Day 58 - The Far north

The Dornoch Bridge over the Dornoch Firth - not as scary as the Kessock Bridge over the Beauly Firth!

The quiet road that I walked for 7 miles into Tain this morning. A pity that it rained all morning

A view from the Dornoch Bridge looking over the Dornoch Firth.

The first road sign that I have seen which shows the destination! I will have to check on the use of the small "o" as I have been using a capital letter.

A short blog today as the dongle is only working intermittently and the hotel doesn't have wifi. Hopefully normal service will be resumed tomorrow. The title for today's blog comes from my LEJOG guide book which describes the walk north of Inverness as "The Far North" - it certainly seems a long way north, but it is a beautiful area.

Another good day with 20 miles walked. I finished at the Loch Fleet nature reserve, and so have a pleasant start tomorrow as I will walk 2 miles along the shore doing a bit of bird and seal watching as I go.

Cheers

Keith

Day 57 - 100,99,98.... (to be continued)

An unusual bench in the park at Alness.

The Cromarty Bridge carries the A9 over the Cromarty Firth.

I love it when they get the flags out for me (or is it to celebrate England's world Cup defeat?) this time it is at Dingwall.

I like the name Digwall. It comes from an evolution of "Thingvolls" which was a parliament in Viking times.

It was a good day today. It was mainly spent on good quiet country lanes and B roads which had proper cycle paths set off the road. the countryside was attractive gentle arable land framed by hills which were always to be seen in the distance. About 10 miles was along land overlooking the Cromarty Firth. Further interest was given by passing through several small towns - Conon Bridge, Maryburgh, Dingwall and Alness. To add to it all the weather was sunny but not too hot with a nice breeze. The only problem was that by the time we got to Morangie the Glenmorangie visitor centre was closed! I will just have to sample some in the bar tonight! I might also delegate Jean t ovisit it tomorrow to see if she can find any free samples.

I am now about 8 miles south of Tain, which I will reach tomorrow. I will also pass through Dornoch after crossing the Dornoch Firth - I haven't yet checked how high the bridge is yet! I do however know that it is the last Firth that I need to cross.

As you will have guessed from the title of today's blog I now have less than 100 miles to go to reach JOG - 98 to be precise! Although it is only a number going past the 100 mark gave rise to a wonderful sense of nearing the target.

Jean had a trip to some shops in Beauly, and in the afternoon visited a new RSPB feeding centre for Red Kites near to Dingwall. She also passed through Keithtown which unfortunately wasn't on my route.

A KBW to Bob for his kind offer of accommodation on the way south - I will get back to you on this Bob as I cannot think that far ahead at present.

"There is nothing like walking to get the feel of a country. A fine landscape is like a piece of music; it must be taken at the right tempo. Even a bicycle goes too fast." - Paul Scott Mowrer.

Cheers

Keith

Day 56 - 8 weeks on the road

The end of today's walk, at Milbuie , was marked by a memorial to a local soldier.

The Kessock Bridge over the Beauly Firth- showing the path that I had to use. This wasn't easy with my fear of heights.

A view over Inverness as I approached this morning along the Great Glen Way. Beauly Firth can be seen to the left of the photo.

I have now completed 8 weeks on the adventure - and I can now see the end in sight (only 118 miles!). Inverness has been one of the landmark places in my mind from before the walk started - others have been Lancaster (half way), the Scottish border, Glasgow and the West Highland Way. I have always regarded Inverness as being in the north of Scotland, until planning the walk when I discovered that there are still over 120 miles to go when it is reached. Many people I have met on the walk have delighted in pointing this fact out to me!

The walk today saw me finish the GGW, although I did not bother to visit the official end which is at Inverness Castle. As I have said before my object is to reach JOG and so I found the shortest route through Inverness to Kessock Bridge and the road to Black Isle. I did not look forward to crossing the Bridge as I am not very good with heights. The photo shows the adequate footpath on the side of the bridge, although I would have liked the guard rail to have been a little higher! I did in fact cope with the height of the bridge, finding more problem with the wind created by the traffic speeding past.

Tomorrow I walk towards Tain. We are stopping tomorrow night at Glen Morangie (where the distillery is) and so I cannot promise that there will be a blog, or if there is, that it will be coherent.

Jean had a red squirrel day to celebrate her birthday - seeing one after dropping me off this morning. She then went on to enjoy the day by spending a couple of hours in a launderette! After lunch she visited a winery which we enjoyed and came away with plenty of samples of their products and also a donation to BHF! We have just got back from a very good meal at a restaurant called Rocpool - Jean really enjoyed her meal, but said that it doesn't excuse me taking her out to one of our favourite restaurants when we return home.

In Jean's Birthday Honours List she has awarded me a KBW for bravery in crossing the Kessock Bridge. She would also like to thank all of you who sent messages to her wishing her a happy birthday.

"If you pick 'em up. O Lord, I'll put 'em down." - "Prayer of the tired walker"

Cheers

Keith

Day 55 - 800 and other numbers

A view across the moor high above Loch Ness early this morning. An unusually open view for the Great Glen Way.

A Great Glen Way sign marking the highest point on the Way. Although it doesn't say it is 1245 ft above sea level and I was very pleased to reach it after a long climb uphill from the side of Loch Ness.

Urquhart (pronounced Urk hurt) Castle is seen in the centre of the photo (if you look hard enough!). Taken from the Great Glen Way above Loch Ness.

The bilingual sign at the entrance to "Drum" as the locals call it. Although it looks as though the Gaelic speakers do not have to drive carefully! This is where I clocked up the 800 miles for the walk.

Today I reached 7 miles from Inverness and the end of the Great Glen Way. In doing so I clocked up 800 miles - I have now walked 816 miles. Due to the decision to walk through Inverness I have increased the total mileage to 950 and so there are still 134 miles to go. As you will have gathered from the last two blogs I have not been impressed by the GGW - this continued today although there were more areas where it was possible to see the wider view. Overall I would not recommend doing the GGW unless it was part of a longer holiday to see the sights of the Great Glen - even then I would suggest a driving trip would be more interesting.

I will need to get my OS maps out for tomorrow onwards. This has not happened recently because I had guide books for both the WHW and GGW which contained descriptions of the route as well as the appropriate maps with the route highlighted. My plan is to walk into Inverness and then to cross the Kessock Bridge to the Black Isle. I then take minor roads to Dingwall and then along the west coast of the Cromarty Firth towards Alness.

The weather has not been as hot as I understand it has been in England recently. Yesterday we had 2 showers. Today it threatened to rain again but it never quite managed to do so. I have therefore been wearing my waterproof jacket the last 2 days with long trousers. The long trousers are not because it is cold but to protect my legs from ticks (which live in bracken) which can give you Lymes disease. I have worn them since the start of the WHW when I started walking along country paths. Hopefully tomorrow will be the last day that this will be necessary - although the weather forecast is for rain for the next few days so I may need to wear my waterproof trousers. Whilst on the subject of clothing I wore my trainers yesterday for the first time since the start of the WHW. I had to wear my boots again today as it rained heavily overnight and I thought that the paths may be muddy. I will wear them again tomorrow but after that I am back on the roads and will be able to wear my trainers, which I prefer as they are lighter.

Jean today visited the Loch Ness Centre where she learned all about Nessie. I don't think that she was paying attention as she came out not believing in Nessie! As I have not seen that much of the Loch (due to the trees!) I haven't seen Nessie myself - so you will have to make your own minds up!

As promised an update on the trip stats:

816 miles walked

134 miles still to walk

48 days walked

7 full rest days

16.7 average miles per walking day

57 degrees north of Inverness- north of Moscow!

97 bird species seen (can I make the 100?)

10 mammal species seen

10 men in kilts

20 counties visited (this will be the final total as Highlands is huge)

29 beds slept in

2 single malts sampled (honest!)

1 blind Uruguayan referee

22 walkers who have joined me (plus 2 dogs)

12 support drivers (not including pick up truck)

2 support cars used by us

2,368 miles in our support cars

5,397 money raised for BHF (donations still accepted!)

KBW's today to Martin, Sue, Julie and Sue for services to communication with the Scottish outpost.

"I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me." - Fred Allen

Cheers

Keith

Day 54 - I cannot see the walk for the trees!

A view of the path on the Great Glen Way - trees for mile after mile!

At Fort Augustus, on Loch Ness, for a coffee stop when I found Nessie.

A pretty lock keepers cottage 4 miles south of Fort Augustus.

Like yesterday I found it very difficult to find suitable subjects to photo today. The first 5 miles today, from Aberchalder to Fort Augustus, were along the Caledonian Canal. The views were pleasant if not spectacular. However after leaving Fort Augustus the next 16 miles were entirely on Forestry Commission land which meant hours walking along good paths but with only the occasional glimpse of Loch Ness, which was often well below the path. As I have said before walking on forest paths is not inspiring and it is all but impossible to be sure what progress you are making. After lunch at Invermoriston I estimated that I had 7 miles before meeting Jean at the end of the day and so we agreed to meet at 4.30 at the end of a very narrow minor road which went into the forest. In the event I probably underestimated the distance and also did not take into account that the path literally went uphill for at least 3 miles. This combination meant that I was almost an hour late - and could not inform Jean because she couldn't get a signal on her phone. Luckily she had worked out that I was walking further than I had anticipated and was not panicking too much.

I had no problems from my ankle or shins today. Still no blisters !

One thing that I have noticed about the waterways in Scotland is the dearth of bird life. So even when I can see the lochs etc there is very little bird life to see.

I have decided to continue on the GGW to Inverness rather than to leave it at Drumnadrochit as originally planned. Although the GGW has been a big disappointment; I have missed a little bit out by taking short cuts; and the remaining 18 miles after D'hit do not sound to be an improvement - I think that I would prefer to see the rest for myself. The LEJOG guide book that I have suggests that it is best to carry on to Inverness as the alternative route from D'chit is largely on an A road. It will also be good to stay in Inverness on Tuesday as it is Jean's birthday and I think that she deserves a good meal in celebration and as a thank you for all of her support work.

I saw the 9th man wearing a kilt today. He was a busker playing the bagpipes at the exit to a car park. The others have been - 5 men attending a formal dinner in Lockerbie; a waiter at the Drovers Inn at Inverarnan; and 2 members of a pipe band in Fort William. I will give you a full update of the trip stats tomorrow.

Talking of tomorrow I plan to walk to about 5 miles south of Inverness. If achieved this will leave me with a further 132 miles to go to reach JOG.

"Now shall I walk or shall I ride ? Ride - Pleasure said. Walk - Joy replied" - WH Davis.

Cheers

Keith

Day 53 - Trees and more trees

A view over Loch Lochy back towards Ben Nevis.

The Laggan Locks on the Great Glen Way where we had a picnic lunch today.

The ruins of Invergarry Castle taken from the opposite bank of Loch Oich. The boat on the left also looks as though it has seen better days!

Today was certainly one where it was necessary to focus on the overall objective of reaching JOG, and to grind out the miles. This was because the scenery was by and large boring - or perhaps I should say that it was not possible to see the scenery because most of the day I was walking along forest tracks with minimal views of Loch Lochy and Loch Oich that I was walking parallel to. The actual paths themselves were very good and easy walking. In the morning from Gairlochy to Laggan Locks I amused myself by birdwatching, which is not easy in what was mainly a pine forest. In the afternoon from Laggan Locks to Aberchalder I resorted to first my radio and then my ipod to keep me going.

I may be getting a little jaded after over 7 weeks on the road, or I may have been spoiled by the magnificent scenery and atmosphere of the West Highland Way - because even when the trees did open up the views did not inspire me . The GGW so far is also much less used than is the WHW - I did not see any walkers going south today, and only 4 others going north. Because the Great Glen area is better served with B&B's and hotels than the area of the WHW there is not the gatherings of walkers in the hotels which helped make the WHW so special.

I am still in search of short cuts. This morning I chose to stay on a very quiet B road instead of following the GGW as it meandered fairly aimlessly through woodland.

Although Jean and myself have been bitten by a few insects it is no worse than if we had spent time out of doors in any part of England. We have certainly not yet seen the fabled Scottish midges. We have heard about them - the B&B where we stopped last night had a machine to deal with them. Apparently midges identify their prey from the carbon dioxide emitted from breath. The machine emits carbon dioxide to attract the midges from a radius of 50 yards. Once they approach the machine they are sucked in and killed. The B&B that we stayed at at Crianlarich were considering buying one of these machines as well. I guess that we must just have been lucky - so far!

Thanks to Colin Findlayat the excellent Riverside Lodge Gardens B&B at Spean Bridge for his donation to the BHF as well as for the wonderful hospitality. Tonight we are staying in Fort Augustus which is at the southern end of Loch Ness.

Tomorrow I hope to walk to to about 7 miles south of Drumnadrochit. I will need to decide by tomorrow night whether I am going to follow my original plan to leave the GGW at Drumnadrochit or whether to continue on to the end of the GGW at Inverness. The latter route is about 5 miles longer but does give us more options with accommodation as Inverness is well served with hotels etc.

There were 2 aspects of today's walk which gave me some intellectual interest. Yet again I found myself walking on old military roads - a lot of both the WHW and the GGW is based on roads that were built in the 18th century by the government to make troop movements around the highlands easier. Between 1724 -1740 240 miles of military roads were built by 500 soldiers. The leading figure involved with the construction was General Wade who is remembered in the National Anthem where his work is referred to as "crushing rebellious Scots". Together with the miles walked on old Roman roads I have walked many miles on roads which were constructed for military purposes. The other topic of interest were some butterflies that I spotted - however despite studying my book tonight I have been unable to identify which species they were.

"Walking isn't a lost art - one must by some means get to the garage." - Evan Esar

Cheers

Keith

Day 52 - One Way ends and another begins

The view from our B&B just outside Fort William - overlooking Loch Linnie. The clouds soon lifted and it became another warm sunny day.

Ben Nevis towers above the Fort William area.

River Lochy near to Gairlochy, where my walk finished today. This is on the Great Glen Way 10 miles north of Fort William.

Neptune's Staircase, on the Caledonian Canal at Benavie, a flight of 8 locks which is a local tourist attraction. Jean can be seen in the bottom right of the picture. We had lunch in the hotel next to the Staircase. You will remember that yesterday I took on the rather more challenging Devil's staircase in the WHW!

Although I know that I will not have followed every yard of either the WHW or the Great Glen Way, today was the day when I finished the WHW and started the GGW. Looking at the maps this morning I noticed short cuts that I could take both to finish the WHW and to start the GGW. As my objective is to get to JOG I had no problem in taking both short cuts saving me about 3 miles in total.

The walk today was fairly uneventful. I did have a few twinges from my right shin this morning, but after putting some gel on it I had no problems this afternoon. It is however a reminder that I must not take things for granted. I now have 185 miles to go, and while it might seem easy compared to the 945 starting figure I have reminded myself that it is still the distance from Coventry to London and back!

The highlight of today was seeing Ben Nevis from many different angles. I am always surprised to see snow on a British mountain in June! I did take several photos of the mountain showing the snow but unfortunately I uploaded the wrong photo - you will therefore have to believe me about the snow!

Jean had a cruise on Loch Linnie this morning, seeing seals, gannets and cormorants. She also enjoyed driving the hire car down the single track roads which are prevalent in these parts.

Tomorrow I carry on the GGW to Aberchalder which is 5 miles south of Fort Augustus. This part of the GGW is fairly flat and on good surfaces. This has restored my belief in my fitness because the hills and poor surfaces on the WHW were starting to make me believe that my legs were becoming worn out. However after 10 miles on flat canal paths, along the Caledonian Canal, I now believe that I am still in reasonable working order.

The change of Way has heralded a change in scenery from the rugged and desolate areas through which the WHW passes to the the much softer pasture land and gentle hills of the GGW. However I only had to look over my shoulder this afternoon to be reminded of the Highlands as Ben Nevis is still dominating the views even from 10 miles away.

I have had some new eating and drinking experiences whilst in the Lochaber district. Last night I had a vegetarian haggis (think about it) and tonight I had a pint of beer (yes, only 1!) made from heather - it was surprisingly tasty and dispelled the thought that the Scots had been winding me up when telling me that heather was used to make beer.

"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go." - Robert L Stevenson

Cheers

Keith