Fair Weather Bikers

We woke up to another lovely day and had breakfast in the inn.

We had 190 miles to do this day - the longest stint of the whole trip - so the nice weather was a major bonus!

The roads we were riding are some of my favourites. Heading north from Loch Lomand we were soon at Glen Coe which is simply stunning. Unfortunately the weather took a turn of the worse as we headed away from Glen Coe so we put our waterproofs on.

We filled up for petrol at Fort William and the stopped for lunch at a mill shop just to the north. As I was waiting to turn right into the car park a HGV coming the over way started having a go at me telling me to move over. I was on my side of the road but with it being narrow he couldn't get past with me waiting to turn. The arrogant twit should have let me go if he didn't have room rather than getting stroppy with me, but what-ever some people just like being angry I guess.

Returning to the bikes after lunch a load of Indian tourists had just got off a coach and my bike was proving very popular - people were standing next to it and taking pictures!! They were not interested in Nig's bike at all which amused me greatly!

The weather had improved by this time - it was actually sunny - which was awesome as from Fort William we headed along Glen Sheil which is a truly beautiful part of the world. We had a fantastic ride to Eilean Donan Castle where we stopped for a few pictures.

From there we headed north and were soon onto single track roads. Nig had a moment overtaking a car where the road got very narrow very fast - luckily Nig has a very fast bike so he was able to make the pass reasonably safely - though a lot faster than he had planned!!

The scenery continued to be simply stunning changing with and very picturesque views of the lochs and mountains around every corner. Ten miles away from the bed and breakfast the rain started again but we thought that with such a short distance left to do that we'd be OK without the waterproofs - this was a mistake! By the time we got to the B & B was were drenched.

The bed and breakfast was in Kinlochewe. We were informed by the (English) owners that there was nowhere to eat in town as the pub was shut for refurbishment and there was a private birthday celebration at the cafe, but they said we could eat with them if we wanted as they had plenty in. Impressed with their generosity we accepted.

We decided to have a walk into town to get some beers from the local shop and see what was about. It is a small town taking up around a mile stretch on a single road. We went into the shop and got a few beers, at the check-out we asked for a bag to put them in - well we might as well have asked for fairy blood the way they looked at us. 'What? A bag?' the (English) shop-keeper asked 'No we don't have any of those'. OK then. We cracked open a couple of tins on the way back to the B & B and it was actually very pleasant walking back in the now dry weather admiring the surroundings.

On returning to our room we noticed a sign on the wall informing us the evening meal was £18 each! Surely not we thought, they we they had offered made us believe we'd be charges little or nothing for the meal - we decided to wait and see. If it looked like we were being served a 3 course meal then I guess we'd be charged £18, if we were served a basic meal then we imagined we'd be charge less.

The meal was very basic - stewing steak, carrots, mash and gravy with treacle sponge and custard for dessert. We were eating at their dining table with a guest who obviously stayed there a lot. To say it was a little awkward is a bit of an understatement. Nig isn't really one for small talk and it didn't help that the owner and the guest were trying to out do each other with tall tales. I found it quite amusing just watching Nig squirm. Even more amusing was it eventually got too much for Nig so he went out for a smoke and came back much more 'relaxed'.

We stayed at the table only as long as seemed polite and made our excuses saying we had a long ride ahead of us so we needed an early night.