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| Date | Starting Place | Ending Place | Author | Last Update |
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| 05-04-11 |
Fort William, Inverness-shire, Scotland |
Kingussie, Inverness-shire, Scotland |
ray | 08-08-11 18:12:32 |
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It was yet another sunny day, though the TV said that the weather was about to change. After breakfast, I rode into town to buy the day's Subways and had an unpleasant interaction with the clerk. I asked for the sandwiches to be wrapped separately and was told that I'd have to pay £1 for that. In the end, I left the sandwiches wrapped as one and tried to understand how an extra piece of wrapping paper translated into a £1 fee. Here is downtown Fort William.  The first several miles were on the A82, the same busy road I'd rode in on and I knew it would be busy and narrow. There is a bike path for the first couple of miles to Torlundy (you can also see the road in this photo).  After that, it was back on the road, keeping one eye on my mirror. as usual, the vehicles came in clumps and I saw one about once a minute. When trucks were coming, I pulled off the road. The scenery was of the Nevis Range, tall, barren hills with patches of snow that due to the angle of the sun were hard to get a good photo of.  It was fabulous to be riding a bike along this terrain.  At the small town of Speen Bridge, I turned off on the much quieter A86. Not surprisingly, the Speen Bridge spans the Speen River. Here are river views in both directions.   The A86 makes almost a right turn off the A82 (which continues all the way to Inverness). With views like these, it felt like I was riding around the big hills behind Fort William.  I wound around slowly going up through forest  and along streams.  The vistas when I could see over the trees were spectacular.  Eventually, I came up out of the trees, which made the vistas even broader.  The combination of sun, terrain, views, and no traffic made this some of the best riding I did on this entire trip. In fact, when I am asked what I enjoyed most about my trip, it is this ride that comes to mind. After the road leveled out, I came to Laggan Dam.  I rode beside the long, blue reservoir for a couple miles.  At the end of the reservoir was a meandering stream in a pretty scene.  On the other side of the road was rocky cliffs and the occasional waterfall through the trees.  In case it isn't obvious, it is the white slash in the middle of the photo. It was easy to hear but hard to capture with a camera. The views continued to be stunning. Here is the meandering stream again but it was just too pretty not to take more photos of.  I didn't know it but I was now riding in National Nature Preserve. I could understand why it was preserved.  After a short distance, the stream widened into Loch Laggan.  This Loch is much longer than the reservoir and, as a result, required many more photos! Here is a look across it.  Again, I passed a noisy waterfall. This time, there weren't any trees in the way.  I didn't see any homes in this area except this castle on the banks of the Loch.  I was now in the Cairngorms National Park.  This view shows much of Loch Laggan.  At the end of the Loch, I saw the sky through these high trees. Beauty seemed to be around every turn!  This stream, with its small, rocky cataract, flowed into the Loch.  After a slight bit of uphill past Loch Laggan, I coasted down into valley whose floor was all green farm fields, which I rode along for several miles.  I came across River Spey which flowed out of a different Loch that I didn't see.  The traffic increased as I got nearer the A9. At Newtonmore, a good sized town, I got on a bike path and rode on it to Kingussie, a town with two blocks of main street. I checked into my B&B, showered, and rested. I should have known there would be trouble when I was forced to sign three different sheets of paper before checking in! The most bizarre was a warning sheet before being allowed on the internet and being told it was required by the government. Since this was the first one I'd signed, I doubted this. What's more, it was so vague as to be meaningless. Being a bit vocal about this was likely where the trouble started. Things got markedly worse when I went to the smoking kiosk to cook dinner. I went downstairs to the covered smoking area out back, a wood hut with a corrugated plastic roof, to fry up cashew nuts and steam broccoli. The whole operation takes maybe 7 minutes. I was very careful, as I always am, not to put the stove on a wood surface. Instead, I put it on an empty, thick glass ashtray. While I was out there cooking (I had mentioned to the woman who checked me in that I'd be cooking, though, I guess, she didn't understand me), her husband comes out asks what I'm doing. I tell him and show him and he says he doesn't think it is a good idea to have an "open" flame there. I pointed out that people smoke cigarettes in there, which requires an open flame. He responded with "Look, this is my place and I don't want you doing that here." I say "OK, I'm sorry, but the stove is hot and I can't move it just yet." and I put out the flame. I ask, "where would you like me to finish cooking?" he seems perplexed. I point to a cement slab on the ground and ask "Is his OK?" he grunts and walks away. I move the stove onto the cement slab, relight it, and continue steaming the broccoli. About a minute later, the wife, who was the one who checked me in, comes out and asks if I need my pots washed. I say, "All it is is steamed broccoli and some boiled noodles. I can do it." She then says that I'm not cleaning the pots in my room, that it isn't hygienic, and that I wouldn't be there if she'd known what I was going to do. Further, that I'd paid for Bed and Breakfast and nothing more. I was quite shaken by this and told her I was sorry to be causing problems. Just as a side note about hygienic practices, the owners kept dogs (which had to be held back when I knocked on the door) and allowed dogs in their rooms! I had noted that the posted rules downstairs said no eating in the room (I assume this doesn't include the tea cakes and hot drinks they have supplied) and I asked whether they would be willing to open the dining room (again, the listed rules plainly state that guests are allowed to use the dining room for take out meals) or would they rather I sat outside and ate. The wife opened the dining room. When my meal was ready (I still had to boil the noodles), I went in, ate out of my pot with my own plastic utensils (metal ones would scratch the coating), trying very hard to make no mess whatsoever. I didn't even use one of their paper napkins. When I was done, I had to find them to alert them to the dirty pots. The husband came out, took the pots, asked when I needed them, and walked off. Forget being treated like a guest. I feel more like a criminal. I wouldn't be surprised if they searched my room while I was out cooking to see why other things I was up to! I went to bed but didn't sleep well as the experience left me unsettled and the bed was uncomfortable. And, yes, I did find it ironic that the worst evening I spent in the UK wasn't with a deranged couchsurfing host but a fancy, expensive B&B! |
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