Lejog day 8

Loch Lomond to Loch Ness

Today I was mostly eating like a Hobbit...

Boy I've stayed in some slums in my time...



I started early today – 6am yet still had time for breakfast of toast and a Snickers bar. I cycled around Loch Lomond which was so pretty.



I met Andy and Sunni on the road again and chatted for a while. They were saying how vulnerable they felt riding on the road last night – they didn’t know about the cycle path! They were to climb Ben Nevis that afternoon. You can follow their madder than a bucket of frogs adventure on http://endtoend3peaks.blogspot.com/.

I stopped on the climb up to rhannoch moor at the Green Welly stop. Had second breakfast of cake and Danish.

Rhannoch moor and Glen Coe were also beautiful. Stopped for pre-lunch of a sandwich which I had bought. I was on a mission to get to Ballaculish to meet Jenny and Mark at 1pm. I got there early at 12.30 and had coffee and cake (do you see where this is going?). I had managed to cover 70 miles in about 5 hours of riding.
It was fantastic to see Jenny and Mark – it gave me a real lift to see them. We had a chat for about half an hour about my trip and their holiday plans before I needed to be on my way.

I continued on through fort William (subway sandwich – proper lunch?) and onto the Caledonian Canal. This part of the ride was also lovely – it was nice to be on the great glen way rather than the A82. Onwards and upwards (more subway and a snickers)

I started to see a few midges. Simon, a cyclist that I met in the hostel in Leominster had asked me what I planned to do about the midges, before telling me about Avon soft and simple, which the army use. Apparently it stops them biting. He then told me that you can’t get it, but he had some. So to recap – he told me about a problem, then the solution, but you can’t do that, and I’m alright – thanks mate! Or am I analysing general chat too deeply?
I told him that I was planning on letting the midges bite me. They don’t seem interested. Perhaps they don’t want a high sugar diet from feasting on the blood of this cake-loving English hobbit. Can midges get diabetes?

Day 8 – 125 miles covered Average speed - 12.3mph Max speed – 30mph
Ride time 10h04 Total mileage – 830 miles State of mind – very relaxed