up the west side alongside the A82 main road. I notice most of the cars coming south had
their lights on and before long they had wipers on as well. It was clearly going to be a wet day and I
was in and out of my rain jacket as the showers passed.
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| Catching up with Fiona |
Cycling through Aldochlay, I texted Fiona an update on my progress and found
that she and her Mum were visiting the historic village of Luss just up the
shoreline. Ten minutes later we met up
in the village and enjoyed a few minutes chat before going our separate ways.
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| Loch Lomond |
The Loch was
very still and the cloud hung low over the hills and islands as the cycle path
weaved through woodland, on and off the old road and sometime alongside the
busy main road. The sections on the old
road, right on the shores of the Loch were particularly enjoyable. Eventually the cycle path finished and I was
onto the main road, turning west at the top of the Loch. I climbed up to Crianlarich in heavy rain and
considered stopping at the hotel for lunch.
I decided that I was so wet I would only get cold, so pressed on to
Tyndrum, where I stopped at The Real Food Café for an excellent fish burger,
chips and tea. I dried my gear in front
of the stove and followed progress in the Ryder Cup on my phone.
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| Eerie, cloudy loch and islands on the climb to Glencoe |
Leaving Tyndrum
I couldn’t offer a lift to four rather wet looking students hitchhiking, but counted
1,000 standing pedal strokes climbing the hill – it is a good way to keep warm! I continued up to Bridge of Orchy where the
pub advertised “Real Ale, Real Food, Real Bridge”, though I had never doubted
it until then! I paused several times to
take photos of the eerie cloudy landscape, but it was so wet that my camera
started to get steamed up! Climbing up
to Glencoe, the cloud got lower over the hills and I could only see a few
hundred meters in each direction. I was
pleased to pass the sign for the ski area, complete with advert for a café
offering magnificent views (though presumably not today!).
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| Glencoe in the cloud |
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| The descent to the village of Glencoe |
Soon after
starting the descent, I was overtaken by Fiona and her mum who stopped at the
next layby and we chatted before heading on down the mountain. I thought it would all be a straight descent,
but there was one more climb at the end of the glen. I overtook a couple of tourists on bikes who
looked rather unprepared for either the weather or the climb and was soon on
the descent to the village of Glencoe.
After speeding down the mountain, pausing only to photograph the
waterfalls, I arrived at the Glencoe Inn at 6.15pm rather wet but very happy!
In total I
had cycled 74.2 miles in 8 hours elapsed and 5 ½ hours moving at an average of
13.2mph and a maximum of 28.8 mph. We
had dinner at The Glencoe Gathering – vegetarian haggis burger & chips –
which I’m sure my Scottish forefathers would think was wrong in several
ways! We were entertained by an
excellent local singer / guitarist who made a very friendly atmosphere for the evening.
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