Day 12 - Cairndow to Spean Bridge

I was not looking forward to today. The last extra-long leg – 90 miles – and a fearsome climb starting about 10 miles into the day. Flat enough at the start to get the leg muscles working again but then a 750 ft (230m) climb over about 7 miles (11km). But I shouldn’t have worried too much. It was a huge climb but what goes up must come down and on the other side we dropped rapidly to 250ft (77m) and from there back to sea level with a few bumps as we skirted the shore of Loch Eil, passing through Fort William to Spean Bridge.

On the way we rode along the top end of Loch Awe which is the picture I have chosen today. I cannot think of a more appropriate name for the stunning beauty of this place.

While most of the rest of the UK is under torrential rain and record rainfalls are being recorded, the sun was out and there were few clouds: but after a few hours we had two problems: we were all over-dressed and, therefore, starting to over-heat, and we were starting to burn. Luckily the support team located us and we were able to shed some layers of clothes and put on some layers of sunscreen.

The sting in the tail – as before on this trip – was that we had to work hard to reach our accommodation. Just when we thought it was all over, about 5 miles (8km) from today's home a 250ft (77m) hill appeared from nowhere. But the desire to get off the bike, into the shower and into some normal clothes always provides the extra energy needed to get us there in the end.

Tomorrow we ride north to Contin. About 77 miles but with one of the highest climbs of LC4 – from sea level to 1,250 ft (385m) over 5 miles (8km). This route takes us along the shore of Loch Ness so don’t miss tomorrow’s blip as you never know...