Started more or less on time, in considerably better conditions than on arrival in Glen Nevis. We met another group who were also doing LEJOG only they intended to finish in 8 days, hardcore or what!
We set off down the Glen and then joined the A82to Spean Bridge giving us some really great views of Ben Nevis that still has a little snow on the top even after all the hot weather!
At Spean Bridge we stopped at the Commando Memorial as Ian's Dad did his training here many years ago. It was quite moving really as it is on a piece of ground with nothing around it and Ben Nevis as the backdrop, especially the area of rememberance where memorials to dead Commando are laid, to quote Ian 'there are a lot of young bones up there'. While there Andy got talking to some Australian tourists and they donated £20.00, thank you.
From there it was down to Fort Augustus at the southern end of Loch Ness. This put us all on monster watch, but unfortunately there was no sign, perhaps it was the sight of the seven of us in our Lycra that kept her down.
Apart from that it was a relatively quiet day, not many mishaps to speak of, just the odd near miss and swerve on the bikes as we all slipstreamed one another too closely, not even any punctures! Therefore despite the headwind, we made relatively good time and arrived at the Youth Hostel in Inverness at 1530, the earliest yet.
There is only candidate for mishap of the day:
Stewart decided that he needed to spread his money around this mronong to all the poor people in Fort William so threw his wallet on the floor and the cash exploded from it! This caused Adam to re enact the Crystal Maze collecting the money in the air tunnel. All very amusing.... This happened at mile 816.
To give you an idea of the level to which the trip has degenearated and also show how just how competitive the Johnson brothers are was highlighted at the lunch stop today. Stewart and David decided to have a race opening a can of Rice Pudding with a 'jiffy' can opener...... Stewart won in a time of 38 seconds, David came a poor second in a little over a minute complaining of numb hands from the cycling. Watch this space for the rematch.
A special thank you to the Bikers from Lancashire whom we got chatting to at the lunch stop today, I seem to recall that negotiations were underway to exchange a push bike for one of their's they didn't want to take this as it would spoil the challenge, but did give us £35.00.
Our sincere thanks to all of you who have donated recently either on the website or by communicating directly with us. THANKYOU. Including Chris Lee, Kim's Aunt Kay and her family and Cameron 'The Yank'.
Thanks also for the texts and messages that we have been getting they are great encouragement and remind us that it is really important that we all finish this and complete our end of the bargain.
Finally......only 2 days to go. Watch out for the drop in sales Sudocream!
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