Fort William or Bust !

With breakfast and the summer solstice behind us it was time to farewell our good UK friends Kev & Julia who'd accompanied us on the Outer Hebrides / Skye leg.

After Kev and Julia had departed heading back to their starting point at Connel near Oban, Aussie Kev and I flew the drone terrorising local seagulls to get some good shots of "Back of Kennoch's" beach.

With the drone packed away we were on the road soon silently grumbling at Pommie Kev's earlier promise that the day to Fort William would only involve 400 metres of climbing .

400 metres my arse (sorry Kev!) ! In fact we climbed almost that much in the first couple of hours in the days cycle !!

Our bike verge / path soon ran out as we cycled along the occasionally busy A835 Ideas of potential scenic detours were put on hold with Aussie Kev's cumulative tour fatigue reaching the "red" zone !

Our route had some very steep climbs out of beautiful Lochs and valleys. En route we spied the famous flying Scottish steam train the Jacobite which provided a romantic image as it raced across the incredibly green landscape. The romantic notion though was soon destroyed by groups of speeding Porches and Motorcycles that seemed to treat the roads like an F1 test track !

At the half way mark and with temperatures nearly hitting 20c, we had a restorative soup and toastie at the railway cafe of Glenfinnan well known for its aqueduct styled railway bridge that featured prominently in the Harry Potter films.

With lunch downed and almost refreshed we cycled the remaining 25 kms into Fort William.

Up in front I arrived just in time to see the stairs of Neptune (multiple lochs) and an adjacent swing bridge in action to allow passage of multiple yachts.

H arriving soon after had as much energy left as a Duracell Bunny without batteries. Kev was gone, spent, kaput, finished ! If he'd had the energy he would have thrown himself into the canal right there and then !!

Fortunately the fact that our accommodation was nearby seemed to revive him. Kev's luck soon deserted him scoring a blow up mattress and a sleeping bag as his bed for the evening ! You just can't help bad luck !

Our hosts though were very friendly and soon had us well directed around a town stunningly set against the back drop of the imposing Ben Nevis Mtn at 1345 metres the highest in the UK .

With tomorrow an expected 100km plus day and H just short of needing to be buried it was now time to urgently come up with a plan B !