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.