Saturday, June 1, 1996
From Shiel Bridge to Inverness
65.3 miles
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The whole night had been stormy and rainy, but the tent was keeping tight all right. When I got ready to leave at about 7.15am it was still very cloudy and cold, but at least it had stopped to rain, even if only for the moment. But even with the clouds, the sight was magnificent as the dark clouds clung to the Five Sisters (a group of mountains along the north side of the valley) with sometimes a beam of the early morning sun shining through.
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First my way took me into the mountains up Glen Shiel. There were two short showers but nevertheless I think this was one of the most beautiful parts of Scotland I cycled through. I think I was lucky to be on the road so early, because there were nearly no other people on the road and this gave me the chance to see the Highlands in a way most tourists expect them to be but don't find them: dark, mysterious, beautiful and lonely, yet always with this special touch of sun.
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After reaching Cluanie Lodge at the end (or for me the beginning) of Loch Cluanie the weather got sunny and stayed that way for the rest of the day. After the last days which had been really hard for me I enjoyed the nice weather and the road which was only running downhill, so I could kind of race down the valley, heading on through Glen Moriston until I arrived in Invermoriston which lies in the Great Glen at the southern part of Loch Ness.
The ride along Loch Ness to the north was beautiful and scenic and I stopped quite frequently at the small parking lots, sitting on the benches they put up there and enjoying the sun. The only problem was that the traffic had become very busy on that road, so I had to ride carefully.
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When I arrived at the parking lot where all the tourists stop to visit Castle Urquhart I first thought about doing the same, but when I saw the masses of tourists walking down the small way to the castle I decided not to do the same (it's funny, I was a tourist myself, but somehow I disgust this mass tourist group behaviour). I was just leaving the parking lot when I passed a couple of German tourists. They had just parked their car and were walking towards the castle when I came by and I just heard one of the men say: "Hey look, these are real tough guys!" I nearly started laughing.
A few minutes later I had one of these great showers; first sunshine and blue skies, then suddenly rain pouring down like hell, and when you look up in the sky looking for the black clouds you just see blue skies again. But as I mentioned earlier, a short shower is alright, what I didn't like was when it's raining all day long. I rode on for a couple more miles and stopped in Drumnadrochit for lunch. I went to a place called something like "The Fiddler's", (I'm not quite sure about the name, it's on the right hand side when you come up from Urquhart Castle) and had some real good Haggis. I don't know why so many people don't like this stuff, I think it's great!
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After lunch I went on and finally arrived in Inverness at about 3.00pm. I got me a B&B straight in the center of town, then went and bought me a new spare tube because up to now there had been no place where I could have bought one after that unlucky day on Skye which already seemed to me like years before. I spent the evening in several pubs in Inverness and I have to say, I had a really great time there.