Enjoyed the Jazz Fest last night, would have liked to stay for more, but time to move on. A second short day this week, 21.4 miles today. Going from the jazzy town of Callander to Killin, and the
Falls of Dochart. There’s one 1000 foot climb in there over Glen Ogle, but otherwise fairly flat or undulating. Windy and wet today, 55 / 13 degrees, gusts up to 40mph. More beautiful scenery expected, will be happy if we get some views!
We headed out of Callander and immediately encountered a flood. I would have liked to get a photo of it, but there are some things you don’t do while pedalling through high water. We didn’t dunk our entire feet, but Steve’s were dipping in and out as we pedalled slowly through. Not long after that there was sunshine. I took a picture so we would have proof!
We had great rail trails for the majority of the day, mostly through a forest, by either a river or a loch. A few tracks, some gravely or stony, and one rainbow covered one!
We bumped into a cyclist who told us that the cycle route over Glen Ogle was closed. We do tend to take ‘road closed’ signs with a grain of salt, as usually the bike can get through. This closure looked more significant than that. Seriously flooded or eroded paths are tough to deal with on a tandem, tricky to just pick it up and clamber over an obstacle. There was a new sign saying the route was closed, and as we saw this morning there’s been a lot of rain! We decided to take the A road over Glen Ogle, it was much more trafficy, but chances are we could make our way over it.
A few showers, a deluge as we arrived in Killin, but that was pretty much it. It’s a small town surrounded by mountains and a rushing river running through it. The falls are quite famous and there were loads of people braving the sideways rain to see them. Settled in to the B&B, and then headed out for a long, cozy lunch at The Dochart Falls Inn.
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| Just proof that there was sunshine today |
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| Grey skies and sheep as we headed out |
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| Cattle grid |
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| Not doing a lot of pushing now, this just after a gate |
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| Rushing and very full river |
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| Checking out the bike while I take photos |
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| Rainbow over the loch |
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| Loch in the distance, break in the clouds |
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| The hills are growing larger |
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| Another loch that we will soon be riding next to |
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| A wee bridge |
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| Riding next to the loch, remote Scottish house on the other side. So windy there were white caps on the water |
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| Climbing Glen Ogle |
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| We were supposed to be up there |
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| Okay, looks like a reason for closing the path |
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| Gorgeous when the sun comes out |
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| Might have worked out for the best, I wouldn’t have gotten this shot |
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| Beautiful on both sides |
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| Looking back down from the top of Glen Ogle |
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| Not our favourite type of road, but at least it was open |
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| Made it to the top |
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| Today’s profile, short with a climb |
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| Dochart Falls |
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| Village by the Falls |
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| Looks like an old hunting lodge |
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| Inside - dry, warm and cozy |
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| The unnamed pint - something local we were told |
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| Scottish tapas |
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| Look at how thick that wall is! |
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| Dochart Falls from the other side |
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| The Dochart Falls Inn |
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| Amazing how much water is rushing through here |
Today was stunningly beautiful and i understand it only gets more so as we get into the Highlands…
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| One more rainbow to cap off the day! |
Hello from the front, thanks Katherine (aka Mission Control) for another update and another day’s navigation and pedalling. As you can perhaps see from the pictures the terrain has been getting more “Highland” like the past couple of days and I think will stay this was now for the rest of the trip. An interesting characteristic is that although the hills are much bigger than Cornwall they are generally less steep and therefore there is less huffing and puffing and get off and walk, generally it’s obstacles or poor surfaces that cause us to get off (except of course when pedalling through flood water!!). For me the jury has been out on the route in terms of so much being on cycle paths and tracks as they are slow and “fussy” especially on the tandem but I think I am converted this last couple of days when we have needed to take a “detour” because of the route being damaged by the weather. Although the roads are not massively busy here in this part of Scotland there are enough trucks and coaches to be a concern especially in the gusty winds when you get up high enough that there are no trees.
ReplyDeleteThe last three days have been shorter than the typical days but the cycling has been great despite the occasional “wee shower”. This is a great place to come cycling. I doubt we will do LEJOG again but I do think we will be back here before we are much older.
The next two days we will cover the 100 miles or so to Aviemore so will be officially in the Highlands. Aviemore will be the last rest day before the final 5 days to the finish. The weather looks “no bad” for the next few days, hopefully the cycling gods will stay with us and we will get a few more dry (or at least not soaking wet) days. Starting to wonder what I am going to do when the days no longer comprise of 1) Get up and get ready 2) have breakfast 3) Pedal 4) check in get cleaned up 5) have a meal and a couple or three (or 4 😁) pints 6) go to sleep for 9 hours. Maybe I should just keep doing that!! Now that is a first world problem ……..
4! 4! 4! 4! ;-)
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