LEJOG day 62: Drumnadrochit to Inverness
Today is a sort of milestone: I think Inverness is probably the last place I'll walk through before John O'Groats that everyone has heard of - although having said that, I've encountered people who hadn't heard of Land's End or of John O'Groats so maybe I'm being optimistic.
There's another milestone, too: today I finished walking the Great Glen Way, making it the only long-distance trail I've actually followed from start to finish on this whole walk- and seeing as how I won't set foot on another between here and John O'Groats, I think we can all agree I left that satisfyingly to the last minute.
Mark Moxon (the guy who's route I'm following) was very scathing the last 20 miles of the Great Glen Way, going so far as to say they should have been left out altogether. This, coupled with deep concerns about the quality and efficacy of the Boots own-brand blister plasters on my feet, the length of the walk, and a short-lived but intense shower lasting precisely long enough for me to get much wetter than I wanted and timed to perfectly coincide with my phonecall to my parents, meant I set off this morning in what can honestly only be described as a bit of a strop. It's been quite a while since I started a day's walk in quite such a bad mood.
The first couple of miles were a sort of gentle precursor of the treats in store for me for the next week: a walk along the side of an A-road, except unlike most of the A-road I'll tramp along next week, this one has a pavement. Following this, a brief glimpse back at Castle Urquhart on the edge of Loch Ness, and then a dive into some uninspiring fields which gave way to some woodland.
At three miles, I stopped to sit on a very wet rock and break the Cardinal Rule of Walking, to reveal that my lack of faith in the blister plasters was entirely justified. I don't think it takes too much thought to realise that blisters often arise on feet - even the picture on the box says so - and then to follow that up with the observation that feet are often warm and enclosed in socks and inclined to be a little on the damp side. So how is it that the adhesive they chose is one which doesn't stick to wet skin? The plasters had migrated an impressive distance as well as folding up on themselves. I MacGuyvered an alternative - being a junior doctor means always having a roll of Transpore about your person - which I am proud to say was still doing its job when I arrived in Inverness.
Once I'd sorted that out, escaped the relentless climbing through woods in high humidity and made it to somewhere where there was a breeze, everything improved very rapidly. Sure, my feet hurt, and yes, there was a mile-long stretch where I walked with my arms in front of my face because of all the branches across the path, but there was also several consecutive miles of easy walking on nice, even tracks and some good views.
Plus, Inverness has a Pizza Express, so I didn't even have to think about where I might go for dinner.
Distance walked: 19.54 miles
Time taken: elapsed time was about 7 hours. Runkeeper had a moment and claims I walked nearly 20 miles in just over 4 hours which is quite obviously a lie
Percentage complete: 88.1%
Miles left to walk: 134
Days since I was last rained on: 4 (I don't count this morning, as I hadn't actually managed to leave yet)
Lunch: ham and chutney sandwiches ("are you sure you wouldn't like any cheese in there?") and crisps and grapes and juice and a chocolate bar
Last night's B&B: Greenlea, Drumnadrochit: very nice, I had a little bothy/outbuilding all to myself- it was much better furnished than the word "bothy" implies
Castle Urquhart
Yes, we do
There's another milestone, too: today I finished walking the Great Glen Way, making it the only long-distance trail I've actually followed from start to finish on this whole walk- and seeing as how I won't set foot on another between here and John O'Groats, I think we can all agree I left that satisfyingly to the last minute.
Mark Moxon (the guy who's route I'm following) was very scathing the last 20 miles of the Great Glen Way, going so far as to say they should have been left out altogether. This, coupled with deep concerns about the quality and efficacy of the Boots own-brand blister plasters on my feet, the length of the walk, and a short-lived but intense shower lasting precisely long enough for me to get much wetter than I wanted and timed to perfectly coincide with my phonecall to my parents, meant I set off this morning in what can honestly only be described as a bit of a strop. It's been quite a while since I started a day's walk in quite such a bad mood.
The first couple of miles were a sort of gentle precursor of the treats in store for me for the next week: a walk along the side of an A-road, except unlike most of the A-road I'll tramp along next week, this one has a pavement. Following this, a brief glimpse back at Castle Urquhart on the edge of Loch Ness, and then a dive into some uninspiring fields which gave way to some woodland.
At three miles, I stopped to sit on a very wet rock and break the Cardinal Rule of Walking, to reveal that my lack of faith in the blister plasters was entirely justified. I don't think it takes too much thought to realise that blisters often arise on feet - even the picture on the box says so - and then to follow that up with the observation that feet are often warm and enclosed in socks and inclined to be a little on the damp side. So how is it that the adhesive they chose is one which doesn't stick to wet skin? The plasters had migrated an impressive distance as well as folding up on themselves. I MacGuyvered an alternative - being a junior doctor means always having a roll of Transpore about your person - which I am proud to say was still doing its job when I arrived in Inverness.
Once I'd sorted that out, escaped the relentless climbing through woods in high humidity and made it to somewhere where there was a breeze, everything improved very rapidly. Sure, my feet hurt, and yes, there was a mile-long stretch where I walked with my arms in front of my face because of all the branches across the path, but there was also several consecutive miles of easy walking on nice, even tracks and some good views.
Plus, Inverness has a Pizza Express, so I didn't even have to think about where I might go for dinner.
Distance walked: 19.54 miles
Time taken: elapsed time was about 7 hours. Runkeeper had a moment and claims I walked nearly 20 miles in just over 4 hours which is quite obviously a lie
Percentage complete: 88.1%
Miles left to walk: 134
Days since I was last rained on: 4 (I don't count this morning, as I hadn't actually managed to leave yet)
Lunch: ham and chutney sandwiches ("are you sure you wouldn't like any cheese in there?") and crisps and grapes and juice and a chocolate bar
Last night's B&B: Greenlea, Drumnadrochit: very nice, I had a little bothy/outbuilding all to myself- it was much better furnished than the word "bothy" implies
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