Fort Augustus to Fort William - 53k - Mon 16th July

It rained through the night, and was still raining in the morning. We ate in the tent, and had to make the dreaded decision to pack up in the rain, and head off. The tent was packed dripping wet, as were we before we even got on the bike. It rained all the way to Fort William, but it was nevertheless a great day.

Its not very comfortable, but the scenery is still gtreat, although there was lots of mist and lots of water everywhere. After several miles I decided we would still have photos, so we risked the camera, which was wet anyway in my back pocket. We were following the Caledonian canal, which opened up eventually to Loch Oich, then Loch Lochie all the way to Fort William.

About 10miles before Fort William the road cuts away from the Loch, and rises for quite some time. I think its harder riding long hills in the heavy rain. However, we knew eventually thatw e would come out on top of a high point at the wonderful Memorial to the British Commandos, the Green Berets. It was pouring with rain, but we pulled, our feet and legs were frozen with the cold, our hands seemed numb, but we kind of reflected that conditions for many of these brave young men would have been far worse, so we took time in the rain to view the memorial and read the memorial plaques that were there. The saddest of all were the last tributes - to young men just recently killed in actions in Iraq and Afganistan, as recently as weeks past.

We headed off, and immediately the road plummeted down into the village of Spean Bridge, across the bridge, and on our final approach of some 15k or so to Fort William. Sadly, the highest mountain on mainland Britain, Ben Nevis, was fogged in as we cycled past its base. We never saw the top.

We arrived in Fort William cold, wet and a bit bedraggled, having decidied it was no time to set up a soggy tent in the wet and raining conditions. We found a room at the Bank St Lodge, and spent a happy night there meeting lots of other mostly younger visitors from around the world.