The train home - not what I'd planned!

I woke reasonably early after a decent nights sleep in a soft warm bed, and lay relaxed until it was almost time to get up. Deciding on a quick check of my emails, my eye was drawn to one from Avanti titled “Laurie, your train has been cancelled”. Seems there had been a fire near Glasgow Central and no trains were going in or out, including my train back to Crewe. Not what you want to see on your day of travel. Fortunately I’m fairly clued up on the rail network, so my thoughts were get to Edinburgh from Queen Street and from Edinburgh I knew I’d get an Avanti service to Crewe. I got changed and checked out of the hostel, picked up the bike from the cycle store and rode the short distance to Oban station. I loaded the bike onto the train, noticing that I’d hung it the wrong way up last time, and sat down in my seat to check timetables and make the necessary bookings. I booked Glasgow to Edinburgh via the Scotrail app quite quickly, then tried to get an Avanti service to Crewe using the Avanti app.

 Interestingly, there seemed to be no services whereby I could book a cycle reservation, at least not until April! Fortunately I got onto the Avanti website via National Rail and from there found that I could indeed book my bike on, and so booked the 14:52 to Crewe. For the rest of the journey to Glasgow I looked out at the scenery, still lovely even though it was again dreich! Closer to Glasgow the scene outside became more urban (and depressing at times) and we were soon rolling into Queen Street station where I disembarked and went to the concourse for the short wait for the Edinburgh service. This train took cycles, but it was first come first served with a maximum of two bikes, which leads to uncertainty and an anxious wait. I saw one other bike on the concourse so wasn’t too worried. The train was announced and I headed to the carriage for bikes, and found I was the first on board – phew. Another cyclist joined soon after me and stored his bike alongside mine. The journey took a little less than an hour, and was through mainly urban countryside with not a great deal of interest to see. Arriving at Edinburgh I got off and went to pick up my tickets from the machine, where again no cycle reservation ticket was printed, so a quick trip to the ticket office was required to resolve that. 

Looking at the screens of arrivals and departures it was clear that Avanti had a problem on the West Coast route, with trains from London Euston delayed significantly – turns out there was a problem with a trespasser at Preston which was causing long delays. My train was suggested as being 31 minutes late, so a long wait of two and a half hours ensued. I had some lunch and did a couple of laps walking the bike around Waverley station to pass the time. At last, my train rolled in, and I loaded the bike into the storage space, found my seat and settled in for the three hour journey. I’d decided to get the train back to Sandbach from Crewe rather than ride home in the dark, so booked onto the 18:16. After a scenic ride down to the borders the weather started deteriorating after Carlisle, and all you could see outside was dank, gloomy countryside. The onboard train progress screens were starting to show further delays to the service, caused by the earlier trespass issue, so I looked up the Northern timetable to see what my options were going to be – fortunately there were trains every half hour so if I missed the 18:16 there would be another at 18:46. 

At Preston it was clear that I’d miss the 18:16, and with further delays by Wigan and Warrington even the 18:46 had come and gone. Finally we rolled into Crewe just before 7, meaning I had a short wait for the 19:16. Luckily we came in on platform 5 and the Sandbach train left from platform 1, meaning no need to get the lift up and over the tracks. My train came in and I loaded up the bike into the designated carriage, and a quarter of an hour later we were off.

Seven minutes later we rolled into Sandbach where I dismounted, manhandled the bike up and over the footbridge (where is the lift when you need one!) and rode the short distance home. Not the journey home I’d envisaged when booking the trip, but it was a lot less stressful than driving would have been, plus as a bonus I’d got to experience Edinburgh Waverley ahead of my trip later this year, and got experience of travelling on Northern Trains which I probably wouldn’t have done if I’d got to Crewe at 17:00 as originally intended. Despite the issues caused by the fire and trespass, my experience hasn’t put me off taking my bike on the trains again in the future. 

Later on I found out that the "trespasser" had climbed onto a bridge at Preston and wouldn't come down. He was later arrested, then de-arrested and sanctioned. It made me think that stress is all relative, a delay to a train is hardly comparable to being in a difficult state of mind.

Strontian to Oban : An unexpected delight

I woke after another decent night’s sleep, had breakfast of fruit and milk (and a cake), and went for a wash before packing the tent away. The weather was still overcast, and every so often a little gust of wind would blow for a few seconds. I set off on a little woodland track that I’d noticed on the map beforehand, which turned out to be a nice little ride that came out at the Strontian Hotel. 

I turned left onto the A861 main road for Ardgour and the Corran ferry, and found to my dismay that I had to contend with a headwind. I rode alongside Loch Sunart for a while and came to the Lochaline turn off, from where I ridden into Strontian last year. Continuing straight on, the road climbed gently for a couple of miles and I found I was getting passed by a few little clusters of vehicles, no doubt heading for the Corran ferry. The road continued to climb and to compound the misery of the strong wind it had started drizzling. Finally, after a long spell of climbing, I began to descend and I came to the Kingairloch road that I’d ridden on the first day of my trip. The rain was stopping by now, and I turned north along Loch Linnhe making good progress. I was still being passed by quite a bit of traffic and wondered how busy the ferry would be. I soon found out as I arrived at the ferry terminal, and sure enough there were around a dozen vehicles waiting for the ferry to arrive from the Corran side. I’d found there was a webcam allowing you to view the queue for the ferry, and so waved at it for Sandra again, and then rolled onto the ferry after the traffic had loaded. I asked the chap managing the loading if the ferry was still free for Over 60s, and he confirmed it was. The ticket collector came along shortly after and said “That’ll be £2 please”. I told him I was over sixty, indeed I was sixty four, and he remarked how well I looked for it.

 

I disembarked at Corran after the short ferry crossing and headed up to NCN route 78, the Caledonia Way. This was essentially a cycle path along the busy A82 road, for which I was very grateful seeing what was flying past. I followed the path south past Onich to North Ballachulish, occasionally swapping sides of the road. Here I crossed the Ballachulish bridge with Loch Leven to the east and Loch Linnhe to the west, and then left the side of the A82 to head up to the old Ballachulish Ferry station on the Ballachulish branch line that linked to Connel Ferry. 

This was an unexpected treat, a great ride taking me south alongside and above the main road. In a while a tunnel took the track under the road and alongside Loch Linnhe, and this continued until diverting inland just before Kentallen to make a short climb up onto the Malcolm Shepherd Way, a part of NCN 78 named after a former CEO of Sustrans. At the top of this climb was a viewpoint over Loch Linnhe with some information about some nearby rocks formed of a mineral called kentallenite, named after the local village. The viewpoint was opposite the glen containing the road to Strontian, where it looked like the weather was continuing to be a little grim. The track continued on a level gradient amongst lineside trees and fields, and I passed a group of Highland cattle in one field. 

Shortly after Duror the track climbed in a series of zigzags up to a bridge over a stream where an old rusty bicycle frame was hanging in a tree. It then entered the Highland Estates Nature Reserve, a forested area with a small lake. The welcoming sign had pictures of red deer, Scottish wildcat, pine marten and otter, but all I saw was a frog that I very nearly ran over. After leaving the reserve the former rail line continued running alongside the main road before leaving it at the entrance to Linnhe Marine. I passed a number of boats, before the impressive Castle Stalker came into view in the bay. 

Shortly after the track ran alongside the former Appin railway station, with the trackbed within the platforms under a bit of water. Just after Appin the rail track ended and NCN 78 ran alongside the main road again, crossing Loch Creran on the Creagan bridge. At Benderloch the track left the road again and went under a bridge with a mural decorated by the local Primary School children, continuing along past Ardmucknish Bay. I passed a sign warning of Loud Noises and Strong Winds and came to Oban airport at North Connel. Here the route put me onto the main road to cross Connel Bridge. I took the walkway across it, and noticed that the Falls of Lora were putting on a spectacular show. 

After a video and a few photos I jumped back on the bike, disregarding the Cyclists Dismount notice, and rejoined the main road to the junction with the A85. I followed this for a few miles towards Oban, thankfully the traffic wasn’t too bad, and turned off at Dunbeg to follow a rolling cycle path that took me to Ganavan Sands, and from there it was a short hop past Dunollie Castle and Lighthouse, past Oban War Memorial and onto Corran Esplanade where I turned into Oban Youth Hostel to end my tour. A day that had started horribly turned into a fantastic experience in the end, a terrific way to end my three day loop around Oban and Fort William.

Fort William to Strontian : an up and down day

I woke to a helicopter free morning, cloudy but not as cold as I was expecting after yesterday. I had a brief chat with the man in a tent next to mine, who was cycling around the area for a couple of days, then packed up my tent and set off on the slightly downhill ride into Fort William. In town I headed for the railway station and the Lochaber Cafe, where I had a fabulous breakfast of scrambled eggs on toast. A train arrived whilst I was eating, and as I left the station I noticed that it was the Caledonian Sleeper. I’d earmarked this as a potential for getting up to Scotland as it ran direct from Crewe to Fort William, however on further inspection it had proved useless. For one I would have been unable to board my bike at Crewe as the platforms weren’t long enough(!), and also I’d have had to change coaches at Edinburgh (in the wee hours). Such a shame.

On leaving the station I headed to the Camusnagaul ferry landing point, and then headed inland into the High Street where I stopped to text Sandra to arrange for her to get onto the Fort William webcam to see me. While I was doing this an old lady came up to me and started chatting. It turned out she used to manage Nevis Cycles in the town, and also came from Pickering in North Yorkshire despite her strong Scottish accent. It was lovely talking to her, but I had to go to catch the ferry. Heading from High Street to the West End roundabout I circled back onto the shared path beside the loch and stopped to wave to Sandra on the webcam (which you can view here ; Fort William Webcam). It was slightly surreal, but gave me a nice feeling of connection to her at home. I waved my goodbye and set off for the ferry across the loch, where I was the only passenger apart from the ship’s dog.

Over at Camusnagaul I set off on the A861, a narrow road with passing places running alongside Loch Eil, with the busier A82 on the other side of the water. The road crossed many flowing streams and rivers, and passed through a few small hamlets. At one point I passed a small group of Highland cattle and stopped for a photo. The road was nice and quiet with very little traffic, and there were plenty of gulls, geese, herons and cormorants (or shag, I can never remember which) on the loch side. There were some threatening looking clouds ahead though, and I wondered if I was in for a bit of rain later. Eventually I came to the A82 by the railway cottage at Drumsallie where I found a sign proclaiming “any person who omits to shut and fasten this gate is liable to a penalty not exceeding forty shillings”.

I joined the main road for a couple of miles. The traffic was fairly light, although what there was passed me at speed, and I was grateful for my lights. Soon though, I turned off onto a Forestry Commission track at Callop that would take me alongside Loch Shiel. There was a bit of a climb initially before reaching the loch, although the track surface was fairly good. From the track I could see the Glenfinnan Monument and Viaduct, and also saw a heron in flight. The loch was a dark grey as opposed to the deep blues I’d encountered yesterday, reflecting the difference in the weather. Heading south along the track I was riding into a strong blustery wind which made for hard going at times on the rollercoaster path. I passed the Mowi Guesachan fish farm, and many little streams tumbling down the hills to my left into the loch. As I rode further the track moved slightly away from the loch with more trees encroaching, and rode through avenues of tall trees with the scent of pine in the air. I passed a lovely looking cottage that I suspected was a holiday let.

A little further on I came across a dog walker with two collies, one on a lead and the other running up to and in front of me. Her name was Iris - the dog, not the walker - and she clearly wanted to play, as she dropped a stick at my front wheel. I say stick, it as more like a limp twig, but I picked it up and threw it for her. Naturally she brought it back and dropped it again. We went through this ritual a couple of times before I set off again. The track swung inland and climbed up towards Polloch, running alongside the River Polloch. At Loch Shiel car park the track joined a tarmaced road where I turned south. Crossing the River Polloch by a bridge I noticed a two man kayak in the water, heading upstream into Loch Doilean.

The road started climbing now, and I knew I had a beast of a climb ahead of me. I could see the loch dropping away to my left, through the trees. It was very quiet and peaceful in the forest as I climbed, and I hadn’t seen a car since leaving the A82. Eventually I came to the start of the beast, two miles at an average of 10.4% and climbing over a thousand feet. After the headwind slog of the track down Loch Shiel I was in no state to ride my laden bike up this, and so decided to walk up. This proved to be not much easier, what with the weight of the bike coupled with the fact that the panniers kept ramming into my legs as I pushed, however with frequent stops to take in the surroundings I finally made it all the way up to the top at a cattle grid. Here a Post Office van appeared from behind me, sadly too late for me to hitch a lift if I’d wanted! What goes up must come down of course, and so began a three mile descent to Strontian, with Loch Sunart in the distance.

It was a fabulous descent, a good road surface with a few switchbacks making me dream of being a Tour de France rider! Where it seemed I was pushing up the climb for ever, it seemed all to short a time before I was passing buildings again, and the road was beginning to flatten out. In no time I came to Strontian Fire Station and some schools across the Strontian River, and then I reached the A861 main road where I turned left and headed to the local community centre where I hoped to get a coffee at Cafe Sunart. Sadly though I was an hour and a quarter too late, as it had closed at 3pm. Instead, I called in at Strontian Stores and spent less than £20 on supplies for tea and breakfast, as well as a sandwich and a coffee that would satisfy me now. Once I’d polished these off I headed to the campsite and pitched my tent, showered and then settled for a relaxing evening. No helicopters this time, and the birds went to sleep early, leaving just the owl to disturb the peace when I went to sleep.