Tuesday, May 28, 1996
From Oban to Glenfinnan
70.3 miles
I left the Youth Hostel in Oban at 7.15am. Just as if to tell me that I can't have such a beautiful weather like the day before for every day it was pretty cold. The small thermometer I carried with me showed under 10 degrees Celsius. But at least it didn't rain --- not yet.
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I first rode back on the road I had come the previous day, then I turned into A828 and headed for Fort William. I rode along Loch Creran until I came to place where a bridge spanned over the lake. But apparently it was an old railroad bridge and the road was just passing below it so I continued riding around Loch Creran. Just at the end of the lake it started to rain. First just drizzling but after about 15 minutes it really got bad. I don't mind a shower or two or even three in a day, but riding a bicycle in the rain for a whole day can really put you down. And Murphy's law struck as well because I could have used the bridge anyway as I was told later that day by a German couple on bicycles whom I passed when they were taking a break. They were heading for Fort William as well where they planned to stay for a couple of days for climbing Ben Nevis. As I was riding faster than they we parted very soon. I should meet them again 3 days later on Skye.
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While riding along Loch Linnhe I had some good views at the water and even on Castle Stalker. Alas I saw no road signs that would have lead me nearer to it and when I finally saw it from up a hill I didn't feel like cycling back in the rain and look for a way to get nearer. When I came to the junction where the A828 meets the A82 I considered of riding up Glen Coe for a couple of miles and then ride back on to Fort William. But the only thing I saw of Glen Coe were dark clouds clinging to the mountains and so for the second time in two days I missed Glen Coe and rode on.
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When I arrived in Fort William at 12.00 the weather was really bad. I was freezing, totally wet despite my new and as I have to admit very good rain clothes and the word motivation didn't mean anything to me. I hope that the stories are true that near Fort William is the biggest of the Munroes because I couldn't see anything but clouds and rain.
I first took a walk along the pedestrian area of Fort William and you know what's interesting is the looks the people give you. Some of them apparently thinking 'bloody fool' but sometimes you really could feel the respect they have for somebody who's fighting the weather and the mountains with 40kg of baggage on a bicycle. And I think that's a damned good reason to go on.
I stopped for lunch in a restaurant --- fish, chips, peas, nothing special but at least it was an hour to warm up again --- then had made up my mind and drove on towards Glenfinnan (you know: I'm Connor McLeod from the clan McLeod and I was born in Glenfinnan at the shores of Loch Shiel). The ride along Loch Eil was another two hours of riding the rain with no landscape to see. So I was really disappointed when I arrived at Loch Shiel and the Glenfinnan monument because you nearly couldn't see the lake and even the monument itself was hidden in the mist.
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As I didn't feel like sleeping in a tent that night after cycling 70 miles in the rain I started up the hill from the monument to Glenfinnan itself looking for a B&B to stay. Well, I came into Glenfinnan, passed about five houses, two of them I think were hotels, and that was it. No B&B signs to see. So at the end of the village I turned around and went into one of the hotels (I think it's called The Stage House) to ask for a room. When I came in the landlord told me "We saw you passing with your bicycle and already thought you'd be coming back!". The room cost me 38 pounds but I was so glad to get a hot shower and a real bed that I didn't care about that.
Later that evening I had dinner and finished the day in the hotel bar with a couple of stouts talking with the landlord and the landlady until about 9 or 10 o'clock.
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