Monday, June 3, 1996
From Loch Lochy to Kingussie
52.4 miles
 |
The first time I woke up was at 3 o' clock in the morning because it had started to rain again. But I fell asleep again and finally got up at 7.30 am. At that time the sky was cloudy and it was pretty cold, but at least the rain had stopped for a while. I had a very short breakfast, only because I desperately needed to buy new provisions which I hadn't done the day before, and then continued my journey down the A82. It was nearly ten o clock when I arrived at the Commando Memorial. There I only stopped for a short while, for the wind was not only strong but cold as well. From the Commando Memorial I rode until I reached Spean Bridge, where first I went shopping and then had a late second breakfast. I then left the A82 which would have brought me back to Fort William where I'd already been and headed on the A86 in the direction of the Spey Valley (can you hear the Spey distilleries calling?).
 |
At about 11 o' clock the weather became bad. It was windy and cold, but the worst thing was the rain which always changed between drizzling and pouring down and that went on all day long, at least as long as I was on the road. Of course the rain always stops as soon as you put up your tent or found a B&B but I got used to that. And to make it worse, every time my back wheel turned there was a sound like someone stepping on a dry stick and cracking it. I stopped, unmounted the panniers and checked the back wheel and the spokes, but I couldn't find anything. So I went on hoping the best.
 |
Looking at my map I saw that there were a couple of villages along the road, so I hoped to find a tearoom or something else where I could stop and warm me up. But if there are places like that I didn't see them, so I rode on along Loch Laggan until came to the village of Laggan itself. There a had a short rest, the weather was a little better then (I only had gotten a little warmer, but it was still raining and windy) and then started down the Spey valley. At a quarter to 6 I arrived in Kingussie, a pretty little town, and there I got me a B&B and later that evening I went out for dinner (trout with almonds) and for a couple of pints. When I came back home I watched the weather forecast on TV. They said that the next couple of days it still would be windy but they expected no rain. Normally I don't trust the weather forecasts too much, but I hoped that this time they were right.