01 November 2018 – Ardgour and Strontian

Booking a night’s B&B at Ballachulish allowed Colette and me, along with Lynne and Keith, to have a couple of days away cycling up north. On the first day we headed for Port Appin with the intention of taking the ferry over to Lismore. However, the weather closed in so we just headed back to Ballachulish with heavy rain at the finish. This is getting to be a familiar scenario, as is my Garmin running out of battery before the end of the ride.

A good shower and meal, followed by a night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast recharged our batteries, and all the time my Garmin was plugged into the wall, doing the same.

Next day we headed to Corran to get the ferry over to Ardgour. It was easiest just to drive there and park at the ferry before getting on our bikes. However, I did feel a little uncomfortable leapfrogging the large queue of cars and lorries waiting for the ferry. We took up the final two places in the small car park at the end on the left and got ready for our ride.

Less than half of the queue of vehicles made it onto the ferry before it was full up, but that didn’t prevent bikes or foot passengers walking straight on. What’s more, it was free for us!

It was quite exciting making the short crossing, thinking about the day ahead. We had a crisp, bright start and the scenery up and down Loch Linnhe looked fantastic.

Once off the ferry, we headed south, following the coastline on a good quality road. There were quite a few photo stops and lots of lovely scenery to soak up as we rode along.

After about 6 miles of pretty flat riding, we noticed a small road running steeply uphill to our left. Surely that wasn’t ours? But yes it was! I hadn’t paid that much attention to the elevation in planning the first part of the ride, assuming we were hugging the coast in a flattish way. So we had a tough little climb, taking us away from the coast temporarily.

Any dissent in the ranks was soon forgotten once the next view opened up, revealing a lochan nestling in a bowl in the brown autumn landscape with our road snaking its way through. After that, we descended back to the shore, with the loch close by on our left and snow-dusted mountains to the right.

As we rode onwards, light rain began to set in. We rounded a corner at a bay and could see the settlement of Kingairloch ahead of us. As we closed in on the village, we discovered that it was situated down a dead end, while our road carried on above, requiring a short climb.

At the end of that climb, we stopped and broke out our Thermos flasks for a warming cups of coffee/tea. The rain held off for our wee break, but set in again after we continued. We were now steadily climbing northwest, away from Loch Linnhe. After we had been going for a while, the hills ahead of us were bathed in sunshine and we emerged from the rain. Looking back, Loch Linnhe looked dark and forboding with the rain clouds still lingering over the water.

The road flattened out and even went downhill briefly till we reached a junction. Our route took us north towards Strontian, and involved just over a mile of further climbing. After that however, it was two miles of steep downhill. Luckily there wasn’t anything coming up, so we had license to let go of the brakes if we liked, though I tried to keep the speed under 40 mph as the road was still wet. It wasn’t till we reached sea level again at the shores of Loch Sunart that we needed to slow for an oncoming car. Everyone was pleased that I’d routed us down that hill rather than doing the loop the other way round!

Looking east up the Carnoch River from the head of Loch Sunart

After regrouping, we had a short wait at roadworks before being ushered onto a stretch of brand new tarmac to ease our ride round to the head of the loch. Once we reached the main road from Ardgour again, it was just a short ride into Strontian.

We pulled up at the Strontian Hotel, where we could see tables set for dinner inside. Sadly, they didn’t open for lunch. Before we could panic about not getting lunch, a passing local told us that there was a cafe open further into the village.

The cafe was a welcome sight, and had a pretty big menu. I had a burger and the others mac & cheese. It was good warm, wholesome food, setting us up for the trip back to Ardgour. Sadly however, the rain started hammering down just as we got up out of our seats to get back on the bikes.

Once we got going, the rain moderated a bit, but stayed with us along the flat out of Strontian and all the way up the following hill. Then, as Loch Linnhe came back into view, it dried up again, so we could enjoy that last long descent.

By this time, my Garmin was beeping low battery at me again. I was hoping for it to last at least to the 40 mile mark, but it gave up the ghost again at 39.94. Maybe it’s a coincidence, but all the times my Garmin has died on me, and that’s 3 times in the last month alone, it had been raining. I’m going to have to go back to recording my rides on the phone like before.

Anyway, forget about the silly Garmin, we were still fully enjoying our ride and the scenery, stopping for yet more photos before it sadly came to an end at the ferry. It had been a terrific ride. The showers really didn’t spoil it at all, and in fact, the ever-changing cloudscape really enhances the views. It surely wouldn’t be as atmospheric with blue skies all the way… but I’d be willing to give it a try, all the same!

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