LEJOG day 61: Invermoriston to Drumnadrochit
It is possible that some of yesterday's suffering was due to being underfed, much like on my way to Launceston way back when. In any case, the blisters were less bothersome today and I've managed to be pretty cheerful.
The only problem with Invermoriston as a place to stop is that it lies in a valley, so the first thing I had to do this morning was climb about 180 metres with no warm-up first. It went as slowly as you're imagining. I was then hit with a Decision: although there's only one route on the map, the Great Glen Way at this point has a high and a low route, and a handy sign to help you decide which. The information it provided was this:
1. The high route climbs to 470m (I slept at 50m)
2. The high route is 13.3 miles to Drumnadrochit
3. The low route "rises and falls three times before climbing to 350m"
4. The low route is 14 miles to Drumnadrochit
I picked the high route, because being 0.7 of a mile shorter seemed to balance out the climb, especially if the low route was going to play hopscotch the contour lines again, and besides, I wanted to see Loch Ness if at all possible.
I subscribe to the belief that "the route you choose is always the best route", which helped when following the path took me straight off the part of the map I'd downloaded so I was GPS-tracking myself across a featureless grey screen. The views also helped, even if most of them were not of Loch Ness.
I was rewarded by finding the last 6 miles were along a road (yes!) and I could turn them into about 5 miles by continuing down the road, rather than following the path to dogleg down from 190m to 40m above sea level. I justified it on the basis that the longer I spend not walking, the quicker my blisters will heal.
Distance walked: 13.21 miles
Time taken: 4h56
Percentage complete: 86.4%
Miles to go: 153
Days since I was last rained on: 3
Lunch: ham and cheese sandwiches (just for a change), wotsits and juice- but also in the pack was salad, cake, jelly beans, an apple, grapes and a chocolate bar, making it the most generous lunch yet
Last night's B&B: Bracarina House, Invermoriston: quite apart from the lunch, this was a wonderful place to stay
alongside this bridge were some children's poems about trolls
The only problem with Invermoriston as a place to stop is that it lies in a valley, so the first thing I had to do this morning was climb about 180 metres with no warm-up first. It went as slowly as you're imagining. I was then hit with a Decision: although there's only one route on the map, the Great Glen Way at this point has a high and a low route, and a handy sign to help you decide which. The information it provided was this:
1. The high route climbs to 470m (I slept at 50m)
2. The high route is 13.3 miles to Drumnadrochit
3. The low route "rises and falls three times before climbing to 350m"
4. The low route is 14 miles to Drumnadrochit
I picked the high route, because being 0.7 of a mile shorter seemed to balance out the climb, especially if the low route was going to play hopscotch the contour lines again, and besides, I wanted to see Loch Ness if at all possible.
I subscribe to the belief that "the route you choose is always the best route", which helped when following the path took me straight off the part of the map I'd downloaded so I was GPS-tracking myself across a featureless grey screen. The views also helped, even if most of them were not of Loch Ness.
I was rewarded by finding the last 6 miles were along a road (yes!) and I could turn them into about 5 miles by continuing down the road, rather than following the path to dogleg down from 190m to 40m above sea level. I justified it on the basis that the longer I spend not walking, the quicker my blisters will heal.
Distance walked: 13.21 miles
Time taken: 4h56
Percentage complete: 86.4%
Miles to go: 153
Days since I was last rained on: 3
Lunch: ham and cheese sandwiches (just for a change), wotsits and juice- but also in the pack was salad, cake, jelly beans, an apple, grapes and a chocolate bar, making it the most generous lunch yet
Last night's B&B: Bracarina House, Invermoriston: quite apart from the lunch, this was a wonderful place to stay
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