No.
Anyway, today, I decided to take it easy on the leg, so I aimed for Fort Augustus, which turned out to be a lovely 78.85 mile ride, with a top speed of 34.4mph.
I was REALLY going slow today, the pace you would be going at listening to some Brian Eno music if you will. I was so chilled out after an amazing evening of good food and chat with Joy and her sister, and a nice wee cup of tea in the morning. (Thanks for the cereal bars and tablet!)
So, as I was cruising along a bridge at a nice snails pace, a cyclist out of nowhere came into my peripheral vision and sped off into the distance. I just couldn’t help it, but I had to catch this guy up for some reason, so I kicked into a higher gear, got the adrenalin going and chased him for about a mile while he was about 60/70m ahead of me. When I eventually caught up with him, I was a bit cheeky and was drifting in his slipstream. After about 500 yards he noticed me then we had a wee chat. He’s a member of his local cycling club, and was impressed with my speed after mentioning I was doing a solo LEJOG bike ride. He was en route to Fort William so we rode along together for the next 40ish miles which was great. What was funny was that we were talking more and more about cycling and how amazing it is in Scotland then I realised something rather amusing. That before training for this bike ride, I had actually never done any bike touring whatsoever. All I have done is cycle around parts of London and Glasgow to get from A to B and last years London-Paris (which was as I have mentioned in a big group). So 800 miles into this, I’d only just realised that I had taken on a whopping big challenge with my limited experience, and I was so pleased to hear that I’ve a great pace on day 9. This does explain why I have not managed to do 150 yet in a day. In all honesty, I was being a weeeeeee bit too ambitious it’s safe to say. However, it still has been a great challenge, and there is still about 200 miles left! Cheer for the company Mike!
So, as I’m staying at the foot of loch ness tonight, I decided to go for a wee walk and enjoy the view. I eventually got chatting to a couple of guys from “Leeeeeeeds”. Peter and Tim, who are on their own hired mini yacht thing, going along a few lochs. We had a really engaging chat about the Israeli Palestine conflict and Pete was even generous enough to give me a book of his on this very subject! Was a late night of good chat, tea and tasty Scottish fudge! Thanks!
On that note. I’m off to sleep now. Big breakfast is being served at 8!
One last thing I’ll mention, is how incredibly beautiful today’s cycle was. This photo just cannot capture how amazing today was, but you get the idea!
Goodnight! :)
