Day 4 - Fort William to Inverarnan

19th July

Cloud had covered Ben Nevis overnight, but there was no rain as the lads set off up Glencoe and over Rannoch Moor. They all agreed that the continuous climb was the hardest part of the ride so far.

Spectacular scenery, bathed in dappled sunshine.

Meanwhile, Len had succeeded in contacting his friend and former student, Keith Hoole, who was spoken of highly by the manager of the Lochy Holiday Park, since he had advised him on the extension of the wastewater system from the caravan park. Keith had retired from the Water Department a year previously, but now finds himself Project Manager of Lochaber Geotrails for those interested in viewing the amazing geology of the Highlands. There are loads of trails and leaflets, so contact Keith's office if you're interested in following the trails. Or pick up leaflets at the Tourist Information Centre in Fort William.

I continued to be frustrated at getting a photo of the boys at the John O' Groats start line off to the local paper. Internet cafes won't let you download anything on to the hard drive, in the understandable fear of contracting a computer virus or worm, and the webmail refused to send any file over 1Mb in size. Keith let me try using his office, so I was at least able to transfer files over the hard drive, but I still hadn't understood the file size limitations of the web mail.

Keith reckoned that we had reached the most westerly point of our trip at Fort William.

The sun even came out as we crossed Rannoch Moor, and I would have loved to get out of the van and take photos, but we had stayed a long time in Fort William and were anxious to catch up with the boys, which we finally did eight miles short of Beinglas Farm, Inverarnan.

We camped overnight in two wooden wigwams at Beinglas Farm which lies on the West Highland Way, an old drovers' road, just north of Loch Lomond.

Beinglas boasts a campers' shelter where you can cook, and also a licensed bar and restaurant. Full English breakfast in the morning was excellent. They even sell midge head shields for walkers in the campsite shop.