Its good to have choices, or so its said...

I had to force myself not to go climbing in the Lakes yesterday because I had a real yearning to escape into the wild, albeit very briefly, and the tug of Scotland was far to great to ignore, particularly with the forecast of nice weather.

Time to leave the station at tyndrum

Claggy on the West highland Way

I hard 4.30am start saw me at the Green Welly stop in Tyndrum as it opened at 8.30am, and I tried to load up on fat/food, which was great until I started biking, but maybe I shouldn't have eaten so much.

First of many river crossings

Unloading the bike in the cold at the station I startled a heron from the grass and this lifted my spirits as I headed up the WHW to the bridge of orchy which was a nice quick ride. I'd always wondered what this section of the WHW would be like as it trails/parallels the road, but it was an enjoyable ride only taking 50 minutes to cover the 12km.

I forced myself to slow down as the weather was overcast and claggy, but looked like it would clear later and I wanted it to be nice on the following section of the ride. I also thought the ride would be over very quickly given the early speed (I didn't need to worry on that front!).

Sticking to the WHW I went over Mam Carraigh to Victoria Bridge which was a great move. I'd read it was a chore on a bike but it wasn't at all and the descend on the far side after stopping for pictures with 2 German guys made me beam like a cheshire cat - such a great section.

Loch Dochard

Slab riding

After nearly knocking down a hiker who boldly decided to step into my path at the last minute even though I'd hollered I turned off the WHW and headed down into Glen Kinglass. Wow Glen Kinglass is long! Its a great, remote route and extremely scenic, particularly around Loch Dochard where there was a breeze that kept the midges away so I had a break and took a few pictures (well lots).

Lunch stop!

The route then seemed to go on for ages, with river crossings, through a Moab type section riding over slabs of rock, more river crossings before a final rickety bridge deposits you at Glen kingglass Lodge, I guess a shooting lodge. Its still another 25km to civilisation, what a remote place this must be to live.

The only deer I saw today 

Loch Etive

The route continues down to Loch Etive, a sea loch and at this point I started to feel very tired. I guess I haven't done any long routes like this for a while. I presumed the final track trailing the sea loch to Taynuilt would be flat?! Mentally I struggled on this 15km last section as there were loads of short but sharp hills before I finally (slowly) rolled into Taynuilt 60km and 6 hours after leaving the car. Luckily there was a cafe and I had 6 cups of tea and shortbread before catching the train back to Tyndrum which was free (no ticket collector!), brilliant.