It took a long time to get there, we got soaked and it’s only 70 miles long, but the Great Glen Way is one of my favourite cycle trips. Starting from Fort William and following the route of the Caledonian Canal, the first section is mostly tow path; easy riding but a little bit boring. From Loch Ness onward the scenery and the riding improve dramatically. There’s nothing technical, just a few steepish hills and some loose surfaces to contend with. Then to finish there’s a wonderful six mile descent into Inverness.
We split the journey into three, easy sections, stopping for B&B at Fort Augustus and tongue-twisting Drumnadrochit. As you can see from the photographs, we took the bare minimum, just a drybag and rucksack each.
We could easily have done the journey in two days but it wouldn’t have been as much fun. Yes, it rained but it adds to the challenge and when the rain stops it feels so good to be alive.
These photographs really put the ‘snap’ into snapshot. The camera (waterproof Olympus TG-310) was fixed to the handlebars – hence the odd angles and the less than perfect framing.
A simplified version of our track – we didn’t really cycle over water in Fort William.