I have now either binned, posted home or traded in for
lighter alternatives, approximately 2kg of the kit that I started off from John
o’Groats with. This seems to have made
the required difference and I am now much more comfortable with the weight that
I am carrying, which I estimate to be around 14kg. Just about everything in my pack is now
essential, the only thing that I have not used is sun cream. I have used my sunglasses, but that was only
to protect my eyes from all the crap being flicked our way when walking up the
A9. Indeed I am not sure if I will need
sun cream at all until we leave Scotland because I caught a glimpse of an
exotic looking F1 Grand Prix taking place on the pub TV, before realising that
it was a scorching Silverstone and summer certainly seems to have arrived at
Wimbledon. Meanwhile here in Scotland,
as we left our B&B, it was still solidly raining, just as it has on and off
for the last 9 days.
Fort William marks the end of the Great Glen Way and the
start of the West Highland Way. To guide
us, we now have white thistles to follow as opposed to the blue thistles that
we followed for the last three days. The
difference however between the two routes is quite pronounced. Gone are the midge pit forests of the Great
Glen Way and in is rolling moorland with steep climbs and loose rock strewn
descents. It is however, a nice change
and more popular with other walkers of whom we saw many heading from
Kinlochleven to Fort William. This seems
to be the more conventional way to travel, along with pre-arranged baggage
transfers to lighten the load.
We had decided not to climb Ben Nevis, even though we were
on its doorstep. We didn’t have time or
inclination and Tim has done it before anyway.
However, it did feel as if we were heading up its slopes as we took the
long climb out of Fort William. The
remaining part of the walk was by far the hardest terrain that we have covered
since setting off, so combined with the wet weather, we didn’t arrive at
Kingshouse until fairly late in the day.
The Kingshouse Hotel is like a little oasis in the desert and it allows rough
camping in its grounds. This was a good
job as the hotel looked to be full and we were particularly glad that we had
not ditched our camping gear to save weight as there is no alternative
accommodation for miles. The importance
of being well prepared on the West Highland Way was brought home as we saw the
search and rescue helicopter depart from the hotel when we approached.
After rapidly pitching tent, we headed straight for the
“Climbers Bar”, which was lovely and warm.
The bar was full of other like-minded backpackers drying out after a
day’s soaking and the place does a good trade selling food and drink to hungry
travellers. As we sat steaming in the
corner, we were just about to leave when the drunkest looking man in the bar
suddenly produced a guitar. We decided
to stay for another to see what he was going to do. There was a “Britain’s Got Talent” style
silence as he began, then some relief as we realised he was actually
brilliant. He got a big round of
applause and suddenly people from the other bars began coming in and another
guy appeared with a banjo to join in.
The place was now buzzing, so we stayed for another few drinks enjoying
the atmosphere before finally retiring.
The Kingshouse Hotel had somehow managed to turn a wet miserable day
into an unforgettable warm feeling.
The Kingshouse Hotel - an oasis for hungry backpackers.
Statistics
Distance: 23.7 Miles
Moving Time: 9 Hours 16 Mins
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