Bikepacking Great Glen Fault Line
Day One - Oban to Ardgour via Lismore
I set off from Oban on my bike on Saturday 14th August with a vague plan in my head to cycle 200 miles up the Great Glen fault line to Tarbat Ness lighthouse then to cycle a bit further to visit my friend Lois who has a B&B near Tain.
I say vague because although I had researched the route in reasonable depth, I hadn’t attempted anything like this before so I was a bit unsure of my capabilities! I am not a particularly keen cyclist - my bike is mainly used for getting to local places to go visiting etc and my bike is nothing fancy either but I knew the brakes worked!! I am reasonably fit though so I knew that would help.
I decided to bypass the first section of the cycle route 78 to Appin as I had done it before, so I caught the 11am ferry to the Isle of Lismore, cycled across the island (it isn’t big) and waited for the ferry to Port Appin.
Once there I cycled across the Jubilee bridge with views of Castle Stalker and on to Ballachulish. It was there that I read the sign that the ferry for the next day between Camusgaul and Fort William didn’t run on a Sunday. My route planning hadn’t quite been thorough enough!
Too late to turn back now though so I cycled the 5 miles to Corran (on the pavement - not ideal!!) to catch the ferry to Ardgour.
Cycling on this road on the north side of Loch Linnhe was just bliss! Inverscaddle was a place I want to come back to in future.
I found it tricky to find somewhere to camp - it became a bit of a feature of the trip that I would get tired and unable to make a decision! Eventually I was forced to pick somewhere as it was getting late. Right across the water from a massive timber yard! And with the noisiest gulls I have ever heard!
Day Two - Ardgour to Loch Lochy
The next morning I was in no rush to get up and get going because the planned ferry did not run on a Sunday, my research had not been good enough.
So I had a decision to make. Stay in Ardgour for another day or cycle round Loch Eil to Fort William, a 22 mile detour that also took in 11 miles on the busy Mallaig to Fort William road. I don’t feel at all comfortable cycling on busy roads so I decided not to make a decision. Just cycle slowly down the quiet road and when I get to the junction I can decide what to do.
I know myself well enough to know that I wouldn’t turn back from the junction but I tricked myself into believing that I could and that is how I get through a lot of my life!
So of course late that afternoon I could be seen peddling as fast as I could down the A830 almost holding my breath, but in fact it wasn’t as bad as I feared and I was soon in the Co-op in Corpach giving in and buying some Oatley Barista which I decided I could not live without on this trip, it was worth the extra weight!
I passed the famous Corpach wreck and went up Neptune’s staircase and along the very beautiful Caledonian canal.
Soon I was at Loch Lochy but again I procrastinated about where to camp and I was cycling along an unpleasant forest track and it was getting late and I got a puncture…
I threw my tent up by the side of the track on a small bit of grass and was overwhelmed by midges just to make things more miserable. They even came in the tent with me. That was probably the bleakest time of the whole trip, but I tried very hard not to be gloomy and feel positive that things would work out ok…
Day Three - Loch Lochy to Fort Augustus
August 16th; I was awoken by a forestry vehicle passing by very early. Presumably they are used to seeing random tents by the side of the track.
I had a puncture and was a long way from a cycle shop. I was also very aware that I had come on a cycle trip with no spare inner tube and no puncture repair kit. Now initially I wasn’t going to tell ANYONE this as I felt such a fool, but I do know it is important to own up to things in case it helps someone else!!
I had a Thermarest repair kit with me and thought while it probably wouldn’t work it was worth a try. So I took the back wheel off, filled my pan with water from a nearby stream, found the holes and got to work. And it seemed to be mildly successful, I could at least put some air in the tyre enabling me at least to push the bike the 4 miles along the track to Laggan Locks and maybe get help there.
So I duly set off and before too long came to a wild camp spot by the shore with the luxury of a compost toilet! With loo roll and sawdust and hand sanitiser!
There was a walker down there and I told him my predicament and when he set off I made myself some coffee and pasta. Then suddenly 3 cyclists appeared, and one said ‘are you in need of an inner tube?’ I felt like I was dreaming! Apparently the walker had flagged them down and asked if they could help! They fixed the puncture properly and were so lovely. Thank you Hannah and your friends, what a difference you made!
I have thought about how I made that daft error of being so unprepared and it was because of a lot of assuming and not any research. Basically I thought I had tubeless tyres. I have never had a puncture so never found out my mistake, and didn’t check. I know tubeless tyres get fewer punctures so I was blasé. But now I do know, and I will never make that mistake again.
Anyway the rest of that day was very uneventful. Easy cycling up the shore of Loch Oich and back onto the Caledonian canal path. I was determined to have a nice camp spot that night so I decided on Kytra Lock which is an informal space under the trees. It was fine on the whole and mostly midge free…
Day Four - Fort Augustus to Inverness
Today was the day I had been worrying about the most. Rising from Fort Augustus alongside Loch Ness is a big hill. 1200 feet of ascent. The biggest hill by far of the whole trip…
First I had to get to Fort Augustus to charge my phone (the battery pack had finally run out). Again I trusted that things would work out and I asked the lock keeper if he knew of anywhere I could charge my phone, and he offered to do it there! I sat outside on a bench and waited and read my book Landmarks and remember feeling utterly content.
At about 70% I decided I must set off. I took a quick trip to the hardware shop, Girvans, to buy 2 inner tubes and a puncture repair kit (!) then sat by the shore of Loch Ness to make some coffee and eat my final piece of carrot cake.
The man in Girvans had told me of the cinder path alongside the road up the hill so I decided to use that. I don’t think it was the best idea because it was so steep and covered in gravel that I had to push my bike almost the whole way, and even that was almost impossible at some points!
Stopped at Loch Tarff and met a walker who had overtaken me and was now on his return journey… He asked where I was going and when I said Inverness he looked very sceptical that I would make it. I was sceptical too!
However it wasn’t long before I was at the top of the hill and the long descent from there is incredible. Getting to Foyers was a bit hilly though and in some places I was going so slowly the flies were coming along for the craic and I felt like Pigpen from Peanuts!
Bought a coffee and sandwich in Foyers and ventured down (and up) the hundreds of steps to see the famed Falls of Foyers. Slight disappointment- they were a trickle (due to recent lack of rain) and probably not worth the extra effort I had to use!
By this stage of the trip I knew that my friend Angèle was also going to be in Inverness that night - she was travelling from The Outer Hebrides to St Andrews by bike, after cycling up from Montpellier, and we had met in Oban when I hosted her for the night. So it was doubly important I made it there! Luckily the last miles along Loch Ness are reasonably flat so I made a good time and arrived in Inverness only a few minutes after Angèle. We met on Ness Island and it was soooo great to see her, although I was a bit overtired and emotional! When I first arrived I met a couple who had also just arrived and we chatted briefly and it soon transpired that they had left Oban only the day before and had taken 2 days to reach Inverness. I felt completely deflated by this, it almost took away all my feelings of achievement! But then it also came out that they weren’t camping and had stayed in a B&B. And after I settled down I of course remembered that it is POINTLESS comparing your own achievements with anyone else’s! My journey had never been about speed, it was about getting from A to B carrying everything I needed and just enjoying the ride!
It also was a stark reminder of how negative your brain can be when you’re tired and wanting everything to be perfect.
Anyway I soon perked up and we went to Inverness Castle, the official end of the Great Glen Way then cycled over to our lovely B&B which Angèle had organised.
The Indian meal we had that night at Sams was the best I think I have ever tasted. By this stage everything was absolutely perfect!
Day Five - Rest Day
Spent the day with my lovely friend Nicky who gave me great company, food, gin and a bed for the night. Angèle had continued on her way towards St Andrews!
Day 6 - Inverness to Cromarty
August 19th - Although I had been completely delighted to have reached Inverness, that had never been the end point of the journey in my head - I wanted to complete the whole of the Great Glen fault line which was Tarbet Ness lighthouse and another 2 days cycling for me. I was a bit unsure about whether to continue as I was pretty tired and still feeling a bit nervous even after having come so far!
But after the day off and lots of encouragement from Nicky and Graham I was well and truly rested and knew that I would be disappointed if I didn’t complete my journey…
Nicky managed to find me some very last minute accommodation in Cromarty so that was my aim for the day. Through Inverness (now following Sustrans Route 1), over the Kessock bridge, stopped at Harry Gows for coffee and Danish pastry then up into the Black Isle.
Not that much to say about this bit of the journey! It was much hillier than the previous sections and hard going. Pleasant countryside but I was not by the coast so it was very arable mostly.
30 miles from Inverness and I reached Cromarty which is at the bottom of a big hill. I had been told that Cromarty was a beautiful town and it certainly was! Very picturesque with a lot of gorgeous buildings. I wandered the little streets and popped into the Courthouse before getting a wood fired pizza and mini bottle of Prosecco before an early night!
Day 7 - Cromarty to Edderton via Tarbat Ness Lighthouse
I was so tempted to stay another night in Cromarty as I felt so at home there, and I also wanted to experience the wee cinema right on the shore. However the forecast for the next day was for wind and rain and I was quite keen to get the journey over with. So decision made I packed my stuff up, had a quick peek in the gift shop, had a coffee at Slaughterhouse Coffee which was very good, and waited for the ferry to Nigg.
This ferry was one of the reasons I had wanted to make this journey - once my friend Lois had told me about the Great Glen fault line coming all the way up from Oban to Tarbat Ness I had looked at the map and seen that there was a ferry which only ran for three months of the year (June to the end of August). This little ferry started the germ of the idea of the trip, and now I was about to go on it! It only takes two cars which drive on and then have to reverse off the other side. There was quite a queue of cars waiting to go on but being on a bike I was able to get on straightaway. It's only a short trip across the Cromarty Firth over to Nigg but I enjoyed every moment.
Nigg was a strange place, dominated by the oil rigs and with quite an industrial feel, but I cycled past Nigg church and stopped to see the Nigg stone was quite magical. It's a cross-slab, carved in the late 700s! Also went up the poor loft above it which was where people paid a penny to sit there and this was then given to the poor.
The rest of the cycle was a bit unmemorable - the land was very arable and hilly enough to make the riding difficult but not enough for stunning vistas! I stopped at a junction for lunch and sat on the grass. The headwind was also quite dispiriting. Finally arrived at Tarbat Ness Lighthouse about 3.30pm. Had a wander round, took some photos and made a video. Felt a bit deflated but also delighted at the same time.
However I still had another 1 miles to go to get to Lois's! Made it to Tain on a very long straight road, then had to go on the A9 for 3 miles which was a bit hairy! The last 5 miles to Edderton were on a quiet road and finally I arrived at Lois's! So happy to see her and Derek! A big gin and tonic, great food and an early night!
