45 miles in 3 days with 10kg backpacks....fun!!
Midges are horrible. Scotland is beautiful. Walking is fun.
Sepha and I got a flight up to Inverness on Friday night,
scored a free lift to our hostel thanks to the lovely ladies on the Helpdesk
and checked in to our night’s residence – a very odd hostel in the centre of
Inverness. To check in, you had to phone
the owner, who directed me to a door with a coded padlock on it, which released
two keys to get into the hostel and then our room. I felt a bit like I was in the Crystal
Maze.
We headed down to the bus station and had a breakfast of ‘tatty
scones’ (so delicious, where can I get them here?), a bacon sandwich, and a
peppermint slice, and got the early bus to Fort Augustus, marvelling at the
views on the A82. It was a misty morning
and the clouds were low, covering the mountains either side of Loch Ness and
giving it an eerie feel.
What took an hour and 15 minutes to drive, would take us
three days to walk back along – yikes!
David and Cesca were waiting for us at the bus stop and wow –
they’re so fit and slim!!!! I guess 2.5 months of walking 15 miles a day does
that to you – they looked very well indeed. We hugged a hello and set off for the first day
of walking along the Great Glen Way.
Day One was 9 miles so not too strenuous, however there were
a lot of hills to tackle in the first few miles, which when you’re not used to
walking with a 10kg backpack prove quite hard. We took a few breaks, had a
lunch of cheese rolls overlooking Loch Ness (it’s hard to moan about the weight
of your backpack when David’s was huge, containing the tent, sleeping mats,
other misc items plus a jar of pickle, butter, bread, cheese, ham, drinks and
snacks. He’s a machine!) and carried on
our way, reaching the first stop off point of Invermoriston at around
2.30pm. We sat in a pub drinking local
bitter until 4.30pm when we put up the tents, got attacked by our first midges
of the day warranting our sexy head nets, and returned to the pub for dinner. I am still itching my bites days later!
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| The very specific sign in the village hall toilets |
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| Lunch with a view! |
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| Very practical |
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| Magical |
The next day I found the hardest. It was a 14/15 miler depending what map you
look at, and again started with and continued with several steep hill climbs. This is the longest I have ever walked and
seemed to be never ending and I was lagging at the back a lot. David and Cesca were walking up hills
effortlessly, I am in awe of them! Half
way through the walk I started using walking poles which made quite a bit of
difference, especially on the hills, but also gave me something to grip on to
and clench when I was getting frustrated with my progress.
The flip side of a hill is that there is usually a good view
at the top of it, so we had a lovely lunch at a view point overlooking the Loch
and I accidentally did a wee in an enclosed picnic spot by a rock bench – I thought
it made a great toilet spot but Cesca pointed out afterwards it was actually
made for picnickers to shield from the wind. Sorry future picnickers!
We passed another walker who told us we had around 6 miles
left and I died a little inside, as I thought we’d walked a lot further than we
had, but eventually we rolled into Drumnadrochit around 4pm – both me and Sepha
collapsing in a heap on our bags whilst David and Cesca went off to get some food
for the evening.
The only thing that could put a smile on my face would be a
cat (Sad I know) and my prayers were answered when we got to the campsite – a field
in a riding stable, who said they had a pet cat who was very friendly. I was SO excited when this little white cat
came bounding over to us, but less excited when I saw it looked like this….
Possibly the ugliest cat in world? It also pissed into the
grill of a fellow campers car, however it was very friendly, so there’s that.
We showered (at a cost of 20p for 5 minutes, urgh!) then had
a dinner of spicy pasta (with added grass) and chocolate cake (with added
grass), and then Holly joined us for the evening, and we all piled into Cesca’s
tent because it was raining and had a brilliant evening gabbling away.
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| pasta straining through a holey plastic bag - genius |
In the morning we discovered that to put down a pop up tent
takes 5 fully grown adults plus one Dutch man, who ended up saving the day (and
Holly’s tent), before heading into the town centre to stock up on lunch and
snacks (and tablet…nom nom) to get through our 20 miles (or 19 depending what
map you look at!) of a day.
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| the impossible tent |
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| and the man who managed to do it in one go |
Every step hurt and my left ankle was starting to ache and
my knees were sore from the up and down gradient, but I enjoyed every
minute. We walked through beautiful
forests where you can imagine fairies would live – tall lichen covered, scented
pine trees and bright green moss and purple heather lining the walkways. The moor land was equally beautiful –
desolate of people but covered in bright yellow gorse and more heather in a
variety of colours, tall grasses and extending for miles. I am sad that I forgot my camera ( a semi
deliberate choice as it would have been added weight – I’ll just have to go back
another time!) as my phone camera is pants so have stolen photos from Sepha.
About half way we stopped at a brilliant little café in the
woods – Abriachan Eco Campsite and Café.
The menu is painted on stumps of wood along the footpath, and when you
enter the café grounds you’re greeted by a flock of chickens and two giant
black pigs. The owner was very friendly
and brought us much needed biscuits and chocolate along with our drinks order,
lovely!
With four miles to go we turned a corner in the track and
suddenly had a view of Inverness sprawled out below us, and to top it off, a
rainbow stretched out above it – it felt like Inverness was the pot of gold we
were heading for. I think it put a
spring in everyone’s step and 90 minutes later we were at our (ridiculously
overpriced) campsite.
To celebrate reaching the end of our walk (Well, mine and
Sepha and Holly’s – David and Cesca still have a few miles to go to John O’Groats)
we took a taxi into town as we couldn’t face walking any further and had a pint
and some dinner before falling back into our tents for the last time.
On Tuesday we packed up our worldly goods and headed into
the town centre, had a fry up, did a small bit of shopping, said our goodbyes
and got a bus to the airport, where we sat in the tiny lounge, stuffed our
faces with cheese and biscuits and a G&T, then flew back to reality.
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| Holly found her dream car |
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| The end! |
Cesca and David are on their final leg, and will reach John O’Groats
in the next few days. I am so proud of
them and in awe of their achievement. It’s
not too late to sponsor them, click here, and read their blog here.
The Great Glen way is easily accessed by bus from Inverness, and very well sign posted. Mostly gravel tracks means you could do the walks in trainers rather than walking boots, or even cycle if you so wish! I highly recommend it.
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