Luss to Fort William

I was awake early the next morning and ready before breakfast was served. The night porter was setting up and let me have some cereals, fruit juice and made me a cup of tea. I was eager to get an early start as I had a hotel booked in Fort William about 76 miles away. I set off initially following a disused road close to the shore. However, after about half an hour I had to stop as my trailer had a puncture. This was annoying. I had put puncture resistant tyres on my cycle but hadn't thought about this for the trailer. I replaced the inner tube and hoped that I wouldn't need to change it again; having only one spare inner tube for the trailer with me.

Last look at Loch Lomond

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. The roads were good and the scenery great. In Scotland I found the gradients of the roads easier to climb than in the Cornwall and Devon. Instead of the often painfully steep up and downs they were just very long but gradual. It meant that once I found a comfortable cadence I could keep a consistent pace going without struggling or worse, needing to get off and push the bike.

Loch Linnhe on the final stretch to Fort William

I reached the hotel mid-afternoon. This was a bit frustrating as I realised that I had set too small a goal for the day. I checked in to what was actually a huge hotel. Finding that it had a pool I went for a swim hoping that no one would notice that I was wearing cycle shorts! After a meal I was back to my room with nothing to do other than a bit of laundry. Eventually I settled down to sleep but the corridor was noisy with other guests coming and going and chatting loudly without any regard for anyone trying to sleep. However, I drifted off eventually only to be woken around 5:30am by other guests chatting loudly on their way to a very early breakfast. I realised later that this hotel catered for coach tours and consequently it was always busy with large groups coming and going. So after a while of trying to go back to sleep I gave up and got up.

Daily Stats

Daily mileage 80 miles - 128km 
Average speed 12.9mph - 20.6kph 
Max speed 36.4mph - 58.2kph 
Total Time Cycling 6hrs 10mins

NEXT