Day 10 – Oban to Drumnadrochit

At 98 miles, today was the longest stretch in the saddle and a bit of a mixed bag. The anticipation was all about the ‘A’ roads and what the detours off those roads would be like.

I left Oban and all but a couple of the first thirty or so miles were on cycleways which ran directly alomgside or a few yards away from the main road. Wide, smooth and mostly flat, with the wind behind me progress was swift. scotland is certainly getting something right as far as its cycling infrastructure is concerned and the signs on the NCN routes were the clearest I’ve seen. Some money has been spent here.

A short stop for lunch in Fort William and I continued on towards the section on the Caledonian Canal which had been a concern. I needn’t have worried. The surface was fantastic and they scenery everything I’d hoped for on this leg of the ride.

Unfortunately, the next attempt to avoid ‘A’ roads was not as successful and I should have abandoned and rerouted to something more suited to a road bike. It seemed to take forever to get back down the side of Loch Lochy and when I did rejoin the canal, the surface wasn’t as good. Back to the main then until a few miles on, the road crossed the canal and I noticed a return to its earlier quality so I sped on along it all the way to Fort Augustus.

I’d already made my mind up about the remainder of the ride. The next bit was a return to the Great Glen Way whose surface on the earlier section had been almost impassable so the A82 took me all the way to Drumnadrochit. It wasn’t terrible but exhausting, trying to keep up an acceptable speed and also keep concentration when I’d got used to breezing along admiring the scenery.

The evening meal was courtesy of the Londis in Fort Augustus and eaten by the shores of Loch Ness which were slightly less straight forward to reach than described by a member of staff at the Loch Ness Backpackers Lodge. When she said to cross the river, I assume there’d be a bridge but the local youths skimming stones on the river confirmed that wading across a shallow section was ‘the way’. As I sat on a log to eat, I could hear the strains of bagpipes coming from somewhere up on the hill, probably Urquart Castle. I’m not making this up, I promise.

98 miles today. 865 in total.