Day 6. Fort William to Falloch Falls.

I woke on day 5 to heavy rain, in fact it had rained heavily throughout the night, although it hadn’t disturbed me in my tent. It seemed to take a while getting going that morning, eating and then packing up in the rain wasn’t especially pleasant, but was all part of the adventure.I did sit and watch as a tourist steam train set off for the day ahead, which was pretty cool, in a Harry Potter sort of way. I cycled into the centre of Fort William where I found a Morrison’s supermarket – supplies purchased, then back outside - and the rain had stopped – wonderful! Then next door for McDonald’s before finally heading to Boots for the much needed support bandage.

I was finally on the road and heading south along Loch Linnhe by lunch time, then inland past Loch Leven, and then finally up towards Glen Coe. The road was pretty tough going; the gradient wasn’t especially tough, but it was relentless! The road was narrow too and very busy, with car after car full of holidaymakers, with bikes and canoes strapped to their roofs, speeding by; not giving an inch or slowing at all. It was pretty grim to be honest, and the clouds had come back down, with the occasional spot of rain threatening – the views were still lovely though, especially of the Three Sisters, and I had already been very lucky with the weather, so I really couldn’t complain! There were tourists everywhere, and I was a little pleasantly surprised by the amount of Asian tourists there were, all taking pictures with their Ipads and the women striking catwalk-like poses – a bit out of place for vogue I thought, but I suppose the world is constantly changing and India has a burgeoning middle class – progress eh?!!

Glen Coe nearly done, I met a friendly young Scottish couple, out for a walk along the glen. We chatted for a just a few minutes about my trip, and their own weekends of adventure - they didn't live too far away, and were able to spend lots of their weekends rambling around the beautiful countryside. They also gave me plenty of advice about the coming miles, and places of interest to stop by.

Glen Coe finally done, I headed up onto Rannoch Moor which wasn’t as bleak as I’d imagined – lots of midges though! Then down to Bridge of Orchy where I stopped for a glass of coke and a piece of cake. It was here that I met the only negative person on the whole trip – there was a Scottish man in his late 50’s I would say, with a Soltaire tattoo on his forearm - who struck up a conversation with me about his day of walking in the hills and mountains nearby – so far so good. I asked him for advice about the local area – places to stop for supplies etc and the state of the roads – in particular the gradient – well, he told me that the road to the nearest settlement, a place called Tyndrum, about 8 miles away, where he himself lived, was flat or downhill all the way – great news I thought, and I was soon on my way again – only to find that the road was uphill the whole way, until the very last mile when it finally went down again. Don’t get me wrong, the riding was great, along beautiful scenery, but hard going too, and I was conscious that had he given false information under different circumstances, the outcome could have been dangerous. Anyway, I was so angry at being lied to, based purely (I believe) on my accent or nationality, that I seriously considered going door to door in Tyndrum until I found him, and giving him a bump on the nose! Luckily for him I didn’t have time for violence, and had to keep on rolling – rolling downhill that was, as the road finally carried on going down for miles and miles – probably eight or nine miles, all the way to Crianlarich, which was a blessing for my knee and for my failing energy levels too!

Past Crianlarich, on the A82, it was time to look for somewhere to camp. There was no way I was going to make it as far as Ayr, as I’d originally planned – not making it as far as the pre-set destination each day really put a strain on the whole timeframe, and I was already thinking that the trip was going to take at least one extra day, maybe more! I discussed it all with my wife, Alice, and we agreed that staying safe and trying to enjoy myself were both far more important than sticking to an arbitrary timeframe that had been devised months earlier in the comfort of our flat! The fact that I’d failed the previous day to make it as far as Altnafeadh, south of Glen Coe, along with the various late starts, more frequent stops than I’d imagined, and challenging terrain meant that covering distances of more than ninety miles was, at least at this point, unrealistic. Having the freedom to add an extra day, or two, made all the difference, and I was able to relax and enjoy my trip without worrying.

I found a spot to wild camp very close to the Falls of Falloch, which was lovely – but midge mad! They were absolutely everywhere, being so close to a waterfall and ensuing river, along with having a still soaked tent from the morning deluge, was a recipe for midge heaven – I had to resort to actually using my head net! Once inside the tent though, all was well and I was soon asleep after having my customary tin of rice pudding J - great recovery food, tasty too!