Monday 24 September 2007

DAY 9 Obesa cantavit








Ardlui to Loch Ness

Omnibus edition










Having spent the night alone in the camper van I awoke fully refreshed. Aled and Gareth Alun my two new back up crew had volunteered to spend the night in a tent in the company of 2,000 midges,2 frogs and a rabid dog and woke up in the morning covered in a fierce looking rash.They had faces like 2 slices of Brawn. I left them to strike camp and faced the usual first 10 miles of agony before settling down to a steady pace. My intention over the next couple of days was to cycle as long as I felt like it and didnt have any definite stopovers planned or indeed when I was actually going to get to John O Groats. Thursday lunchtime was my deadline.


First part of today was to be the A82 up to Fort William.I was very wary of Glen Coe and the Ben Nevis mountain range that lay ahead.Names like Black Mountain gave me visions of cycling up the side of a house. It was a beautiful day and apart from the physical discomfort( I was now wearing 2 pairs of cycling shorts and enough cream to supply the maternity wing of a general hospital)The road climbed steadily and was not proving too streneous and I was very pleased with the bike as it seemed to cope brilliantly( Even the falling off pedal was now staying put)On reaching Tyndrum I realised what this area was like during the winter as there was a gate there that could be used to close the main road if there was too much snow. There were also 8ft high poles along the side of the road to help the snowploughs keep to the tarmac.The climbing was now more than steady but I was amazed at my progress. First stop of the day was the Bridge of Orchy. And that is all it was , a small stone bridge and nothing else.


I was overtaken by a couple on a bike!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


A friend of mine lives about 3 miles down the road from Afon Orchy so I called him up to "suprise" him and his family... he wasnt home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The road from the bridge of Orchy on was a steady climb, very bleak and desolate but with fantastic mountain views. Passing Loch Tulla up a very steep climb I was met at the top by a herd of wild deer with a giant stag in charge with awesome antlers. They were quite happy accepting snacks from passers by.
A large cross eyed doe gave me a wink but I cycled on knowing she was only after my chip choc cookie.(They are all the same)














Pit Stop at Glen Coe












The route down from Glen Coe was extremly fast and I didnt really have time to appreciate the scenery( another time!!)It was the a gentle cycle along the banks of Loch Linnhe to Fort William.I had previously sailed up this Loch during the 3 peaks Yacht race and it was good to see it from a different angle. The Corran narrows looked really narrow and many an hour had been spent trying to sail through this narrow bottleneck.

Fort William brought me and my trusty back up together and we had a long pit stop to discuss tactics and drink tea. Gareth Alun took some time out to do his shopping!!!

Milage so far today was 60 miles and since I was feeling well and the backup were keen to push on and see the sights I decided to carry on and take the day hour by hour.Little did I know that it was the World MTB Cycling Championships and that soon I would end up in the middle of thousands of professional cyclists!!!!!Well tummy in and look the part.The squeaky pedal was a bit of a giveaway!!!




The rest of the afternoon was spent more or less running( well cycling) in a NEly direction along the A82. It was very scenic with mountains and Lochs and mor mountains and Lochs.

The climbing was very steady from Fort William and this was the furthest North I had been ( apart from in a sailing boat). At Spean Bridge I stopped at the Commando Memorial. It was a very quite and serene place and I sat there for a while thinking about the men that had trained and survived in this wildernes . It really seemed to me that I should be ashamed of myself for moaning about a bit of saddle sore bum syndrome and a dodgy hip.We owe these men a lot and in fact I seemed to get some new stamina from somewhere after spending a few minutes at this spot and putting what I was doing in context with the effort of others.I was still thinking about the Commandos when I was rudely awakend at Fort Agusta by the greeting" Where you going you fat bar steward" It was the back up crew having a spot of tea at a roadside cafe. !!!I reminded them that I worked for the Event Commission and not as a Bar Steward!!





NO CYCLING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was now early evening and we decided to look for a campsite as I was getting rather tired and a bit wobbly. I found this to be the case over the last few days as I seemed to lose concentration on the cycling and would wander all over the place. Not the thing to do when in the company of Hgv's Buses and mad postmen in camper vans.It was getting dark as I got to the campsite on the banks of Loch Ness at Drumnadrochty. Tired, sore but worried. There were more back up crew on the way... Robin Penlan Roberts and Alwyn M Eisteddfod Roberts.. Gulp Look out Scotland

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