Day 14 - Faichemard to Fort William (50km)Last day of the cycle tour, and this turned out to be the only day we had to put the tents away wet from the rain, which just shows how lucky we had been. We set off downhill, stopping for breakfast just before joining the A82 down the great Glen, and then turned South West, following the loch side and heading for Fort William. The road was still on the Northern side of the canal, which meant we were still on the older Highland geological plate, eventually we crossed the river on a swing bridge and we left for the southern, newer plate. The Great Glen being a rift where the two meet*.
The road was pretty busy, so we chose a gravel cycle path along the canal side to the top of Loch Lochy, rising and falling over the undulating gravel track through a small woodland. Unfortunately this proabaly wasn't good for my rear wheel. We returned to the A82 instead of taking on the rocky forestry track that the NCN route takes, and riding alongside the lake, got yet another view. One we had time to enjoy as I lost another rear spoke, and had to find a way of getting the wheel even enough to run with only 34.
Wheel sort of fixed, we carried on along the main road, now unfairly rising away from the canal to over 100m. At the top of the hill was a big memorial to Commandos. I went and took some photos of this while Ruthie went of to try and blag some Irn Bru out of one of the coach tour guides in the cr park
After this we had a choice. Keep riding down the main road, which was the shortest route to our destination, and with the best surface, or drop down to Gairlocy on the back roads, and lose the traffic. With the state of my rear wheel I was thinking about the former, but we decided on the Gairlochy road, a great choice as we decended down into the valley through deciduous woodland very unlike the coastal landscapes we had experienced the previous couple weeks.
At the bottom we had one last good surprise, we picked up the Caledonian canal again at Gairlochy, and rode a very smooth gravel towpath all the way to Fort William, finishing with a decent past the numerous locks of Neptune's staircase.
This was a wonderful finish to the ride.
We booked in at our campsite, and the receptionist was able to direct us to the LBS. Dropping all the bags in the site reception we then, unladen headed off to Inverlochy, over a footbridge and past a yard where the steam engines were kept that run along the Fort William - Mallaig line on special exursions
The bike shop was a proper cycle shop, not a selling bikes shop. It had a large number of new bikes, mainly mountain bikes on display, but also had a big workshop and a selection of refurbished bikes, along with shelves of useful bits and pieces.
The mechanic was unfazed when I asked for a 292mm and a 290mm spoke, and pulled them promply from a shelf. He also let me borrow his tools to remove the cassette and fit the spokes. The total cost when I asked at the end was a whole 80p.
Wheel fixed we headed off into Fort William itself, and our final destination on the tour
Fort William felt like a big city after the tiny hamlets and villages we had visited over the last fortnight. We wondered up and down the main street before stopping for a coffee, then worked out how get to the station and headed back to the site to pitch our tents. In the evening we returned for dinner, each having nice big steaks in a restaurant where the steak was good, the starters not quite as good, and the waitresses a bit heavy handed with the plates and bottles etc. Then full and happy retired to our tents
*On a previous tour I had spent a lot of time reading a board about this while waiting for the Camnusnagal ferry across to Fort William, as the ferry didn't turn up