Day 2

Key stats: 93 miles, one puncture (two Sambuca’s for James as it was before we’d left the hotel), current location: The Falls of Lora Hotel, Connell

The day got off to a good start: Bob bagged a £40 donation from our hosts at the Benleva Hotel (www.benleva.co.uk), in Drumnadrochit. In the saddle, off the fund-raising circuit, the day also got off to a good start with a romp down Loch Ness (no monster spotted), Loch Oich and Loch Lochy to Spean Bridge where we paid our respects at the Commando Memorial and enjoyed the views of Ben Nevis.

Dad got caught up in the formal opening of a two mile footpath following the footsteps of General Wade’s steps. The boys left him marching into the mist with the kilted bagpipers, and hit the road to Fort William.

Unfortunately, the miles around Fort William were a low. The rain was pouring, the lorries were large, the road surfaces poor and the wind driving against us all the way in. What’s more, Will’s shoes were hurting. He’d bought a great new pair of shoes for the event and thought he’d get them clean before the big trip … in the washing machine … at 90 degrees on an intense wash (Will: “They were white, and I always do my whites at 90”). They shrank so we had to buy another pair in Fort William.

We got some good speed up today. We’ve developed a great routine, rotating at the front to ensure that we can share the time at the front (“the engine room”) and in the draft at the back (“the restaurant car”). This is best demonstrated by the fact that Will’s speedometer gave up the ghost today, smoking and overheated, never having recorded seen such a rate of knots.
Before the end of the day, Dad managed to persuade an unsuspecting fisherman and a couple from Warwickshire who know someone he’d met once to give more generous donations to the cause. This news, allied with the sight of the hotel in Connell lifted the troops further for what has been a solid, business-like day: we did what we set out to do.

100+ miles beckon tomorrow.