The rain had been hammering on my tent all night, so it was
no surprise to be starting the day by getting dressed in damp clothes and
packing the tent away wet. We did however,
manage to get a good breakfast in the Kingshouse Hotel, who didn’t mind us
coming in with our boots on alongside the other clean and polished residents of
the hotel.
The West Highland Way now continues onto an old military
road, which made for much better walking than the previous day. The gradient was also much less and combined
with the stunning scenery, made for one of the best days walking I’ve ever
had. The surrounding terrain is rugged,
with snow still on the peaks and the moors are peppered with a strange grass
that looks like it has bits of sheep wool hanging from it. I can’t say that I have seen it on any of the
moors in England and will look up what it is called when I get home.
We stopped for lunch at Inveroran which is about half way and
whilst browsing the map, noticed that the Highland Way takes us over one of the
peaks when there is a perfectly good road around it. We opted for the road as it is not our
intention to climb every hill that we come to.
This turned out to be a good choice as the road was quiet and flat, so
we were soon joining the Way again at the other side at Bridge of Orchy. Shortly after this point, Tim stopped to
examine his feet and I was surrounded by midges (presumably trying to avoid Tim’s
feet). I decided that it was time to try
out some “Smidge”, so dug it out of my bag and applied as directed. The description on the side of the can
promises to “banish the little bleeders” and true to its word, they instantly
withdrew and headed off to annoy someone else.
I can therefore confirm that “Smidge” works better than a Baby Oil and
Detol mixture. Midge attack free, we
continued on the military road (engineered by Thomas Telford) all the way to
Tyndrum by which time it had finally stopped raining and we were able to pitch
tent and dry out properly. The campsite
facilities and drying room were also very welcome after a day rough camped.
Statistics
Distance: 19.7 Miles
Moving Time: 6 Hours 24 Mins
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