Back to what I love doing best .... exploring by bike. This must be my 6th or 7th stay in Inverinate, and every single previous time I have hankered after riding up Glen Moriston but been put off by the busy and fast traffic on the A87. So this time I made sure I got out good and early on a Sunday morning to get it ridden before the tourist tap got turned on. I parked up on the causeway at the end of Loch Duich just as the sun was starting to light the shore. Not a bad place to start a ride:
It did mean that the first 15 miles of my ride would be mostly uphill (though not steep) and straight into the sun and a stiff breeze coming down the glen.
I wanted this to be a 50km ride, so I just kept going until I reached a suitable viewpoint over Loch Cluanie (a freshwater loch at altitude) where a couple of "Rabbie's" minibuses full of American tourists were having a leg stretch. I got my photo once I'd had a drink and an energy bar and they had all got back in their vans.
I then turned the bike around and enjoyed a brilliant gentle glide all the way back down Glen Moriston. There were a few little bursts of traffic (mostly Rabbie's minibuses and German campervanners) but for an A road it was still mostly surprisingly quiet. Do it on a Sunday morning, that's my tip.
Just as I was about to reach the Cluanie Inn, I spotted a little track leading into the Cluanie estate. Wild campers had been staying the night by the banks of the River Shiel, and access was allowed just as far as the bridge over the river, so I dropped down and took a look.
Then I carried on down the glen, pausing to admire a group of drumlins in the valley bottom.
Then stopped again about 5 miles short of Shiel Bridge to admire the view of the old bridge where the battle of Glen Shiel took place in the Jacobite rising of 1719. The lay-by had always been full when I had passed this in the car, so arriving by bike was the way to do it.
Once I got back down to sea level I detoured right at Ault a'chruinn to follow the old road around the end of Loch Duich via Morvich. In this shot you can see the causeway that was built some time in the late 20th century to shorten the drive from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh. My car was parked on the causeway today.
The next shot brings back a vivid memory from about 1972. Our family was on a long car journey to the far North of Scotland and we were running out of petrol. My dad's VW camper was practically running on fumes and the causeway had not yet been built so we had to drive around the end of the loch. We were just about to run out of fuel completely when we came across a one pump garage in the middle of nowhere. Dad had to knock on the door of the adjoining workshop to get someone to switch the pump on. I vividly recall an old chap in a boiler suit serving our petrol and then wiping the windscreen and offering to check the oil. My dad was a relieved man. Believe it or not, that pump is still there today .... 52 years later. The house is now a holiday let, but happily someone has appreciated the old fuel pump as a heritage item and left it there just as I remember it.
Well. As holiday rides go, that was a belter. 34.7 miles in all. I had hoped to finish it by coming across a herd of red deer (which often hang around at the Morvich end of the loch), but no such luck today. Can't complain though. Today's was the sort of ride that reminds me why I cycle. Living the dream.
.legs were heavy from yesterday so it was hard work from the start and it was either humid or im more out of shape than i think as i was dripping sweat , didnt help the guy i was riding with is fitter, younger and had fresh legs but as he had contacted me yesterday to ask if i fancied a ride i couldnt say no.
), Harnage and down to Cound Moor. With the wind being an easterly it helped me along the long straight. No danger of setting any records but it made things a bit easier.
