We were thankful for having done our ride yesterday as todays conditions on Loch Tay included showers, heavy clouds on the hills and a temperature that was at least 6-7 C cooler !
The A82/85 are two of the main distributor roads from Glasgow to the areas of Fort William and Oban and on a Saturday this meant more traffic than Bourke St despite the wilderness location
Showers soon turned heavy as we entered the spectacular Glen of Glencoe, a magnificent stretch of road through towering hills and Mtns many with teeming rivulets caused by the heavy rain.
Despite the rain, the strong winds, the traffic and narrow roads we passed numerous cyclists taking advantage of the fantastic scenery but at risk to their wellbeing in the conditions !
We hit the water at Loch Linnhe passing through Fort William the B&B capital of the world judging by the number of accommodation places.
We then headed inland back into the highlands as the only accommodation available on line in a reasonable price range was at Granton on Spey a lovely town on the Spey some 60 kms short of Inverness.
Entering Newtonmore we noticed what looked like a highlands games gathering and headed out to the local show grounds to have a look
Again in true freeloading style we entered without paying having a terrific time in the threatening conditions watching the piped bands perform (excellent) as well as the numerous Scottish competitions.
We gave polite applause to one runner thinking that he was tailed off in the 200 metre sprint before realizing that he was in fact the first home in the mountain race with others arriving over a 45 min period.
We considered a late entry seeing the Australian flag flying but didn't want to get splinters in our hands doing the caber tossing (throwing a bloody tree!) and couldn't even lift the 25 kg cow bell that a bevy of local heavyweights were trying to throw over a 15 foot high bar endangering their lives in the process should they slip as the weight came hurtling back down
About the only thing that we could have entered was the haggis eating competition but we both thought it was unfair to unleash H given his proven track record in devouring anything that sits on a breakfast table, linen included !
After the massed bands performed a stirring collection we thought it a good tine to move on having thoroughly enjoyed our unplanned stop.
Despite not having a functioning map we somehow found our way eventually to Granton on Spey to our B&b with our room once again in an attic and our "own" private bathroom on the floor below down a series of near vertical steps - that should be fun at 2-00s.m. in the morning !
We have the chance to do a few more days of cycling before heading back to OZ but in a worrying sign Kev's hip wound following his kamikaze downhill ride 3 days back is not healing and still pretty painful maybe requiring yet another visit to the Drs.
In the meantime we can at least watch the cricket !
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