LEJOG Day 13

A short day to the Lochside hostel at Loch Ness. Only 40 miles and mostly off road. Hopefully an easier time than yesterday!

We started with a well deserved lie in. No alarm and Tracy didn't wake up until 8am. Almost missed breakfast!

We left the hostel at 10 am and went straight to Nevis bikes, where they sorted out Tracy's pannier rack. We also bought a new back light as we mislaid one the day before. I expect that it will turn up somewhere in the bottom of a bike bag when we get home.

We continued on the NC 78 from Loch Linnhe, up Neptune's staircase (a series of locks) onto the Caledonian canal. The weather was ok, a light tailwind and a few showers, so we made excellent progress on the flat route.

Neptune's staircase - Locks on the Lochs

We continued onto the great glen way, on the shore of Loch Lochy (lazy naming here guys). Mostly a good riding surface, but I had already warned Tracy that one section we would need to get off and push. It turns out that there was a diversion in place to avoid construction work, so despite going uphill a bit more, we could actually ride it all.

The construction work is for a pumped storage facility, part of the green energy drive in Scotland. I told Tracy all about how it worked. She was obviously thrilled.

We met a solo walker, Eddie, who was hiking the whole of the great glen way over 6 days. We chatted about our shared misfortunes with the weather the previous day, before taking our separate routes.

Continuing on the Caledonian canal, to Loch Oich (I could be making these names up you wouldn't know) we diverted onto the road due to forestry work. This was not ideal, but we picked up the pace as we were well overdue coffee and cake.

Locks at Fort Augustus 

We ended up at the Boathouse restaurant, in Fort Augustus , overlooking Loch Ness (the only one that you actually know). We had coffee and decided to wait 20 mins for the kitchen to open so we could have tea. We both chose different stews - warming comfort food.

We were treated to a view of a rainbow and probably a seal.

Tracy "Is that a seal'

Tracy "No, I think it's a dog"

Dan "No that's a seal"

Tracy, whilst trying to take a picture "Oh, it's gone now. Typical. Well, if it was a dog it's drowned" She has a dark side.

Seal/dog had departed/drowned

We only had 10 miles left to go. A quick detour to the Spar shop, mostly to pick up cake, as Tracy by this point was having withdrawal symptoms, ended with a long chat with Jonny from Cornwall. A cycling enthusiast and now a resident of these parts we had quite a chat about routes etc. He said that LEJOG is on his bucket list, but has always been put off by the roads. Apart from yesterday, our route hasn't been too bad in terms of traffic.

A day without cake isn't really a cycling day at all

Tracy and I set off once more in our own personalised style. Me with a dukes of hazard style leap and off we go, Tracy with a very unstylish driving miss daisy approach before changing down from the inevitable wrong gear.

We arrived at the Lochside hostel at 7 pm. Everyone was so welcoming and also about 12. It felt like we were in a student flat or at a teenage birthday party, to make sure things didn't get out of hand. We left them downstairs having a jam session and had a video call with Rosie.

A good day to be in the saddle. An early start I'm the morning, as we have 85 miles to Helmsdale.

Distance travelled: 45 miles

Elevation: 2284 ft

Cake of the day: caramel and cranberry slice

Tracy whinge factor: 0/10

Total distance:  879 miles