A sunny day at last, and lots of miles too. After crossing the Erskine Bridge, I followed the cycle path. It was nice, but as it wound carefully through quiet residential streets, I couldn’t help but feel it was a fairly slow way to get along. Great for a weekend stroll, mildly frustrating during a LEJOG ride. Still, as advertised, it did get me up to Balloch.
I then struggled to find the start of the next cyclepath to avoid via A82. Couldn’t find it. Ended up doing the first few miles on the road, turning off at some holiday place, duck world or something like that. Passing a hotel and a wedding, i found myself at the lochside, but no path to cycle on. As i retraced my steps, checking all other possible routes, I realised that the cycle path was literally just the pavement by the side of the A82! I wasn’t very impressed! Still, better than being actually on the road. The path improved a bit later on, using parts of the old lochside A82 tarmac. Still, it took a long time to do the 15 miles up to Tarbet.
Wierdest moment of the day came after heading west for 2 miles to the hotel in Arrochar. I came to the junction and met . . . the sea! Well, a sea loch anyway. An unmistakable smell of salt water, after a day spent next to a fresh water loch. Really striking.
Tomorrow is, in the Rumsfeld ontology, a known unknown. Rannoch Moor, Glencoe and Fort William. Never done it on a bike before though!