Our shorter day of 40 miles yesterday, means that to get to Fort William ahead of our scheduled climb of Ben Nevis tomorrow we need to ride nearly 70 miles today. The weather is forecast as a mixture of sunshine and heavy showers, and the riding is on the whole climbing over high moorland.
We get underway in the sunshine, but it doesn't last too long and the frist shower of the day hits us. We met another cyclist from Germany, who's been on the road for six weeks and had lunch with him at the Green Welly Boot fuel stop. He was heading off to Oban, so we parted ways and headed up the climb to Glencoe.
As we climbed the showers got heavier and the wind whipped up. We ran into a cyclist who'd lost a rear pannier to the weather and been taken off the road twice on the road that we were headed.
Unfortunately, when we arrived on the hills the wind was driving hail across the hillside. I ended up with sunglasses on as it was the only way I could cycle without the hail stones stinging my eyes. Our bike was lent over by about 15 degrees to counter the force of the wind, there was snow on the mountain tops and at one point we came across a motor home that had been blown clean off the road and into a ditch. Hard going.
From Glencoe it's all downhill, but because of the headwind we are still having to pedal. We saw another tandem team cycling up the Glen. I hope they are not planning to go all the way over the top this evening! We press on. Over a bridge, the wind driving hard into our left side. Then round a corner in the road. The wind is finally behind us. Eight miles to run into Fort William. A B&B and a burger for tea.
We get underway in the sunshine, but it doesn't last too long and the frist shower of the day hits us. We met another cyclist from Germany, who's been on the road for six weeks and had lunch with him at the Green Welly Boot fuel stop. He was heading off to Oban, so we parted ways and headed up the climb to Glencoe.
As we climbed the showers got heavier and the wind whipped up. We ran into a cyclist who'd lost a rear pannier to the weather and been taken off the road twice on the road that we were headed.
Unfortunately, when we arrived on the hills the wind was driving hail across the hillside. I ended up with sunglasses on as it was the only way I could cycle without the hail stones stinging my eyes. Our bike was lent over by about 15 degrees to counter the force of the wind, there was snow on the mountain tops and at one point we came across a motor home that had been blown clean off the road and into a ditch. Hard going.
From Glencoe it's all downhill, but because of the headwind we are still having to pedal. We saw another tandem team cycling up the Glen. I hope they are not planning to go all the way over the top this evening! We press on. Over a bridge, the wind driving hard into our left side. Then round a corner in the road. The wind is finally behind us. Eight miles to run into Fort William. A B&B and a burger for tea.
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