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.
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