It was back in March in a Winchester Pub, I was discussing where we could go for our Summer Mountain Biking Challenge which Myself and my riding partner Andrew do each year. The past two years we have been to Wales but this time we were slightly better equipped and could afford to get to Scotland and back as well as stay for two weeks. The plan was to do the West Highland Way, noted in magazines as an "epic ride", followed by over a week of riding in the West Highland area and on the Isle of Mull, off the West Coast. This would give us 2 full weeks of Mountain Biking Bliss, that was the plan anyway.......
We began on a sunny June morning in Glasgow after a night at the Glasgow Youth Hostel. Our first challenge was to find a bike shop to purchase a new cycle helmet for Andrew who had left his at home. We were very pleased to find that Alpine Bikes of 116 Great Western Road was open early enough for us to catch the train from Aniesland Station to Milngavie (pronounced Milguy) and be ready to start the West Highland Way before Mid-day.
We set off from Milngavie full of enthusiasm and expectations of what was to come. We thoroughly enjoyed our first few miles off-road through the mud of Mugdock Wood. If we'd known it would be our only off road that day we would have gone back and ridden it again. The rest of the day was spent riding on road alongside the actual trail, which was either inaccessible to bikes with panniers or blocked by gates, stiles, walkers and "No Cycling" signs. We proceeded to Balmaha where we stopped for a delicious lunch of doughnuts and sausage rolls. After lunch we continued to Rowardennan, where we had been told it was best to cross Loch Lomond on the ferry, rather than struggle up the east bank of the Loch across numerous fords, on very rocky terrain for 20 miles. We arrived at the Pier at Rowardennan at 1:58pm, expecting a queue of passengers and a regular ferry service, this couldn't be further from the truth. We were greeted to a deserted car park and rickety pier made of scaffolding. We scanned the horizon for a ferry but nothing was to be seen, then all of a sudden a little boat came chugging into view. This couldn't be the ferry, surely? It was! We boarded, elated until we were told the fare was £5 each to cross the Loch, a distance of 2/3 of a mile. It was then that I noticed the ferry timetable - 3 journeys a day at 10:00, 2:00 and 6:00. We had just caught the 2:00 ferry by 2 minutes!
The rest of the day we spent on the A82, stopping regularly to marvel at the fact that we had caught the ferry and thinking about the consequences if we had missed it. The weather was generally fine until we reached Inverarnan where it rained and rained until we reached a midge infested Crianlarich. We didn't stay long and proceeded to our destination for the evening, Wigwams off the A82 between Crianlarich and Tyndrum. We arrived exhausted but satisfied having completed the first 60 miles of our version of the West Highland Way.
That evening we walked to Little Chef in Tyndrum for a Carbo-loading feast of using our 1/2 price meals vouchers we got from Halfords when stocking up on spare inner tubes, brake blocks and lube.
We set off the next morning in drizzle to the Little Chef in Tyndrum once again to enjoy and "Olympic Breakfast" before continuing the West Highland Way. The rain cleared after the descent to the Bridge of Orchy and we were once again filled with enthusiasm as we approached the beginning of the real challenge. We skirted Loch Tulla on a minor road and then headed into the mountains on the first bit of off road since the previous morning. The West Highland Way follows a well made military road for much of this section of the route until it rejoins the A82 at Kings House Hotel. Although a little rough the surface of the track was good and we made excellent progress as we overtook at least 20 walkers walking the Way.
Along this section we experienced excellent views and reasonable weather but this soon changed when we reached the A82 for the next leg of the journey to the notorious "Devils Staircase."
As we entered the pass of
Glencoe we were greeted with a vicious icy storm of wind,
rain, sleet and minimal visibility as well as the
constant spray from passing lorries and coaches. We
reached the point where the West Highland Way turns off
towards Kinlochleven via the Devil's Staircase and we
followed the path upwards from the road for about 100
metres before turning back onto the road. We had decided
after very little distance that in the icy storm we would
be unable to climb this path, pushing our fully laden
bikes all the way up the Devil's Staircase and beyond.
Back on the road we began to descend to village of
Glencoe, but on hills where we could have easily reached
40mph we could barely keep 20mph with the wind and rain
in our faces. When we reached Glencoe all was calm but we
were very hungry having not eaten since the Little Chef
in Tyndrum over 4 hours earlier. We proceeded to
Ballachulish where we stopped for a baked potato in a
little café. 
It was when we came to set off again, in
the rain, we noticed that one of the rivets on Andrew's
Pannier had split through the fabric leaving it swaying
in the breeze. Our luck turned at this point as I
discovered a nut and bolt which I had brought along as
spares for my pannier rack would fit the flapping
panniers. While the rain continued to fall we made these
emergency repairs and set off on the A82 once again
towards Fort William. The journey from here on in was not
as wet and quite speedy as numerous passing coaches
propelled us along. We reached Fort William in good time
allowing a short shopping expedition for an evening meal,
some more nuts and bolts (my pannier bag lost a rivet as
we pulled into Fort William too) and some drink to
celebrate the completion of the West Highland Way. We
then struggled to cycle the last 3 miles to the Youth
Hostel with bulging panniers before collapsing in the
lobby in shock. We had actually managed to ride the West
Highland Way (with several diversions) in two days,
covering a total of 114 miles.
Last Updated 05-09-2000
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