Next morning we descended from Glendevon to Crieff enjoyoying glorious views of the Grampians along a fairly sheltered route down though Gleneagles.
At Crieff we stocked up with food rations again and headed west along the edge of Loch Earn, into the wind again! Despite the wind being more westerly we found the Loch fairly sheltered, but before long we had to begin the long climb up Glen Ogle, and a rapid descent to meet Glen Dochart, and then the relatively flat ride from there to Crianlarich which was a struggle again.

The railway station at Crianlarich had a good little tea room where we stopped and regained our strength and decided on the plan for the rest of the day. We decided to try for Fort William, which was still 52 miles away over Glen Coe, but we'd be heading North and slightly away from the strong West wind.
As we ascended to the Bridge of Orchy and Loch Tulla the views were enhanced by stormy skies, but the occasional rain showers meant that it stayed fairly clear with good views. Even the wind couldn't slow us down as we descended Glen Coe, and after we crossed the bridge at Ballaculish the wind pushed us up to Fort William.
( First tail wind for 600 miles!!!)

We stayed in a guest house in the town as nearby hostels were full, and we went out into the centre later for some food, and were surprised by the entertainment laid on by the locals.
( A tale we now recall as the "Fort William Riot!")
As we sat on a park bench eating take-away kebabs a group of young lads intoxicated from tinned beer they must have bought from the supermarket started shouting and swearing and smashing bottles.
Presently two Police officers appeared and tried to calm them down , but seconds later a policemans helmet was flung out into the road and then mayhem broke out. There were lots of scuffles and people running out into the road causing traffic to screech to a halt, and the occupants of one car got out and joined in the fighting! Shortly police squad cars arrived with sirens wailing and lights blazing and then a blue police van arrived from the Spean Bridge direction. Attempts were made to bundle people into the van but these failed. More reinforcements arrived in the form of a Land Rover being driven at a ludicrous speed coming to a halt only inches away from the sprawling scrum of people, and this appeared to calm things down a bit. One lad was thrown into the back of a squad car and everyone else disappeared in different directions. Within moments tranquility was restored apart from occassional interruptions as the police Land Rover hurtled up and down the sea front with lights blazing doing U-turns and eventually leaving in haze of blue smoke!



Fort William.