Usually, simply getting to the start wouldn’t warrant a post all of its own, but then I don’t usually start in Kilchoan. To get to Kilchoan you can take the bus from Fort William, but there’s also a more intrepid way of getting there that many Challengers use, and which I did this year.
The plan was to travel to Oban, pretty standard so far, then take a ferry to Mull, travel the length of the island, and take another ferry to Kilchoan. I’d also add in a bit of danger by doing the last ferry crossing on the morning of starting the Challenge, so if there was anything wrong with the ship, or the weather, I could well be starting with ground to make up.
Day -1: Wednesday 8 May
Despite having a clear day, it somehow took all day to pack, and I made it worse by doing my parcel drop-off on foot, costing me a valuable hour and a half (parcels to Newtonmore and the finish at Montrose).
Somehow I got all the packing done, but there was another problem. I never “pack” (or gather) my shoes until it’s time to go, because I know where they are and can’t leave without them, and this time 5 minutes before setting off, I couldn’t find them. Somehow the pair of Altra Timp 4s I’d carefully taken the newness off on the Great Glen Way a few weeks before, had simply vanished.
[I still haven’t found them, and have concluded that I must have taken them off on the train home and forgot to pick them up. Logging this with lost property hasn’t yielded anything đŸ˜¦ ]
A frantic and fruitless search later, there was nothing for it but to break out a brand new pair, which is not something you’d usually do right at the start of a big walk – but this was pair 4 of this particular shoe, and pair 3 embarked on the GGW in the same virgin state without mishap. Trail shoes are often fine straight out of the box. I wouldn’t do this with more traditional boots though. I don’t know what I’d have done if I hadn’t had a pair in reserve.
After that the travel itself went smoothly, as if the universe decided that the shoe stress somehow then bought me an easy ride for the next bit. I got the best seat on the coach (2A), and it was a pretty sparsely filled coach at that. I even slept better than usual.
Day 0: Thursday 9 May
Off the coach at Buchanan Bus Station just after 11am in the milling-about area I spota colourful Atompack, which could well be a fellow Challenger. I walk a bit nearer, and realise it’s not just any Atompack, but my actual old pack. and attached to it was Jason (the giant from 2019’s tale). We had a brief chat then I roped him into my plan to head to ‘spoons for breakfast. On the way, we bumped into the legend that is Mark Storey in the street, and headed as a trio to the pub.
Mark had to dash for his train, so it was Jason and I walking over to Queen Street for the leg to Oban. There I saw Lynsey and John, said hello then Jason and I found ourselves with a first timer, Paul Miller, and shared the journey together.
In Oban, I just had time to grab cash and a pint in the Corryvreckan before my ferry to Mull. The bus to Tobermory came along and the most tortuous segment of the journey began – along a long single-tracked road. I checked into the hostel, met Stuart Anderson and Alex and headed out for fish and chips and a pint. It was an early night – I’d been travelling for 22 hours and was done.
This all made simply getting to the start part of the adventure itself. and that’s why it’s got a post of its own this year.
