It’s been an interesting day today. At some points it felt like things were going wrong and it became quite stressful and difficult, and other times, thankfully the majority, it was really fun although often quite challenging.

When we travelled on Loch Ness on the boat it was a very different experience. I always knew that it’d obviously be different travelling from Fort Augustus towards Inverness on foot but I didn’t quite appreciate how different. Definitely more rewarding walking, for the most part anyway, but also quite a lot harder.

One thing in my mind can be put to rest though. I always had regretted, when on the boat, that we hadn’t gone to the moorings near Urquhart castle. I was always worried that we’d missed part of the experience. Well now I’ve walked past them I realise that we didn’t miss much.

Man enough

When it rained yesterday and things got more difficult I started to think about how it would have been if I hadn’t been so lucky with the weather. I was worried that I wouldn’t have been able to cope in those conditions and wondered if I would have given up.

It rained quite a bit this evening and I was wondering the same thing again. I like to think I would have found a system and would have been ok with it. I don’t like to think I would have given up, but then I do think about how much more difficult the whole walk would have been. I don’t even know why I was thinking about it, because the weather has been good generally and when it has rained I’ve coped just fine. But it has sometimes brought my mood down. I just worry I wouldn’t have been good enough.

Obviously a moot point but I had a friend who tried to walk the coast to coast but didn’t complete it. He however had horrific weather (and a tiny tent) so the odds were not stacked in his favour and I don’t blame him for stoping. I just wonder what I would have done.

The sun shines again

I wasn’t entirely sure I’d got a good pitch last night. Especially when I first arrived as it’d all felt  rather thwart and a bit of a compromise. However, I think I had the best night sleep of the trip so far. It had been a really long day so that may have played a part but when I woke up I felt pretty good. Cold, but good, and I knew once I dragged myself out of bed I’d be raring to get walking again.

It was a nice day as well. The tent was quite damp but that was mainly from condensation rather than anything else. When it’s really cold it’s quite hard to avoid.

One really positive thing occurred to me when I was putting my boots on though. I had no pain. Every other thru hike I’ve done (all two of them) has given me quite sore feet. Mainly blisters but also bad toe nails. Every morning it would be a case of putting plasters on them and strapping toes up and sometimes even taking some pain killers. I still remember every time I put the boots on I’d have to put up with the initial pain as they went on and hobble around for a while as I got used to them. This time, nothing. So comfortable. A delight to walk in. I’ve got one day of walking left so I may regret these words but I think I might have got this part of hiking sorted out. My feet are looking forward to a rest, all of me is, but I think that is pretty normal.

What does it mean

I had a tremendous start to the day. The path ran through the forest but occasionally the trees parted enough to give a view of Loch Ness. There was no wind so the Loch was flat but there was a layer of cloud, about at the same level as the path, all along its length. It looked really strange and I tried to take a photograph as I felt sure as the day warmed up this would clear. I’d never seen anything quite like it.

I can’t quite remember the distance I travelled but the miles and time were going easily. The weather was nice again and following the path was making me happy. It doesn’t skirt the bank of the loch as I was expecting, it’s higher and set back, and does undulate quite a bit, but it’s a walk I could do again.

There are many times where the path takes you through forestry works and often there are piles of logs on the side of the track. Some of the logs have writing on the end of them in, normally, a pink marker. When I first saw this as I left Glasgow I thought it was just graffiti but as I’ve now seen it on all these piles I assume it must mean something. I wonder if it means they’re warped and that’s the bit that Wickes need to sell to me.

I’ve been mis-sold

But I wasn’t the only one.

The path eventually descends into Invermoriston, joins a road for a bit, crosses a river, and then climbs up again. A really steep climb which gains height quite quickly. There are some terrific views though so I didn’t mind too much. You then come to a fork and a choice.

There is a high or a low route. Now, I always said to myself, for this trip, I’d take the low route if there was a choice. In this case though there was a sign detailing the merits of each option. In a nutshell, it explained the high route had a steep climb but then stayed level at the top for a while before descending to join the low route. The sign explained that the views were much better on the high route. It also said the low route had quite a lot of ups and downs. The high route looked the better option so off I went.

I didn’t mention this before but before this point I hadn’t seen anyone. Not a single person for several miles on the path. It was similar to that yesterday. As I was climbing up the high route I found all the people. I went past a group of lads who were resting and bemoaning how difficult the climb was. A few minutes later, during another climb on this route, I met a group of men who were as misled about the sign as I was. We all felt a little mislead. The path went up, then down, big climbs, followed by descents. It was quite a tough route. Fun though.

The oldest member of the second group made me laugh when I spoke to him. I said that we were promised views, and because we were nowhere near the top yet, he just pointed to the trees and huffed as that was all we could see.

A trudge to Drumnadrochit

After the highs of the walk so far it took a more mundane turn. The way is routed along roads with farmers fields on either side. There are quite a few climbs, and, although not a particularly busy road, I quite often had to stop and stand aside as cars went by. This seemed to go on for ages and I think was the worst part of this hike. It didn’t help that it also started raining. I decided my walk to Morrison’s at home is better than this.

It doesn’t get better as you near the town either. It’s a shame the path can’t be nearer to the Loch or at least route through a nicer area but I’m sure there must be a good reason for that. Maybe the rain was making it feel worse.

I was considering getting a meal here but as I was really wet now, and because the town wasn’t inspiring me at all, and all the previous farmland had made me worried about getting a wild camping spot, I thought the best course of action would be to go to the coop to get some sandwiches and then push on. The rain was really coming down quite hard now as well and all the road walking was getting quite relentless.

Silver linings

In the coop I decided to treat myself to a 10p bag. A bit extravagant I know but I didn’t want to be messing around with my rucksack at the tills. Also the bag could come in handy for keeping something else dry later on. The problem was I was holding my poles in one hand and trying to put items in the bag with the other. The bag kept moving around and I couldn’t get the items in. It was like I had no coordination. I think I looked a bit stupid. Then a lady standing next to me just took my poles off me so I could put the things in my bad. I know it was a simple act but it really helped me out. I thought it was really nice of her. I liked the world again.

I then headed out of the town, along another really long busy road that went on for ever. Luckily it’d stopped raining now but it wasn’t fun. There must be a better way to route the Great Glen Way around here. Finally, the path appears again and heads into some farmland.

It was a little climb but I knew more was to come so was just getting ready for some tough miles. I had been talking to Jenny while I was walking and said I’d better hang up because this part wasn’t going to be pretty. To be fair to me I’d done over 20 miles and was getting tired.

Just off the path I met a lady who spoke to me about the lambs in the field. She was telling me that one of them wasn’t meant to be in that particular field. I smiled as I didn’t really know why it mattered but she seemed really nice. She then asked me if I was looking for somewhere to camp and told me of a decent wild camping spot just in the woods beyond the field. Where I’m sat now in fact. She said if the weather got really bad I could go back to the farm and they’d take me in. She even asked if I needed any water or anything. Everything in my world suddenly got much brighter.

And to top it all off, the minute I put up the tent it started to rain again. I love being in a tent when it’s raining, especially when you know that if you’d carried on walking you’d be getting drenched now.

18 miles now to Inverness