"This is another truly spectacular day but also a long day in terms of mileage. ... The 1st 20 miles is relatively flat until Fort William.... If you take the hilly route after lunch you will be rewarded with quiet roads & some of the finest views of the trip."
The morning brought soft rain (lots of it) and a long flat ride to Fort William and then via the Mallaig road to Spean Bridge and the Commando Memorial. At one point I was joined by two Germans who were fully loaded touring around Scotland, they had been camping for 10 days and admitted that they would be glad to catch the ferry at Inverness. From Spean Bridge the only options was to follow the A82 to Fort Augustus. After 50 miles lunch in The Scots Kitchen was needed, good a bowl of really delicious soup with mounds of sandwiches, this was to fuel us for the next challenge "General Wades Road"
Fort Augustus is at around 30-40 ft above sea level the "General Wades" summits at over 1100 ft in about 5 miles it was long but not overly steep, yet again demonstrating the need for training on long hills, and a "vitesse grand mere". As with all climbs there was a reward as the road headed back toward sea level.
The next section along Loch Ness through Foyers and Dores was undulating, scenic and sunny at last.
Arriving at Inverness was a shock, so many people, cars, and huge buildings filled with things to buy!
Stats: 83.72 miles 4614 ft of climb 12.4 avg 36.3 max (again without pedalling)
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