Day 12 Port Appin to Drumnadrochit (Loch Ness) 80 Miles !

Well we were first up for breakfast this morning, the smell of fresh croissants and freshly baked scones drifted through the hotel. 

After breakfasting in style with scrambled eggs and Loch Awe salmon, we made the most of the early morning sun and headed off on our 12th day towards Glencoe and Castle Stalker. 

The broken cloud and morning sunlight shone across Loch Lynnhe as the fisherman started out on their days work.

We soon crossed the Balahulish steel bridge over Loch Leven with awesome views up to Glencoe and then quickly sped on towards Fort William overtaking two other End to End cyclists we had previously passed in Dartmoor! The buggers had caught us up lol.

The purpose built cycle ways which run alongside the A82 were a great way of getting away from the busy road and as the trees are later into leaf this far north, you get a better view of the lochs and mountains beyond at this time of the year. 

Unfortunately the cycle paths are not yet connected into Fort William but a new route is planned soon so this will make a big difference to future end to end cyclists.

As we passed through Fort William, we cycled to Morrison's supermarket for lunch supplies and then headed out towards the Caledonian Canal and Neptune steps. The canal has a series of loch gates which allow sailboats to safely navigate from the west coast of Scotland via lochs and waterways to the east coast rather than around the top of Scotland.

We watched several boats enter the loch gates and then be gently lifted to the next level, the view to the south was of Britain's highest mountain Ben Nevis, still topped in snow from winter. 

As we cycled east along the gravel footpaths we were joined by Canadian canoeists. At Loch Lagan we were now cycling along the Great Glen Way which followed the loch side with stunning views back to the snow capped mountains of Lochaber.

The hillsides were of mixed evergreen and deciduous forest, single specimens of giant sequoia and western red cedar were planted at sharp beds in the forests and we passed many walkers on great glen walk. The gravel paths were difficult to cycle with 20kg of panniers, the back wheels soon lost grip but we pushed on regardless.

The rain and gusting winds meant we needed to push on along the canal and so we headed for Loch Ness the deepest of all the freshwater lochs. The hill climbs were the steepest of the day and not much freewheeling here. the traffic became heavier towards rush hour so we stopped off at Castle Urquhart for a quick viewpoint.

With no sight of Nessie, onwards we headed into Drumnadrochit for our next accommodation at the Loch Ness Inn,, just in time to waterproof the jackets. Tomorrows forecast is for hill snow and a north head wind, coupled with high climbing roads it's going to be a tough day ahead...