Moving inland, we made good time on the nimble handling Sprints as the A819 became A828 and Loch Awe to our left became Loch Etive to our right. Later, working our way north toward Ballacluish the brakes went on at Portnacroish, as Castle Stalker came into view across the peaceful Sound of Shuna. With the day marching toward evening, the sun was still enjoying some prime time in the sky as we were traveling just days after the Solstice. Standing stoically out in Loch Linnhe, the ancient castle left us positively breathless as we gazed at the shimmering waters stretching away behind in the distance. Small sailboats tacked against the refreshing breeze, while sheep tugged at tufts of course Scottish grass, our shutters snapping as we tried to capture the incredible beauty of the Scottish countryside on our digital file cards.
Back in the saddle, the A82 was ridden in the magical early evening light, as our destination for the night, Fort William, got closer with each passing mile. Lined with numerous inviting, immaculately clean B @ Bs we ignored their lure and made it to the tightly packed town center with its historic buildings leaning over as if bowing to each other. With the sun barely dipping below the horizon at this time of year the days are long. And, sitting with a wee pint of the good stuff at the Cruachev Hotel as the midnight hour approached, we could still just see the sailboats in the Loch outside. We hadn't made a million miles, but the stimulation-per-mile content was high, and looking at the moon glowing behind the distant mountains was the perfect bookend to the day.
The Cruachev itself was a joy, the room rates posted on a black board with plastic numbers and our check-in written into a ledger by a matronly Scottish receptionist with horn rimmed spectacles. Winding through the labyrinth of stairways and corridors to my small room, which contained two cot beds with the weirdest flower-patterned sheets imaginable, it was good to feel generic commercialism has most definitely not made it this far north.
