At a few days notice with a good weather window ahead I booked some nice hotels in Fort Augustus, Inverness & Fort William as stops on a bike ride along the Great Glen Way. I was riding the recently serviced Scott Scale with a new chain and cassette so running very smoothly. Aim was to ride with as little stuff as possible so just a few spare pants and socks, 1 extra T-Shirt, lightweight raincoat, lightweight trousers, toiletry essentials, bike repair essentials, some food all fitting in the OMM 32L backpack.
An early start in Tuesday to drive from Edinburgh to Fort William. I was able to set off around 11.30 am and the planned distance was short enough to allow a leisurely pace and lots of photo stops and small detours as desired. The first section to Gairlochy was flat and easy along the side of the canal.
I then switched to the North side of water and the route was more undulating with a quiet road section then forest gravel road to Laggan. There was a stop for tea and cake at South Laggan takeaway before a small canal side flat segment to North Lagan.
The primary route forward to the South of Loch Oich was closed with a detour route to the North side. This was hilly and challenging in places finishing with some nice single track before returning to easy canal side gravel into Fort Augustus arriving around 4 pm.
Stayed at the very nice Lovat Hotel - would definitely return here. Dinner out at the Lock Inn where the sweet potato and chick pea curry was very nice.
Day 2 started with a hearty breakfast and then followed the Great Glen Way along the north side of Loch Ness. It was a much hillier day with some very steep climbs to deal with. The route had a couple of optional low or high route and I chose the more bike friendly low route in both cases. I stopped in Drumnadrochit for coffee and cake and to buy some sandwiches.
Another big climb from there to the high ground of the Abriachan estate and then a lovely descent down into Inverness.
Slept at the Beaufort Hotel in Inverness which was expensive but not a great room and had dinner at Pizza Express.
Day 3 was the full return journey with the first half following the National Cycle Route 78 along the South Side of Loch Ness. There was some segregation from traffic at the start but most of the time the route followed B roads which were reasonably busy with both tourists and industrial vehicles. I didn't much enjoy this route and wouldn't repeat or recommend it - much better to retrace route of GGW on north side or perhaps try a more off road route on the south side.
Brief stop at Dores for photos and then at Foyers for coffee. I was getting pretty tired on the section from here through to Fort Augustus with a long slog up the road into a strong headwind.
Lunch in Fort Augustus at around middday and then onwards to the final sections retracing the day 1 route. Bottom was now not enjoying the ride and was generally walking all the uphills and standing were I could. Made it back by around 5 pm.
Stayed the night at the Nevis Bank Inn which has nice air conditioned rooms and dined in town at Fishy Fishy. Drove home the next morning.
Successful trip with no issues arising at all. GGW is a very nice bike route. I think would be a long slog on foot. For me would probably be most pleasant as a 4 day ride that would allow for plenty of time for stops or detours. The closed section north of North Laggan would be worth doing in one direction with the detour route worth doing the other way. If feeling fit then there and back in 2 days would be viable but more of a challenge than a pleasure.
Stats:
Day 1: 37.7 miles; 664 m climb; 3 hr 37 min moving time
Day 2: 41.83 miles; 1512 m climb; 5 hrs 5 min moving time
Day 3: 67.9 miles; 1387 m climb; 6 hrs 55 moving time
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