John O'Groats to Lands End

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JOGLE route - Kiltarity to Invergarry

Day Five of my end to end cycle ride

Strone Castle on Loch Ness
A site I'd always wanted to see, Strone Castle, Loch Ness

The B&B at Kiltarity is one of those who will, by arrangement, do you a packed lunch and this made for a good start knowing that at least, should there be a major problem later on, I had some 'emergency rations'.

I had been looking forward to this day, the first more in the Central Highlands and passing alongside Loch Ness, but Boy, did it have a start to it. The stretch of extremely quiet road just went up and up and up and as it did so, a strong feeling of remoteness came over me and it was pretty cold on top of that.

Saying that, although difficult cycling, the scenery was really nice, a kind of mysterious feel about it with small Lochs, marsh land and shrub all mixed in. It would not be amiss in the Hound of the Baskervilles!

It did seem this long struggle uphill (and I had very tired legs this day) would never end, then all of a sudden, the road dropped before me and a rather dangerous 16% hill kind of sucked you down to the bottom. Luckily I was aware of the danger of the hill as at the bottom there's a road junction which looms out of nowhere.

This leads you into Drumnadrochit, past the Loch Ness Museum and hey presto, right beside Loch Ness itself with a very early view of Strone Castle.

It was here that I realised I'd maybe made a mistake with the route as I followed the A82 alongside the Loch. I think I was under the impression that being beside the Loch, the road would be flat - wrong ! and it was busy as well. This was a shame as you found yourself concentrating on your safety rather than getting the views in

So, through Invermoriston and along to Fort Augustus to be confronted with quite a few Tourists who stop to view the Locks and Loch Ness from the south.

From there it was more exciting scenery through Valley and Highland to Invergarry where I'd booked what was to be the only Youth Hostel on my trip.

I was worried about staying at a Hostel, sharing a room with five others, but it all panned out quite well. In fact I was youngest person in the Dorm and one of the chaps came from Dover! The other good thing about it was that you shared a lot of information with other people. There were four End to Enders going the other way and two Munro Walkers, so all the conversations were about adventures - or Beer!

Wild and desolate country south of Kiltarity
The long remote climb from Kiltarity toward Loch Ness

River at Invermoriston Loch Ness
Invermoriston

Lochs at Fort Augustus
The Locks, Fort Augustus

The bridge at Invergarry
The bridge at Invergarry

Invergarry Hostel, Scotland
The Invergarry Hostel set in some lovely scenery (no shops close by though - so you need to carry some food with you
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