Scotland Trip - Day 6, Friday 20th August
Big Glen

I wake up early morning with the distinct feeling I'm not alone. This turns out to be the case. I seem to have acquired a small black cat, which is quite happily curled up at the side of me. I left the window open to gat some air and obviously he (she?) has sneaked in. I recognise it as being "Pix" one of the two cats who live here. I get up and open the bedroom door a bit, so it can get out if it wants to. The sky is cloudy and there is some patchy rain, but it looks like it might clear up later.

Pix the cat

The other cat (name unknown)

Later on I hear the owners get up. So does my fickle friend and he departs immediately in search of food. I get up and see that the weather has brightened considerably. I have breakfast and go and take a look at the bike.

The bike is looking a bit depressed. The chain is rusty and so are the discs. Well the discs will sort themselves out in the first couple of miles. I check the Scottoiller. It appears to have air bubbles in the pipe. I'm not sure how they got in there. I start the engine and make sure oil is dripping on the chain. Something is dripping on the chain, but it isn't oil. It's a clear liquid. It turns out to be water as do the "air" bubbles in the pipe. A quick inspection reveals that the lower 10% of the oil reservoir is water, with the oil floating on top. Further investigation finds the source of the problem. The breather pipe from the Scottoiller is missing. Evidently it has fallen off and where it fits on the Scottoiller there is a hole where water could get in. It would have to be pretty bad weather for water to get in. I reflect that I have in fact ridden through some very bad weather. I set the Scottoiller to maximum to force the water out.

Aultbea

I come to pay for the B+B. Ł18! A bargain! I ask him if he wants something for running me to the pub and back, but he won't hear of it. I tell him about my rusty chain. He's not surprised. "Everything goes rusty round here", he says. There is simply too much salt in the air. Local garages have a hard time keeping cars in pristine condition. His local garage uses the old engine oil to spray the undersides of the cars to rust proof them a bit. It's like that round here. Stuff gets done without you having to ask. It used to be like that with his local bank (The Bank of Scotland). If his account looked like it was going to go overdrawn, the bank staff would transfer a bit of money from one of his other accounts to cover it. Presumably they would also let him know they had done it! However the Bank of Scotland has been taken over by the Halifax and it's all changed. He doesn't like it. A lot of the locals don't. I think it's because they have lost that personal touch that they used to have, where you dealt with the same person every single time and that person looked out for you and your money. I'm sure if any member of the Halifax transferred some money between your accounts without your say so, they would be fired for gross misconduct. Allan isn't actually local. He's a southerner, but his wife was born in the village. Her Dad used to live on the island (The Isle of Ewe) in the middle of the Loch. Allan and his wife (Anne) are actively involved in the efforts to promote tourism in the area.

Gruinard Bay

I get under way at about 10:00am. I backtrack a little way to take some pictures of Aultbea. Then it's off north up the coast road. Past Gruinard bay and then down the side of Little Loch Broom.

Little Loch Broom

Just past here the weather starts to look pretty grim up ahead. I pre-empt it by stopping in a layby and put my one piece waterproofs on. I carry on and the terrain starts to get a bit foresty. It does actually rain.

There may be trouble ahead!

I join the A835 from Ullapool and come down the south side of Loch Glascarnoch. This appears to be a reservoir, since it is dammed at the south east end where the Aultguish Inn is.

The dam at the end of Loch Glascarnoch

The Aultguish Inn

I get into a real foresty section and I get some good roads. I crack on a bit. I seem to be making some good progress. Not surprising. I seem to be doing about 90 mph down this section. I back off a bit to a more reasonable speed.

Garbat Forest

I'm into Inverness at about 1:00pm. I do a fuel/food stop and then set off down the south side of Loch Ness. It rains some more, but I push through it to some decent weather. Along this road there are parking bays with steps down the shore of Loch Ness. I stop at one of these and sit on the shore and eat my lunch.

JC and Loch Ness

Stop at Foyers and have a look at the water fall there and then carry on to re-join the B862. Superb views of Glen Brein and Loch Tarff as you drop down to Fort Augustus. It's a good road from here to Spean Bridge, over the Caledonian Canal past Loch Oich and down the side of Loch Lochy (someone really put some thought into naming that Loch!) Find the B+B at Spean Bridge and check in at about 3:30pm.

The Foyers Falls	View North up the B862
	Glen Brein
	Loch Tarff
	Loch Tarff

Distance traveled today so far 141.4 miles

Total distance so far 1057.4 miles

Off out again at about 5:00 and down to Glen Nevis. You can ride all the way up to the end of the road where there is a small car park. Some people are just setting off on the walk. They'll see me up there. By the time I've locked the bike and got myself ready, they're back. Apparently the midges are out in force and they have abandoned the walk. I get my extra strength insect repellant out and douse myself in it. By the time I've finish it's dripping off me.

On the way up to Glen Nevis	The Glen	JC and the Steal Falls
Rope bridge over to mountain rescue post	Rope bridge from the other side	Mountain rescue post

Set of at about 5:30pm. There are a lot of midges initially and they commit suicide by trying to land on my arms. By the time I reached the glen proper (30 minutes later) my arms were covered with dead midges. The insect repellant appeared to be losing it's effectiveness so I applied some more.

The Steal Falls	JC under the Steal Falls	View from Steal Falls to mouth of the Glen
View from rope bridge to mouth of the Glen	View up the Glen	My arm covered with midges

There is a mountain rescue post up here. A white cottage just at the mouth of the glen. The only way to reach it is over a rope bridge. Fine! I'm game for this, so I cross it. Once you are on this side you can reach the Steal Falls, the water fall on one side of the valley. Back over the rope bridge and up to the Steal Ruins. These appear to be the ruins of an old croft.