Lands End to John O'Groats - Day 056 - Kinlochewe to Croftown

 

Day:	056
Date:	Sunday, 27 June 2010
Start:	Kinlochewe
Finish:	Croftown
Daily Kilometres:	36.2
Total Kilometres:	1817.7
Weather:	Partly sunny with occasional showers
Accommodation:	Free camping
Nutrition:	Scottish breakfast; cheese & pickle roll for lunch; cheese & pickle roll and trail mix for dinner
Aches:	Few sore spots on both feet
Pictures:	Here
GPS Track:	Here
Journal:	I had a good night's sleep and things went to plan in the morning when I went across to the store/Post Office at 9am after breakfast and picked up my last set of maps for the trip and bought some food to see me through the next week on the days I am not booked into hotels/inns.  I returned to the hotel, marked up my maps for the day and packed the food before checking out at 10am and hitting the trail.  According to the guide book I was in for a tough day, even without a late start, so I was a little apprehensive about how close I would get to the target of Inverlael, 40km away, by day's end.  I was expecting to be camping, so I could stop short, but needed to be within range of Oykel Bridge the next day, where I was booked into an inn. The walking started well with a long gradual climb up a valley out of Kinlochewe to Lochan Fada, a loch high in the mountains.  I walked for three hours straight with a fully-loaded pack, but did it comfortably, which was a relief after the fatigue and headaches of yesterday.  I took a break there on a hill overlooking the loch with its grand backdrop of mountains.  I then had a few kilometres of cross-country walking to a pass and once again thanked the gods for the good visibility which had helped my journey across the Highlands.  I could clearly see the pass in the distance I was aiming for, so was able to make a bee-line for it, though had to deal with the usual peat bogs and steep-sided side valleys which made for slow progress.  A couple of hikers appeared ahead from my left, hiking cross-country and followed my course to the pass some distance in front of me, then suddenly disappeared from sight at a time I wasn't looking and I was on my own again. From the pass I picked up a narrow trail and followed it down a long valley past a picturesque loch with the vast rocky bare-sided Sgurr Ban mountain to the west, ending at a pretty valley with some trees and heather at Achneigie.  By this time it was late in the afternoon, but I was happy with my progress and enjoying listening to the agonies of the commentators previewing, describing and later analysing the England v Germany World Cup game, whilst traversing the spectacular wilderness. I then had another long climb followed by a crossing of a high plain dotted with small lochs before descending to a green valley with a few houses and a road.  However, this contact with civilisation was brief and I was soon climbing up to another pass through some forest.  It took some time to cross the pass and it was after 8pm, so I began looking for somewhere to camp, since I was only four or five kilometres from Inverlael.  I found an exposed spot near a creek and set up the tent just as the first of several showers passed through.  I thankfully crawled into the tent, hoping I'm not too exposed to the brisk wind, and had my dinner and did my diary.  I had planned to have a wash in the stream, but it was too late and cold, so I went to bed dirty.

Lands End to John O'Groats - Day 055 - Bendronaig Bothy to Kinlochewe

 

Day:	055
Date:	Saturday, 26 June 2010
Start:	Bendronaig Bothy
Finish:	Kinlochewe
Daily Kilometres:	35.6
Total Kilometres:	1781.5
Weather:	Partly sunny and warm with little wind
Accommodation:	Hotel B&B (£70)
Nutrition:	Trail mix for breakfast; two Snickers Bars for lunch; mushroom soup, venison stew and vegetables, and sticky toffee pudding and ice-cream for dinner.
Aches:	Sore underneath second toe on left foot and generally very tired
Pictures:	Here
GPS Track:	Here
Journal:	So much for a quiet night on my own at the bothy (hut).  One of the reasons I had been thinking of camping last night instead of staying at the bothy was that if there were already other people in residence, they would be settled by 8:30pm when I would arrive and I didn't want to disturb them.  Well, I had just climbed into bed to read for a few minutes at 10:30pm when two big Scots on mountain bikes arrived and stomped around the hut lighting a fire and getting settled.  They were sociable and asked me whether I would like a whisky.  Although I didn't see him, a hiker apparently arrived after 11pm to stay as well!  Long days make for late travelling.  Interestingly, the mountain bikers were wearing heavy hiking boots and I saw more today doing the same thing.  I think that they ride on trails to get as close as they can to mountains they want to climb, then dump the bikes at the base and climb the mountains.  I have seen several bikes dumped off the side of the track. Anyway, I had my stuff spread all around the main room of the cabin (which had three small rooms off it for sleeping) on the theory that nobody else was coming, including some very smelly socks (not washed for two boggy and sweaty days).  So I got up and collected everything and dumped it into the room where I was going to sleep on the floor (no furniture at all and no door), and returned to bed and tried to sleep after reading a little while.  Although I was on my ¾ length lightweight Thermarest inflatable mattress, the floor was hard and plenty of noise was being made by my fellow guests, so sleep was intermittent at best. Knowing that I had another tough day in prospect, and wanting to get to Kinlochewe, where I had a hotel room booked, at a reasonable hour, I made myself get up soon after 6am.  I packed as quietly as I could and left the bothy at 7am, with nobody else awake.  It was an overcast and windless morning and the whole vast valley was serene and peaceful.  My route was to take me first up to the pass known as Bealach Bhearnaise, one of the two highest I will cross in Scotland at near 600m.  At first the track was easy along the side of the long valley leading to the pass.  However, higher up, with a couple of kilometres to go to the pass, the track petered out and I had to go cross-country.  The guide-book recommended sticking to the higher slopes if I wanted to avoid the peat hags (eroded canyons in the peat) and bogs.  I did this, but the going was very slow and I had to keep descending and ascending steep little side valleys.  Higher up, I disturbed a number of large deer who, singly and in pairs, raced down to the lower slopes.  Finally, I reached the pass, which was pretty spectacular.  There was a small reedy lake (lochan) at the very crest of the pass and high peaks towered on both sides, particularly the imposing Lurg Mhor (986m) to my right.  I found a nice grassy spot and sat and admired the grandeur around me while I had a breakfast of trail mix and fresh stream water.  While eating, I watched some figures climbing towards the pass along the track I would be using to descend and these turned out to be the first of about a score of hikers (and biker-hikers) I saw in the next few hours all on their way to climb Lurg Mhor in perfect clear Saturday weather. My cross-country efforts had again slowed my pace considerably, but the path from here was supposed to be mostly good so I set off down the other side of the pass optimistic that I could maintain a reasonable pace.  This I did, though I was feeling very tired from the morning climb, preceded by a poor night's sleep and three tough days.  Crossing the Scottish Highlands to John O'Groats using this route is much different to the walking I had done up to Fort William.  Additionally, the guide-book seemed to be consistently underestimating the daily distances for this section, and I have my suspicions about how the distances were calculated, and it wasn't using a GPS.  I had a mild headache and it turned into one of those days where I kept thinking about how many days I had left, how tough the day tomorrow is supposed to be, and how much I would like to just get on one of the two-carriage trundler trains that ran along the rail line I crossed around noon in Glen Carron.  However, I'm committed to stick to my schedule, have booked hotels and trains, and know that, putting one foot in front of another and persevering for eight more days will see me at John O'Groats. I crossed Glen Carron, which had a few houses and a main road as well as a rail line, and then climbed steeply up to Coulin Pass through a recently harvested pine forest on a temporary trail that was hard work.  Near the top, I stopped for lunch and couldn't stop yawning when it came time to continue.  I think I need a good night's sleep.  The descent from Coulin Pass was gradual along a gravel track and had fine views.  I plodded along trying to keep up a reasonable pace and stopped at a stream for a drink and to replenish my water bottle before I reached lower in the valley where the water would be less safe to drink.  I had developed a sore spot under the second toe on my left foot and stopped twice to reposition my putrid socks and put on some Vaseline.  After a while, it settled down a bit, but only because a small blister burst.  Note to self - wash out socks even if they don't dry by the next morning. At the pretty Loch Coulin at the bottom of the descent, the guide book suggested a direct route to Kinlochewe that involved climbing through some forests, over a low pass, and with some cross-country bits.  There was an alternative, possibly a bit longer, route skirting the shore of a couple of lochs and then following a road into Kinlochewe.  I decided on the latter which, though longer, was more time certain, and I was very tired.  Another couple of hours of plodding, which included the rejected offer of a lift from a guy in a BMW convertible, brought me into Kinlochewe at 5:15pm.  I bought a drink and after dinner snacks at a service station and then checked into the over-priced hotel.  The main store/post office in town is only open to 1pm on weekends.  I have mail to collect there (I called ahead to make sure I could pick it up on Saturday/Sunday, even if the PO wasn't open) and will get it, and enough food for three days, when it opens at 9am tomorrow morning.  This is the last village and store I will see until my penultimate day in a week's time, although I have booked rooms at a four remote inns/hotels I will be passing. The guidebook says tomorrow is the second toughest day of the trip and I won't be able to start walking until well after 9am, when I have collected my maps and food, so it will be a late day.  However, I should get a good night's sleep tonight, plus have a good dinner and breakfast under my belt, so maybe it won't be too bad.

Lands End to John O'Groats - Day 054 - Glen Affric to Bendronaig Bothy

 

Day:	054
Date:	Friday, 25 June 2010
Start:	Glen Affric
Finish:	Bendronaig Bothy
Daily Kilometres:	35.9
Total Kilometres:	1745.9
Weather:	Overcast in the morning, mostly sunny in the afternoon
Accommodation:	Bothy (refuge hut)
Nutrition:	Trail mix for breakfast; Snickers Bars during the day; can of sardines and trail mix for dinner
Aches:	Very tired, but no particularly bad spots
Pictures:	Here
GPS Track:	Here
Journal:	I got up at 7am and had a coffee back in the main part of the hostel along with my trail mix breakfast before leaving around 8:30am without sighting the hostel managers.  A few hundred metres from the hostel at a track junction, I encountered a family camping and compared notes with the father for a few minutes.  He was interested to know my route to the Falls of Glomach, since it was largely cross-country and he was planning to go there today as well, but wasn't sure of the best way. I continued on, climbing over another pass between towering mountains before descending to Loch Bhealaich in Glen Gaorsaic.  The scale of everything was fantastic and I again felt dwarfed and insignificant.  My route left the path at the Loch and followed the Loch shore cross-country northwards along its western edge.  Sometimes I could walk along the stony shore, but mostly had to negotiate the peat and peat channels where it was boggy and difficult.  The going was very slow, but I finally reached the end of the Loch and took my first break sitting on a small gravel beach.  There was barely a ripple on the water and just the occasional bird call to disturb the scene.  As I left, I could just see the tiny figures of the family I had passed arriving at the other end of the Loch. I had to continue cross-country following the river that drained the Loch and again encountered many peat bogs which had to be navigated through.  I felt like an early explorer.  My route passed another loch and then a small ruin before picking up a barely discernible path continuing in the same direction.  It was an old path and the bridges that had crossed two creeks were gone, meaning more detours and bogs.  The rest of the time it was close to the babbling river and I kept an eye out for otters reputedly in these parts, although I didn't see any.  The rate of descent gradually increased and there were more rapids on the river until I reached the head of the spectacular Falls of Glomach where the river plunges 200m in all and 90m in one sheer drop.  I dropped my pack at the top and carefully descended a steep trail to a look-out point where I had a clear view of the Falls.  Then it was back up to the top for a break before following a new track along the side of a mountain and down to the base of the falls.  The path was narrow, with a very steep drop to the right and many rocky bits necessitating the use of my hands to climb.  I took extra care and moved slowly in the scary bits. Eventually I reached the bottom and emerged into relative civilization - a gravel road and a couple of isolated cottages.  I still had a long way to go and it was already early afternoon.  I followed the road, which soon degenerated into a cart track, upwards along Glen Elchaig.  The climb seemed to go on forever with, as usual, mountains towering on both sides.  I finally crossed a pass and descended into a wild and remote valley with Loch Cruoshie to the right.  I was able to keep my feet dry crossing River Long by using some just submerged rocks and avoided the waste deep ford referred to in the guidebook.  There followed another slow cross-country climb to the shoulder of Ben Dronaig where I picked up another track and eventually reached the beautiful, remote and mirror calm Loch Calavie.  Although it was now after 7pm, a warm sun came out and I stopped at a small stream to get a drink and fill my water bottles for camping. Although I had almost made up my mind to camp, I could see the Bothy Dronaig (bothies are Scottish mountain huts with no facilities, available to use overnight) in the distance and I decided to try staying there instead. I arrived at 8:30pm and found the place deserted.  I collected some water from a nearby stream and had a wash before eating and updating my diary.  There was a large pile of cans of sardines in the bothy, so I had one of those to supplement my trail mix.  My camera began playing up at the end of the day and the SD Card seems to have had some kind of failure, meaning that I am unable to access the pictures I took today, which would have been fabulous.  The camera has an internal smaller memory which means that I can still take photos, though not too many per day, and I'll have to wait until I get home to try and get the pictures off the SD card.  It's very quiet here and I have this vast glen in the Highlands all to myself on a beautiful sunny calm evening.  It's light until after 11pm in these latitudes at present.

Lands End to John O'Groats - Day 053 - Tomdoun to Glen Affric

 

Day:	053
Date:	Thursday, 24 June 2010
Start:	Tomdoun
Finish:	Glen Affric
Daily Kilometres:	29.8
Total Kilometres:	1710.0
Weather:	Overcast and showery in the morning, drier and occasionally sunny in the afternoon
Accommodation:	Youth Hostel (£16)
Nutrition:	Scottish breakfast; bangers and mash for lunch; savoury rice and a Snickers for dinner.
Aches:	Left Achilles tendon and heel occasionally painful.
Pictures:	Here
GPS Track:	Here
Journal:	I left the rather pricey and atmospheric hotel soon after 9am, having to stop on the porch to get my raincoat out as it had started raining.  There were also a lot of midges about so I had also put on some repellent.  My walk started with about 4km along the Glen Garry road in a westerly direction before I turned north along a moderately steep path towards a pass.  Most of the glens (valleys) in this part of the world run east-west and, since I am mainly heading north, my day will comprise climbing over three bealachs (passes) and crossing the glens in between. Although the path wasn't too bad, the wet undergrowth from the rain soon meant my boots and socks were wet.  My boots are showing signs of wear and the left one now has a hole in the upper by my little toe.  The showers came and went, but generally the visibility was very good and I had clear views up the steep sides of the mountains I was passing between.  Nearer the pass, the path became quite boggy in parts and my pace slowed as I found my way around the difficult bits, with the aid of my trekking pole as a prod and support.  Glen Loyne was a remote and desolate place with no sign of civilisation apart from a deer fence.  the valley was wide with the shallow River Loyne flowing down the middle and across the valley I could see the next pass I had to climb.  But first, I had to leave the path I was on and go cross country to the river, find a place where it was shallow enough to ford (but not, unfortunately, shallow enough to keep my feet and boots dry......I don't like fording in bare feet because it makes you unstable and prone to fall and wastes time).  The ford was without incident and then I had to make my way cross country again, climbing the other side of the valley up to a saddle where I connected with the old Skye road which is now closed to traffic.  It was now nearly 1pm, but I knew I had the old road all the way into Strath Cluanie and the Cluanie Inn where I hoped to get some lunch, so could keep a good pace for a change.  There was barely any radio reception, but I heard a snippet that said Australia now had its first female Prime Minister. I took my raincoat off after getting warm on the climb, but there was a cool wind and by the time I reached the remote Cluanie Inn, which was on a busy road along the valley, I was getting quite cold.  Knowing that I would not be having much for dinner tonight, I ordered some very over-priced bangers and mash for lunch and then, after putting on a sweater, headed out for my last pass of the day over to Glen Affric.  The path started out dry, but then became quite boggy for very long stretches.  I settled down to a couple of hours of hopping from one semi-dry spot to another, finding my way around marshier bits, and trying to follow the line of the track.  You can't actually walk along the track in many places because it is so boggy, so what you tend to do is follow its line, but off to the side.  However, you still encounter bogs and streams and can't avoid a few misteps.  On one occasion, I planted my trekking pole, intending to vault across a boggy bit and the pole rapidly plunged all the way to the handle (1 metre) in the morass.  I wasn't expecting it and, as my weight followed the pole into the bog, my pack came forward over my head and I very nearly nose-dived into the bog. Although the walking was challenging, I frequently stopped to admire the concave valley sides sweeping up to the 1000m mountains on either side.  I felt dwarfed and isolated, but thrilled to be here and reminded myself that I will probably never pass this way again.  Eventually, the boggy path descended slowly into Glen Affric, hugging the contour of a hill, and giving fantastic views to the west.  At last I spotted the two very isolated buildings that make up the Youth Hostel and finally reached them about 6:45pm.  I was the only guest, but the young German couple looking after the place assigned me to the Annex, the other unheated building about 30 metres away, to sleep, despite there being two unused dormitories in the main (heated) building where the shower, kitchen, toilet and common room were.  I accepted my fate, put my boots back on and walked to the Annex. The hostel is apparently a favourite with Munro baggers.  Munros are Scottish mountains of more than 3000ft and it's very popular to try and climb them all.  There are a few close to the hostel. After a shower, I cooked the savoury rice I had brought with me and plan to have an early night once I have updated my diary.  I looked at my food supplies and wonder whether I have brought enough given that I will be camping (or maybe staying in a hut) tomorrow night and won't see a shop until late the next day.  Ten Snickers bars and about a kilogram of trail mix (M&Ms, peanuts and sultanas) should be enough.

Lands End to John O'Groats - Day 052 - Fort William to Tomdoun

 

Day:	052
Date:	Wednesday, 23 June 2010
Start:	Fort William
Finish:	Tomdoun
Daily Kilometres:	44.0
Total Kilometres:	1680.2
Weather:	Overcast and mild in the morning and showery and cool in the afternoon
Accommodation:	Hotel B&B (£30)
Nutrition:	Scottish breakfast; cheese & pickle sandwich for lunch; fish chowder soup, lamb shank and vegetables, lemon sponge and ice-cream for dinner
Aches:	Sore feet
Pictures:	Here
GPS Track:	Here
Journal:	Tough day! I was late getting to bed after repacking with my dry-bags and preparing maps, not to mention messing around trying to get my GPS track for the last two days loaded onto the web (unsuccessfully).  Breakfast was at 7:45am and those of us there were entertained by the landlord, wearing his kilt and serving us, who had an endless fund of one-liners, no doubt much practiced on years' of guests. By the time I had done a few more chores, it was 9am before I left and headed into town.  I was a bit anxious about whether I will have enough cash to pay for my B&Bs and supplies for the next 12 days (given that my credit card with signature doesn't seem to be acceptable anywhere), so resolved to get as much money as I could out of ATMs in town before I left.  It took three ATMs, but I eventually got enough cash to make me feel comfortable.  Then I visited a large supermarket and bought enough food for three days, even though for the first day and a half I will be able to eat in pubs. My pack was the heaviest it has been as I made my way out of Fort William along the sign-posted Great Glen Way, which I will be following for most of the morning.  It was already 10am and the guidebook said the day's distance to my target of Tomdoun was approximately 37km, including some cross-country work through a boggy high pass.  I called the hotel I had booked to tell them I might be as late as 8pm arriving. After a few kilometres of Fort William suburbs, the path reached the banks of the wide Caledonian Canal, which crosses Scotland and turned eastwards to follow the towpath.  The Canal was flanked by impressive mountains and there were a few yachts and pleasure cruisers making their way along.  I was trying to maintain a good pace, but the pack was heavy and the prospect of a long day sapped my spirits a bit.  Soon after 1pm the Great Glen Way left the Canal  shortly before it opened into the huge Loch Lochy and followed a pretty pine-needle covered path along the northern banks of the Loch until the village of Achnacarry.  Here I bid farewell to the Great Glen Way and headed north into the hills, passing some nice homes and an old church on the way.  I stopped for a late and short lunch on the banks of Loch Arkaig before passing below the Cia-aig falls and beginning the strenuous climb up Gleann Cia-aig through a thick pine plantation.  The path was steep and difficult in places and I sat down hard at one point, but no harm done. Eventually, the path left the forest and climbed gradually over boggy moorland along the valley floor with mountains towering on both sides.  The only sign of civilisation was the hard to follow path and a huge deer fence designed to keep the deer out of the pine plantations.  The weather was deteriorating at the higher altitude and it began drizzling as I reached the top of the col.  From there I had about 4km of very boggy and difficult moorland to cross following a compass bearing.  Fortunately, despite the drizzle, I had reasonable visibility and was able to take a compass bearing on a low peak some way ahead and just work my way towards it.  Progress was very slow as I wandered this way and that trying to find the least boggy way of crossing the innumerable bogs.  Despite all this, I quite enjoyed the challenge of crossing this remote and seldom-visited part of the Highlands and the adrenalin was perhaps pumping a little as I tried to avoid navigation and footing errors. I saw a few deer and, later, saw one break through a damaged part of the deer fence to get into a forest.  Eventually, I began my descent through the same forest on a very boggy and barely-discernible 4WD track.  By now it was raining more heavily and the bogs and wet undergrowth meant that my boots and socks were thoroughly wet.  I realised that I was now going to be lucky to reach the hotel before 8pm, as it was already past 6pm.  Then I missed a very hard-to-see path and cost myself another 20 minutes.  Curses.  Gradually the quality of the path improved as I moved lower into the valley and closer to civilisation.  Eventually I reached a narrow bitumen road and worked out that I had about 5km to go and it was already past 7:30pm.  I walked briskly for the next hour and reached the Tomdoun Sporting Hotel at 8:35pm.  The manager said he would order my dinner for 20 minutes time to give me a chance to wash and I hurried to shower and change.  Except, I found that the shared bathroom only had a bath so I had my first bath in decades. The dinner, though pricey, was excellent and I thanked them for keeping it for me.  It was a very tiring day and the peat bog and navigation challenges will be repeated every day now until I reach John O'Groats.  However, the scenery and remoteness makes up for it and the weather forecast for the next few days isn't too bad.  For the first time on the trip, the guide-book distances were way out and I had to walk 7km more than I had bargained for.

Lands End to John O'Groats - Day 051 - Kinlochleven to Fort William

 

Day:	051
Date:	Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Start:	Kinlochleven
Finish:	Fort William
Daily Kilometres:	23.6
Total Kilometres:	1636.2
Weather:	Mostly sunny and warm with an occasional cool breeze
Accommodation:	Guesthouse B&B (£36)
Nutrition:	Scottish breakfast; egg mayonnaise roll for lunch; ?? for dinner
Aches:	Feet tired.
Pictures:	Here
GPS Track:	Here
Journal:	We woke at 7am, packed, and walked across to the same pub where we had dinner last night to get a cooked breakfast.  After that, we hit the trail at 8:45am and almost immediately encountered a stiff climb out of Kinlochewe.  It was a real heart starter after a big breakfast, but maintained a steady pace and soon levelled off above the treeline and high above the valley to the left.  We were back on the old military road, which we could see following the hill contours far into the distance in front of us.  The grades were now easier, but the road was very stony and hard on the feet.  In other places, there were loose rocks and stones which made walking awkward.  However, the day was again perfect for walking and we had sweeping views up and down the valley. We picked up a few walkers we recognised from yesterday and also slowly passed a spread out group of about a dozen French hikers of similar age, greeting each as we went by.  The path then climbed slowly up a branching valley and over the crest of a col to descend slowly into another valley.  We knew we had a relatively short day, so we planned to take a break half-way and then walk into Fort William for a late lunch. After three hours and about 12km we stopped by the trail for our break and enjoyed the view over a remote valley with a couple of farmhouses and a lovely small loch.  We were on our way again after 15 minutes and climbing up over another col that then led us down into Glen Nevis.  The path passed through some pretty pine forest and we had views of the huge Ben Nevis, highest mountain in the UK, directly in front of us.  We could see the path climbing up the side to the summit.  Both Ian and I had climbed on several occasions in the past, and it's a great hike. We finally reached Glen Nevis and followed a track along the southern side of the valley that gave us a clear view of the campground down there where I had camped with my family some 45 years ago, and I can still clearly remember climbing the mountain I was now walking along the side of.  The day had become quite warm and, although we were able to maintain a good pace, the hard stony surface added to our fatigue and we were both happy to reach Fort William around 2:15pm.  We split up and Ian went down to the railway station to check on his train time and I found my B&B and dumped my pack there before joining Ian at the station cafe for a late lunch.  After that, it was a long list of admin chores for me in this last significant town on my walk.  I had to collect maps from the Post Office, mail back the used ones, top up my prepaid mobile wireless internet, buy various pharmaceuticals, buy my train ticket from Thurso (near John O'Groats) back to London for the day after I'm scheduled to finish, and a few other things. I finished in time to have a last drink with Ian before he caught a 5:30pm train back to where he had left his car and then the 2-hour drive back to his home south of Glasgow.  We had a good time and he certainly kept me moving at a good pace.  I returned to the guesthouse for a shower and clothes wash, booked some more accommodation and then returned to town for dinner.  I ran out of time to buy the three days of food I need to carry and will have to do that on my way out of town tomorrow.  I have now worked out exactly where I will be staying and where each meal will be coming from for the next 12 days.  There are some inns I can stop at where I can get meals, but only small stores where I can buy food to carry on days 4 and 11.  I will also be doing quite a lot of hiking cross-country including, apparently fording a lot of streams, so I have bought a water-tight pack liner to keep my stuff dry, including this laptop, in case I slip and fall in.  Mobile phone and internet coverage may not be available at all during this time, so these may be the last updates until I finish on July 4th.

Lands End to John O'Groats - Day 050 - Bridge of Orchy to Kinlochleven

 

Day:	050
Date:	Monday, 21 June 2010
Start:	Bridge of Orchy
Finish:	Kinlochleven
Daily Kilometres:	35.4
Total Kilometres:	1612.6
Weather:	Mostly cloudy and mild.
Accommodation:	Bunkhouse (£14)
Nutrition:	Scottish breakfast; cheese and tomato roll for lunch; chilli con carne and apple pie and ice-cream for dinner
Aches:	Right knee sore (2/10)
Pictures:	Here
GPS Track:	Here
Journal:	The day didn't start too well.  Firstly, I sneaked quietly out of my bunkhouse dorm shared with two Spaniards at 7:10am, planning to wait in the hotel lounge until breakfast was served at 7:30am.  The hotel was locked up and the midges outside were horrendous, so I was chased back to the bunkhouse where the Spaniards were still asleep to read my book for 20 minutes.  At 7:30am I returned to the hotel and had a leisurely breakfast, expecting Ian to arrive around 9am.  When I finished breakfast and walked back to the bunkhouse at 8:30am, there was Ian waiting outside feeding the midges.  I sent him into the hotel foyer and hurriedly finished packing before we started walking at 8:45am.  Then, we were talking so much we missed the first turn and walked about 500m before realising our mistake and retracing our steps.  After that, the day went fine. Once again it was a perfect day for hiking.  Patchy cloud, cool temperatures and almost no wind.  After an initial climb we reached a crest revealing expansive views across mirror calm Loch Tulla, in a wide valley backed by steep treeless hills.  This was to be the pattern all day as the West Highland Way climbed gently around the sides of mountains and over cols.  There were some particularly striking mountains, such as Buachaille Etive Mor (1022m), and some almost perfectly symmetrical U-shaped glacial valleys.  Ian had been climbing in the area in the past and could name the mountains and tell stories about them, which added another dimension.  Ian keeps fit running mountain marathons and we maintained a good pace, walking to noon without a break.  There were quite a lot of other walkers on the trail, many of them from the Continent, but the scale of the valleys and mountains still frequently made us feel small and isolated. The only downside of the morning was that on some occasions the still conditions encouraged biting flies that were quite annoying. We stopped for lunch soon after 2pm at the bottom of the Devil's Staircase, the major climb for the day, and it was cool enough in the strong breeze that had sprung up for me to put on my sweater while we ate.  However, climbing the Devil's Staircase, a vertical gain of about 275m up a reasonably steep and zig-zagging trail, soon had us very warm again.  As we started the climb, a group of "lads" (a loud group of about a dozen 20+-year-olds), started right behind us, laughing, shouting, joking and swearing, and were soon right on our heels.  Ian maintained a steady pace, with me right behind and as the elevation climbed the laughing, shouting, joking, swearing and number of "lads" rapidly diminished until we reached the top with the nearest some 100m behind.  Experience beats youth again.  The view ahead of us from the top of the climb was spectacular, with another range of high mountains ahead and a large dam to our right.  From there, we had a long and draining descent down a rocky trail that gave us both sore feet and tired knees before we reached Kinlochleven at 5pm. We quickly found the bunkhouse where I had booked us for the night and were given a three bed room with ensuite for ourselves and it even had a TV.  Luxury for £14 each.  After we had showered and rinsed out our gear, we walked a few hundred metres to a pub where we had dinner, chatted and watched the Spain v Honduras game.  Both of us pleasantly tired from a long walk through spectacular country in excellent weather.  As the evening wore on the pub filled with walkers we had seen during the day, and it was quite busy and noisy.