Day 5: Tuesday 14 May – Fort William to Clunes
24 km with 123m ascent
The seed of an idea sprouted late last night and I decided to sleep on it. I really wasn’t feeling well and things could now go one of several ways: I could retire, I could try to stick to my original plan, or I could try something else. I really didn’t want to retire, but the combination of a hayfever-like cold** and a demanding and stressful day 3 had left me rather wrung out. I still thought it may be possible to come out the other side without retiring, and there was one way I could increase my chances of success.
On waking it felt like the best thing to do was to embrace my embryonic idea and talk it through with Challenge Control. I couldn’t see why they’d have any particular objection to it, but I was conscious that I had neither maps printed nor existing plan for what I was intending – it was radically different from my vetted route.
I mapped it out on my phone and it felt right for my current circumstances, so I waited impatiently for 09:00, beginning packing. Almost on the stroke of 9 I was on the blower to Control and spoke to Mick. He accepted my plan pretty easily, asked a few questions and confirmed the relative straightforwardness of the route I outlined. I also mentioned that I’d probably be looking to see if I could secure a spot in Newtonmore Hostel on Friday night, and as Ali was in the room, it was all sorted. I put the phone down with a new plan and accommodation booked. I immediately cancelled my Kingussie B&B and booked a bed for the next night in Fort Augustus.
Yes, my plan was to (once again) head up the Great Glen Way. What I wanted right now was certainty, and some guaranteed straightforward walking. I know I’d only walked the GGW 3 weeks before, but that didn’t matter – what mattered was giving me enough certainty so that I didn’t have to worry about anything for a couple of days – I could pretty much do this on autopilot. By doing this I’d buy myself the time to get a bit better – as I see it, it’s all about staying in the game anyway you can in the hope that you’re through your bad patch at the end of it.
I finished packing, called home and set off. I wasn’t going to be strict about following the exact GGW, so took a shortcut to Inverlochy and Corpachto get me on the easy canalside bit in as little distance as possible.
I stopped for coffee at Neptune’s staircase and lunch at Moy Bridge. Even though I was away from camp quite late, it was still earlier than the day I started the GGW 3 weeks before, so I was expecting to get well past Gairlochy where I’d stopped that first night.
From Gairlochy and onto the road before following Loch Lochy (my favourite bit of the whole walk), although even here I took some shortcuts along the road.
Leaving the road at Clunes, I went to look at the wild camp spot recommended by the Trailblazer guide book and found it to my liking – a lovely spot, and I pitched up for one of the best camps of the whole trip.
Day 6: Wednesday 15 May – Clunes to Fort Augustus
32 km with 356m ascent
The wind had initially made me a little concerned about my choice of pitch, but it died away with the coming of sunset, and so it had been a relatively calm and still camp: just what I needed. Best of all, though, was a bone dry tent to pack away.
I packed up, aiming for an 8am start and walked the very short distance back onto the GGW proper. And there found a fellow Challenger.
It turned out to be Jeremy Burrows, who I’d heard of but not actually met. We found enough in common to last us most of the day. He also tried out some of his songs on me. It was useful having company on what would otherwise have seemed a long and dull stretch – if only because of the very recent familiarity.
Jeremy’s a 5 minute stop every hour person so we did that. On one of those stops at Laggan Locks, we met a GGW walker called Eddie and walked with him for a while, leaving him where the GGW climbed away from the road, and we decided to straight line it along said road.
The road proved a bit too deathy to stick with for long though so we re-joined the GGW for a short stretch before it dropped back down to Bridge of Oich. By now I was starting to struggle and really keen to get to Fort Augustus, and luckily once we hit the canal towpath at Bridge of Oich we started to fly along, getting to Fort A before 5pm. A swift pint of cider at the Lock Inn was called for, before I headed to Morags.
Day 7: Thursday 16 May – Fort Augustus to Garva Bridge
30 km with 1004m ascent
Despite being unable to keep my eyes open from quite early the previous night, and feeling that I’d had a good long sleep, my watch once more berated me for its short duration and poor quality. On the plus side my “cold” seemed to have been improving.
I aimed my departure to coincide with the cafe opening for breakfast, and watched boats navigating the locks while I wolfed it down. Then to the garage for supplies, where I met Paul D’Ambroglio resulting in a bit of a chat.
Breakfast and shopping done, I headed off and met Paul again on the path. So we chatted a bit more before going our separate ways – him to Glen Doe and me to Glen Tarff.
A short road walk along a mostly quiet country lane with signs starting to appear for my destination.
Leaving the road through a corridor of gorse, I climbed gradually on a stony track, the sun now out. It started to feel like a normal, good, Challenge day one more, and I resolved to make that actually be the case.
That being so, I stopped for a brew up at midday – the first of the trip. Glorious.
And I took it further – as the track crossed a bridge, I ducked down for a soak of the trotters underneath.
As I reached the 600m contour, the clouds opened and big fat nasty rain fell on me, making for an urgent scramble for waterproofs. It lasted until the pass itself, at which point I looked up and saw a figure on the skyline ahead. Could it be another Challenger ? Was it Gerry, who I’d heard was coming this way from his updates in the Facebook group.
I caught him up on the descent the other side of the pass, verified his identity and we then kept each company for the rest of the day. We looked in at Melgarve bothy, and stopped for a further brew up, but decided to push on for the night, making camp eventually at Garva Bridge.
The pitch turned out bumpier than it originally looked and I had to lie awkwardly to make it comfortable.
Day 8: Friday 17 May – Garva Bridge to Newtonmore
26 km with 282m ascent
Awake at 06:30, I had a leisurely breakfast with a second coffee and a bit of a read. then started packing quietly so as to not disturb Gerry. I emerged from the tent for the final stages around 07:30 and he’d already gone.
Company would have made the 11km to Laggan Coffee Bothy go a bit faster, but I managed. Gerry was there when I arrived, finishing up, and it turned out I’d only just missed him at camp.
Back on the road, literally, I headed to the south side of the Spey to visit the Centre of Scotland stone. This was a slow steady slog with a few stops, including one at the memorial 50m or so before the stone.
By the stone, I just had time for a couple of pictures, before a German couple arrived and we began chatting for a while. Eventually, I had to push on and put on some speed for the last 6km into Newtonmore. Music aided, I sang and danced down the cycle track by the A9.
There were only two of us in the hostel that night, and I met Kevin just before I slipped out for the traditional half way Big Steak Meal…
Video for this section
**in hindsight it may have been Covid
