Simon, Dave and the Blustery Day

Day 5 - Fort William to Fort Augustus, out and back

After our ride yesterday, and we had checked into our hostel, we set out to get something to eat. This proved to be more challenging and infinitely less enjoyable than the days ride. Every food establishment had queues at the door or were turning people away.....apparently Rishi Sunak's Eat Out to Help Out was proving a huge success in Fort William.

We eventually managed to get into Wetherspoons, as one of the last to be allowed in...at 8.30pm!!. Limitations on the numbers allowed on the premises, limitations on the number of staff allowed in the kitchen, the difficulties of getting staff back to work are all having a huge impact on business, and to see it happening in full effect was a bit of an eye-opener. Even the usual 'Spoons efficiency was being tested and our food took nearly 40 minutes to arrive.

Whilst waiting for the food, we contemplated today's ride, with Storm Francis uppermost in our minds... should we abandon and stay safe?, what to do in Fort William on a spare day?.....go to Ben Nevis?...not likely in a storm, similarly with anything out on the water.....or start queuing early for tonight's food?

We decided to see what the morning brought and take it from there. So, morning came, overcast but dry with a strong breeze blowing from the north. As our planned ride for the day was to head north following the Great Glen up to Fort Augustus at the bottom end of Loch Ness, a northerly wind was not especially welcome....on the other hand it might just keep the impending storm further south.

We set off and were soon following the NC78 again, this time following the Great Glen Way as it tracked alongside the Caledonian Canal. A few miles outside Fort William the canal path crossed the railway line at Banavie station, and once again our luck was in with respect to train times....just as we got there the Ft. William to Mallaig steam train, also known as the Hogwarts Express for all Harry Potter fans, came through the station.

Just past the station is Neptune's Staircase, an impressive flight of locks, which allows the canal to rise up to follow the landscape. We continued along NC78 as it followed the canal towpath to Gairlochy, where it veered off into the forest.

What followed was 10 miles or so of the least enjoyable cycling I have ever done.....an extremely rough forestry track, that was strewn with rocks of all shapes and sizes, never flat, constantly very steeply up or down. This would have been a challenge on a proper fat-tyre mountain bike, on a road
bike with 25mm tyres with very little tread, it was an ordeal.

Eventually, our torture came to end as we arrived at Laggan Lock, where at least we could get a drink in one of the 2 cafes.....except both were closed. The Barge Cafe had not re-opened after COVID, and the Laggan Lock Cafe was in dispute with the landowner and not operating. The next cafe was not until Fort Augustus, a further 15 miles up the road. That is when our guardian angel appeared in the shape of Rob Stephens,  a Bristolian recent retiree who was enjoying his new found freedom by undertaking a solo kayak trip from Ft William to Inverness, who offered to make us a couple of very welcome cappuccinos.

We enjoyed his hospitality for a while and chatted about our respective journeys, whilst considering our options. Neither of us had enjoyed the previous forest excursion, and it was around the time that the big storm was due to hit area. We had had some spells of intermittent drizzle but the big rain was due soon and we debated whether to carry on, not knowing if another off-road forest section awaitsus and knowing we were about to get drenched, or whether to turn back now.

We decided to give the next section a try and would turn back if either felt they didn't want to go on....and what a good decision that turned out to be. After a short section through some woodland alongside the canal, we came out on to the track bed of the old Invergarry to Fort Augustus railway, and after stopping for some photos and a chat with 2 of the guys who are restoring it by hand and with no financial backing, we then had 4 miles along the cycle track following the old railway route, and then 5 miles back on the canal towpath into Fort Augustus.

Fort Augustus was very busy......obviously the thing to do on a day when a big storm was brewing is to go to see if you can spot the monster hiding in Loch Ness!!.

We went to the viewpoint for the obligatory photo, and looked at the huge waves being made by the wind, and thought of our new friend Rob, having to paddle the whole length of it at some point in the next few days.

Our ride back was pretty much the same ride in the other direction, but now with the north wind

behind us. We followed the canal and the railway track back to Laggan Locks, where we stopped for a quick chat about the next bit......back via the ordeal of the forestry track, or straight down the main road for 13 miles. We chose the road.

One of the reasons that I had hated the forest route so much was that every single moment on it felt like there was a puncture waiting to happen, and the road surface on the alternative option was so good that it would not offer the same threats. Of course you all know what happened....I got a puncture on the road.

It was fixed quite quickly, and we were on our way again, stopping briefly at the Commando Memorial at Spean Bridge. We picked up the canal tow-path again and re-traced our outward route back into Fort William.

It was a long day, departing just after 9am and getting back until 7pm. Yes we had strong winds. Yes we got wet, but the rain was mainly of the intermittent drizzly kind, only be coming more persistent for the last hour or so, and the biblical apocalypse that had been forecast for Storm Francis, and had our friends and families sending us messages to take care, never materialised.

And, dinner for the night?... We made sure we booked somewhere this time!

69 miles, 2600 feet of climbing, 1 puncture, 1 new friend.