Glen Coe
train ride to Fort William
Our legs feel it. They don't flex easily - a bit like rusty bike chains.
Yesterday’s long trek over the peaks has left us feeling drained, and we've been riding up and down for nearly a week.
Outside it is overcast, with rain in the air. We sit at the dining table and tuck into breakfast. Our host says he's moved our bikes into the garage so as to keep them dry and his wife tells us the jam we are spreading on the brown toast was made by children at the local school, an early 19th century one which I'd noticed at the top of the lane as we'd searched for a camp spot in vain.
We make our departure in a bit of a hurry as we know the morning train will be arriving at the nearby station at around 9.30 - it’ll take us into Fort William a lot faster than our bikes would. We deserve a break.
The train is around 45 minutes late. It’s come all the way from London on an overnight journey.
Thankfully we don't have a problem getting the bikes on board and once off at Fort William, I ask at the ticket counter about getting on a train from Taynuilt the next day and get told to buy them now. Pre-booking the bikes is important. So that’s what we do, opting to book them on the 6.35pm from Taynault and getting off at Ardlui, a station at the top end of Loch Lomond.
Our daily schedule is still being met - we now just had to get up Glen Coe and down a single track on the west side of Loch Etive within a couple of days.
We see a Lidl supermarket from the station and after a coffee served in the in-house café we go over and stock up on snacks for the day’s ride.
From there we look for the ferry to get us across the loch and onto the west bank, where a quiet road offers a much more attractive proposition to the busy one on this side.
It turns out the boat departs just a few hundred meters away. We wheel the bikes down the jetty and pay £3 each. The two guys look bored in their yellow rubber boots. There are no other passengers.
The route is flat. A few vehicles pass by. The free Corran ferry service is around a dozen kilometers of gentle pedaling south and once there we roll the bikes on to its metal deck for the free ride back across the loch.
It's a relief to find a path to cycle on, as there's no shoulder on the A82 and large trucks whiz by. Even being on the path, they seem close and scary.
The village of Onich has a shop-cum-café where we stop for a late (3.30pm) lunch of soup and tea. On a shelf at the back are boxes of porage and Tunnock's tea cakes and caramel bars, things I haven’t seen since childhood. I have to have caramel bar. It'd never crossed my mind that Tunnock's was a Scottish brand.
The footpath continues and becomes a proper cycling one after a while. It takes us all the way to the village of Glencoe, at the foot of the glen, where I’d hoped to take a small road going on the west side of the A82.
We miss the chance to join it and are consequently stuck on the main, narrow artery, cars and trucks traveling by at speed. Not fun.
We then manage to find a hiking track and from the rough trail we can see the quiet road just a stone’s throw away, but a stream and a fence prevent us from getting to it.
Dave’s knee is still giving him grief as we climb up the road, heads down, but trying to soak up the views, which are wonderful, while keeping a watchful eye on the traffic, which is crap.
One vehicle towing a trailer comes frightening close – mere inches – and it's a relief to get to a section towards the top which evens out, where the glen opens up to something like a plain.
The Kings House Inn is on the other side of the crest and we cruise down toward it, sunshine lighting up the landscape for a change.
It is about 7pm when we take the small road leading around the back of the centuries-old place and spot a good camping site where a couple have already pitched a tent.
We go inside to get a bite to eat – chicken curry, beef and ale pie, and venison for Dave – and watch the tail end of England playing football on the TV, a dour goalless game, witnessed with resignation by a dozen customers in the bar.
Midges are about, but our Smidge and net hats keep them at bay when we put our tents up after 10 o'clock. The staff in the bar have told us breakfast is served from 7-ish and costs a tenner - the usual rate.
From our sleeping spot, there are only 100 meters or so to go in the morning to get our morning fill.
Today's ride: 52 km (32 miles)
Total: 432 km (268 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 2 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |