Monday, May 27, 1996
From somewhere behind Lochearnhead to Oban
57.4 miles
 |
It was quite early when I woke up in the morning, just about 4.00am but as I had slept for 8 hours I didn't mind getting up. I first cooked some tea because it was rather cold but I did not make breakfast then cause the weather wasn't looking too good: there were dark, black clouds hanging over the mountains. Only to the north where I wanted to go to the weather seemed to be better. So I decided to take my breakfast later that day and hit the road again at 5.00 in the morning.
My ride took me down Glen Dochart to Crianlarich where I met the A82 coming up from Loch Lomond. It was really easy going this morning, I swept down the Glens with the black clouds on my back and the morning sun in my face. As I later looked back to the mountains where I had spent the night I was glad that I left this early because the weather had really gotten bad up there.
But I had luck, the weather became brilliant and stayed so during the whole day. After 5 and a half miles on the A82 I came to Tyndrum and then I had to decide where to go: Either staying on the A82, go north into the mountains and then riding down Glen Coe to Loch Linnhe or going west on the A85 and head for Oban. Well as you may have guessed by the headline of this page I chose the second way (although I think that I missed a really wonderful ride through the mountains).
 |
At 7.45am I reached Dalmally and there, just near the church, I stopped for breakfast.There were quite a few people out there going for a walk in the morning and I had a short talk with some of them. As I had been on the bicycle for nearly 3 hours then I really enjoyed that break in the warm morning sun. After resting for an hour I finally packed up my things, mounted the panniers again and drove on towards Oban. I reached the northwestern end of Loch Awe with Kilchurn Castle that lies on a small island in the lake, rode along the lake and then over Pass of Brander and came down to the Great Glen.
 |
At 12.30 I arrived in Oban with the sky now nearly cloudless. As I had been on the road today for 57.4 miles I decided to take the rest of the day off. I stopped at the Tourist Office to ask for the way to the Youth Hostel but as I did so a man about my age told me that he could show me the way because he'd already been booked in for the night. His name was David, he was American and travelling by foot.
The Youth Hostel was straight down by the shore with the windows of the sleeping room facing the sea. As I was putting my bike into the bike shed I had the first puncture of the tour (well, not me, but my bike). But that was only a short delay, then I took a shower and off I was going into town. I first made a phone call home, then I bought some postcards and sat down in a pub at the harbour for a pint and started to do what I've never done before in my holidays: I was actually writing postcards!
 |
Later that evening I went out for dinner in a good restaurant: venison starter, after that steak with haggis filling and french red wine -- it did cost me a fortune but was superb! About 9.00pm I was back at the Youth Hostel and glad to go to sleep. It had been a long day and a long ride anyway.