Day 12, continued: I’ve come to bike with you again

I had a mission now – to bike to Luss, a multi-day trip, and get there in time for their highland games. Of course there was lots to see along the way.

The air in Orkney and Shetland had smelt of the ocean and the windswept mountains and plain; here it smelt of a vibrant forest, with a dizzying abundance of oxygen. Fog draped the nearby mountains.

A few clicks away, I came into the town of Pitlochry, a charming and much-touristed town. The town has two distilleries. The first is Edradour, a truly unique distillery in Scotland, and their smalled in terms of output. I was most disappointed that I could not visit, as it was closed due to COVID. The second was Blair Atholl Distillery (but didn’t I just leave a place called …?). Most of their product goes as the heart spirit to Bell’s blended whisky, and thus can’t be all that good, really; but as is so often the case, they make a select, small amount of delicious small batch available only at the distillery.

I visited a bike shop/cafe to inflate my tires, lube my chain (not a metaphor) and fill up with another hearty Scottish breakfast for a day of biking.

On my way out, I took a top by Pitlochry’s dam and fish ladder.

And then I was once again biking over field and dale.

Dewar’s is an enormous blended Scotch distillery. Similar to Johnnie Walker, one doesn’t go out of one’s way to try their phenomenal whisky. Rather, it is to see the Disney whisky experience and, most importantly, because they were (mostly) on the way.

I then wanted to bike as much as I could before I lay me down to sleep. I had to have a few days of intense biking to get to the Games on time. Off I went until I got to the town of Kenmore, on a loch. It was my first time really getting to see the beauty if these long, narrow lakes. More and better pics of those later.

I found a spot of woods nearby in a park for some wild camping, and rested up for the next day.

Day 13: Tour d’Alba

In some ways, not a lot to say on this day as it was mostly spent on my bike, chewing up road. But it was non-stop beautiful. Only a bit more than 30 miles, but it did have 1000+ feet of gain and 800+ feet of descent.

I ende the night at Crianlarich youth hospital. It was full of very smelly backpackers on the West Highland Way and a very randy, chain-smoking female manager who was quite clearly ready to make herself at my disposal. Good for the ego, anyway.

Day 14: Trossachs galore

This was another bike biking day, or at least bike biking morning. I wanted to get into Luss in time to rest up a bit to fully enjoy the games. Unfortunately wild camping in the Trossachs national forest are few and far between to protect nature, so that meant heading to the Luss campsite.

The first part of the trip took me at 6 miles of a veritable cliff of a downhill on a very busy highway. Lots of practice keeping on the shoulder to not get pancaked! Long downhills like this are wearing on the nerves but great for getting where you want to go on time.

The ride was through the forest, and for the latter part along the lakes of Glen Luss.