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| Start of the Ballachulish-Oban cycleway |
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| Castle Stalker |
The first ferry of the day saw me over the Corran Narrows at 8.30. The clouds were hanging over the Ardour peaks, but it looked a promising day. I stocked up on an evening meal in Onich, then it was over the Ballachulish Bridge, with fine views of Glencoe. Beyond the bridge the NCN78 largely followed the old railway, which once went from the Ballachulish slate quarries to Oban. The railway closed in 1966, probably in disgust at England winning the world cup. It was cold in the shade, and the great horseshoe of Beinn a Blether, Mountain of the Thunderbolt, loomed to the south. This path was an absolute delight, hugging the coastline, and swinging to the south-west and into the headwind, not quite so delightful. Just beyond the Sound of Shuna there was a great view of Castle Stalker, so I stopped at a stone bench and made a coffee. I chatted to an American couple. "The castle looks familiar" one said. I mentioned it was in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and he instantly replied with "Your mother was a hamster and and your father smelt of elderberries." I tried not to take it too personally though.
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| Strath of Appin |
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| NCN78, Glen Lonan |
Through the Strath of Appin the sun became a permanent fixture, and there were fine views up Loch Creran. The tidal Falls of Lora were in full flow at the outlet to Loch Etive; they must be quite some spectacle on a large spring tide. I bypassed Oban by staying on the NCN78 which followed a very quiet undulating road past Barran Caltum, then turned east along Glen Lonan. Despite being on a tarmac road it was the highlight of the day: a cloudless sky, short-cropped rolling pasture, and flocks of black-faced sheep, a picture which shouted "Camp here!" But it was only just gone 1pm, too early to call it a day. The peaks of Ben Cruachan, Stacky Hill, came into view, and there was a long descent into Taynuilt where I bought some cream cheese and baps, suspecting that the pasta meal wasn't going to fill me up. A 200 metre ascent of Glen Nant kept the body temperature up despite the coolness in the shade, and it was 4pm by the time I reached the western shore of Loch Awe and started looking for a camp spot. After a couple of forays into fields I found a rough track leading down to the loch side and a perfect place for the night. The temperature was rapidly falling so I put the stove on for a brew while I erected the tent, and quaffed a litre of tea while enjoying the last half hour of light.
The pasta meal didn't fill me up, so I made a cheese bap as well. This was shortly followed by the three remaining baps! The plan for tomorrow was to follow the backroads to Lochgilphead, the unavoidable A road to Tarbert, then the ferry to the Isle of Arran the following day. This would avoid the worst of the Central Belt conurbations.
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| Loch Awe |
Off road 41km
A road 4km (much avoidable on pavement)
B road 11km (8km single lane B road)
Unclassified road 32km
