Average Speed : 14.8 mph
Maximum Speed : 33.4 mph
Ride Time : 6 hours 21 mins
Total mileage to date : 776.23 miles
Pain scores:
Adam 1 (rock and roll)
Alan 5 (powered by paracetamol)
Neil am 8, pm 1 (powered by pork pie)
Sound track of the day:
Adam "24h from Tulsa", Gene Pitney
Alan "Trans Europe Express" Kraftwerk
Neil "Bat out of hell" Meat Loaf
'It's mild', reported Donald our wiry Scots local on the ride with us. Just as the Eskimos have a hundred words for snow, so it seems the Scots can articulate 'shoving it down' in a broad palette of phrases. 'Moisturising', was how the pelting rain was described at the 30 mile water stop. But whilst the clouds threatened to drench us all day, in the event it was mostly cold and gusty rather than wet. At the lunch spot even a cup of Bovril couldn't unfreeze Neil's feet and everyone was wearing full winter riding gear.
At last the clouds lifted sufficiently for us to take in some of the stunning views we had been promised. Occasional shafts of weak sunlight lit up the moorland on the far shores of the various lochs as we pressed north towards Oban and Fort William onto our destination at Invergary.
Leaving the commando memorial above Spean Bridge, with it's views towards the brooding mass of Ben Nevis, we were treated to a stupendous ride along the shore of Loch Lochy, where a heaven sent rainbow stretched down to a point on the shore occupied by a Dutch barge, permanently moored by a lock on the Caledonian Canal and converted into a bar. A pint of Raven bitter and whisky chaser later, and a feeling of warm satisfaction with a good day's cycling spread over us. Four hundred yards on we found tonight's bed and board. Hot showers, a drying room and the prospect of spaghetti bolognese. Yeah.
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