July 25 - Bridge of Awe to Fort William- 89.5 kms

26 Jul

July 25 - Bridge of Awe to Fort William- 89.5 kms

After a wonderful dinner including some nice French wine shared between "fast" Steve and I and a restful nights sleep we awoke to another beautiful morning and day. The past 2 days have been "right out of the box: with little or no cloud and temps in the mid 20's and little or no wind...delightful for riding!

After briefing it was off to the adventures of the day....

The first stop was Connel....you would not believe it!!

It had a big bridge and I could not think how apt it was that a town named after John Connal , who is one of the best bridge designers in Australia....just kidding!!

After a bit of undulating riding on the main road it was on to Cycle Pat 78 which is a rail trail pretty much through to Fort William ( with a few diversions)\

Travelling on the Cycle Path was certainly easier than the road which was very busy with big truck and cars and campervans.

Some parts of the cycle path reminded me of the paths we have at home and the Warby Trail in the Dandenong's...the only thing missing is the smell of the Eucalypts...

I had a funny day today as I was thinking of my training for this ride when I rode on many of the Cycle paths in Melbourne...interesting!!

This was also combined with thoughts of my earlier calls home to Robyn, CC and Nick to see how things were at home....Jodes I tried you but it went to message bank. Sorry I missed you.

Along the path we met several who were on road trips with fully loaded panniers going both ways. One guy from England was doing the West East ride for instance.

We made a coffee stop at Kentallen mainly due to me going in to coffee withdrawal but I sense it might have suited Steve as he had a couple of minor scrapes on the pathways. it is amazing how riding on cycle paths is different from riding on roadways and country lanes...as we have pretty much up to now.

After coffee it was on to Onich for lunch at a pub overlooking Loch Linnhe.At this stage we were riding with Bob, Steve, Chris, Jane and myself.

After lunch it was the final push of about 18km in to Fort William.....BUT oh no.....

Steve said it was a good day to try and see Ben Nevis ( the biggest mountain in the UK) on what was a superb summers day. So we rode a further 5kms to see the mountain which was quite superb really.

On the way back Chris led us on a bike path to show us a 12th century castle which was also very interesting.

Tonight we are staying at the Guisachan Guesthouse which I am pleased to say had great WIFI so I can send out pictures of the past few days

We had a delightful dinner at a local seafood restaurant which was on the banks of Loch Linnhe and we were joined by Margarite from our group who lives in Scotland and was able to entertain us with stories of her life and times her in this wonderful country.

Today is day 17 of the trip and we have 4 more days to go.

A good day of riding with great weather.

Now for the photos....

Steve and Peter on Connel bridge