Speed Kills...

Aware of the long distance and all the mountains to be crossed today, we set out earlier than usual and went for it. En route we saw lots of wildlife: stoat, kestrel, deer and owl. We rode on A roads most of the way and encountered much higher traffic levels. At one point an oncoming car hit a seagull which flopped onto the road in our path and we had to take evasive action to avoid being hit by it ourselves.

We continued practically without stopping all the way to Fort William arriving at 1:15pm. We bought lunch and enjoyed a well earned break as we had covered over 70 miles. We found our leg muscles stiffened considerably during lunch and it took a while to get them pedalling again.

On leaving Fort William, Ben Nevis came into view with patches of snow still lying on its summit and Graham had to take a photo (see attached) as last time he was there he saw only rain clouds.

We continued along the Great Glen and were glad to get off the bikes when we eventually reached our destination in Fort Augustus - all told a total of 103 miles for the day.
We did it in very good time but the speed has killed our legs and we both have aching knees and stiff legs. Let's hope we recover in time for a similarly demanding ride tomorrow.