18/06/2016
"Done & Dusted..!"
After as always an excellent sleep in the hammock I woke early to the dawn chorus of birds singing throughout the woods on a warm, bright & sunny morning. Lying in the hammock for a while & too comfortable to move I thought I'd better make the effort & get up.
After getting out the hammock in less than two minutes the hammock was rolled up & into the snake skins & back in the bag ready to pack onto the bike.
Down on the shore of Loch Lochy for a wash & a last wee look around in the morning light.
Looking southwards down the loch I could see the bulk that is Ben Nevis nearly twenty miles away.
Bike packed up for the last time I made my way back up onto the GGW trail for the final day of the journey from Inverness to Fort William.
With mixed emotions of being exited to meet up with the family in Fort William but at the same time saddened that this trip seemed to just whizz by in no time at all & is nearly all over. I wasn't ready to finish up today & I wanted to keep going & was kind of wishing I took my wife's advice & do the West Highland Way & Great Glen Way together.
A braw clear warm & sunny day...
...why couldn't it of been like this when I was up on the high route above Loch Ness !!!
The familiar blue information panels that have been very informative along the route & here at Loch Lochy there were these ones telling stories of Commando training here during WWII.
Exiting Clunes Forest crossing the River Arkaig coming from Loch Arkaig & mountain hill burns which then flows into Loch Lochy.
Seemed to be a millionaires area here at Bunarkaig as there were around five or six large new build houses with massive gardens all looking out onto views of the loch & mountains beyond, how the other half live eh !
Since leaving Clunes Forest the GGW route followed a quiet minor road for a mile or so & then took a turn down onto a nice little shoreline single track where someone has taken it upon themselves to hang loads of bird feeders & planted parts of it with wild flowers.
This part of Loch Lochy was a sort of bay area & the water was reasonably calm...
...unlike out in the more exposed open part of the loch where these three canoeists with two people per canoe were having a proper fight battling into a strong headwind.
Gairlochy lighthouse also known as the pepperpot lighthouse at the southern end of Loch Lochy marking the entrance to the Gairlochy to Banavie section of the Caledonian Canal.
While riding along the shoreline trail I saw this wreck of a barge through a clearing in the trees so I had to stop & go for a look around it.
Along the way I was impressed at how immaculately tidy the canal was, short well kept grass with well looked after gardens & I saw no litter or dog poo's at all.
From here at Gairlochy locks the route runs alongside the last section of the Caledonian Canal for almost eight miles to Loch Linnhe.
Yet more information panels to stop at for a read & always very informative & interesting.
Flowing alongside the canal is the River Lochy.
Nice flat easy going pedalling for the rest of the journey taking in the slow tranquil way of canal life.
The Nevis mountain range is becoming more dominant the closer I get to Fort William.
Ben Nevis the middle picture had these weird clouds above it which looked like they were being transmitted from the mountain :-/
The picture directly above is of Aonach Mor Scotland's eighth highest munro at 1221 metres (4005 feet) and more interestingly to fellow mountain bikers it's the mountain on which the UCI Downhill World Cup is held in Fort William every year where the worlds elite downhill riders come to show us how it's done !
Back in June South African legend & Santa Cruz Syndicate rider Greg Minnaar smashed the coarse taking 1st place with nearly a four second gap over 2nd placed Aaron Gwin from the YT Mob team rider.
As I rode along the canal tow path the odd yacht, cruiser or canoe passed from time to time but as I arrived at the top of Neptunes staircase there were loads of boats in all shapes, sizes & colours.
An amazing sight to see is Neptune's Staircase, it comprises of a series of eight locks to lift boats 20 metres (64 feet) & is the longest staircase lock in Britain.
Different views of the daddy of them all the massive bulk that is Ben Nevis, the highest munro in Scotland & the highest point of the British Isles at 1344 metres (4409 feet)
Ben Nevis translated from Gaelic means 'Mountain of Heaven'.
This would of been a brilliant day to climb up to it's summit as the views on this clear day would of been superb, there is only one clear day out of ten on average at the summit & the average temperature at the summit is one degree below freezing. Deep snow lies all year in large pockets at the foot of the northern & north-east cliffs & snow can fall in any month of the year.
Arriving at Corpach to the last set of locks before Loch Linnhe & it was kind of sad seeing these way marker signs for Inverness & Fort William, only three miles to the finish from here.
With the Caledonian Canal now behind me the GGW now follows alongside the shore of Loch Linnhe.
A blue way marker directed me down this ramp but the ramp had a barrier padlocked to it top & bottom, I was thinking where am I meant to go now, then a women on a bike cycled past me & disappeared only to reappear again on the soldiers bridge where I was supposed to go ?
There were some stairs just along a bit which I didn't see...doh !
Thank god for the wifey on the bike !
Once down the slippy aluminium covered steps I crossed the 'soldiers bridge' which spans the River Lochy.
From the bridge the route follows the river for a while, I came across these louping steps to aid horse riders mounting & dismounting their steeds, quite an unusual thing to see these days. A short ride through a built up area & knowing Fort William quite well I knew I was only minutes away from the end...
...and before I knew it my Great Glen Way adventure had come to the end as I reached the finish point on a blisteringly hot Saturday afternoon in Fort William.
What a difference from the miserable wet, cold & windy start back up in Inverness four days ago & what a fitting end to a brilliant journey as the sun smiled on me here at the finish.
While waiting on the wife & kids I lay back on the grass reminiscing over the last four days but at the same time feeling slightly dejected that it was all over.
What a beautiful day to lie back enjoying the sun watching the world go by with Scotland's biggest munro for company.
While the family went for a daunder along the High Street I stripped my trusty & faithful old Giant & packed all my gear into the car & secured the bike onto the car ready for the journey home.
While I was loading up the car I spotted a West Highland Way baggage transfer van at the train station. Baggage transfer services like this has opened up the WHW to far more people who can't or don't want the burden of carrying heavy rucksacks, a great idea allowing people to walk the twelve / fifteen miles with just a small day pack & when they get to their lodgings for the night their baggage will be there waiting on them.
For me I love the hard work slogging my own gear, being self sufficient & camping out in the wilds of Scotland but each to their own I suppose.
So that's it...
..."Done & Dusted..!"
The Great Glen Way now ticked off my bucket list.
Thoughts of the route are positive despite the rubbish weather the first couple of days which didn't really bother me too much other than blocking out the scenery & not being able to have a daunder around my campsite confining me to the inside of my tent. I enjoyed the whole route, not the hardest route to do but none the less enjoyable, the first couple of days were the hardest going up & down hills but once I reached Fort Augustus it was more or less flat easy to ride canal towpaths to follow.
The amount of information panels along the whole route were very impressive, it was interesting reading the history about the areas I was passing through.
The quality of the well looked after paths & features were great & a credit to the GGW rangers who maintain them.
Riding along looking into the ancient lochs of the Great Glen Fault with that eerie mystical feeling scanning the surface of Loch Ness hoping to see it's most famous resident Nessie...
...(who does exist by the way ;-)
The downside of the journey had to be the midge attacks on day 2 but even more infuriating was the attitude & neglect of some of the other route users leaving their mess behind them, the used camp fires being the worst, that really angered me especially the one up on the high route where the idiots had pulled down parts of the dry stone wall of the seating / viewing area to make their fire surround !
So there you have it the Great Glen Way, now to start planning for next years adventure...
...the East Highland Way,
Fort William to Aviemore :-)
Hope you enjoyed the tour & thanks for reading.
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