TGO Challenge 2025 – Part 2: Glencoe Mountain Resort to Blair Atholl (Days 5-8)

Day 5: Glencoe Resort to Rannoch Moor

10.2km and 180m of ascent. Total distance so far: 129.4km

After returning to my tent last night, I unpacked my parcel and did some thinking. Over the last couple of days a decision had been brewing about my route for the next section: specifically, that I probably wasn’t going to stick to my main route and climb Schiehallion. I had a couple of options then: stick to the route, but simply omit the climb, or take the more direct route that was my FWA. Having pretty much decided not to bother with Schiehallion, there wasn’t much point walking up to the base of it either, so the FWA it would be. I calculated this left me with around 75km to Blair Atholl over 4 days. Very comfortable compared with what I did in the first 4 days.

Secondly, I hadn’t eaten as much of my initial stock of dehydrated food as planned, meaning that with the top up from this parcel, I now had too much. It also didn’t look as though I would need all of the wet and cold weather gear I’d brought. So it wasn’t much of a leap to decide it was time for a parcel to go home. Actually it ended up being two parcels.

So knowing the Citilink route passes the Resort, it was a matter of matching up where the post offices were to decide where to pop into this morning. The nearest was Ballachulish, but after a bit more thought I decided to go all the way to Fort William. Ballachulish was a small local post office, so anything could have happened with its opening times, plus it was a tight turn around for the coach back, or a long wait. By going into Fort William, I’d be on that later coach anyway and I wouldn’t need to hurry. Plus I could rectify my lack of snacks and things for lunch – I hadn’t included any such items in the parcel due to lack of room, and Taynuilt had not done its job properly.

In Fort William, I quickly disposed of the parcels, then popped over the road to GoOutdoors and Mountain Warehouse. I wanted a pair of short(er) socks – in the hot conditions the long knee length socks I’d been wearing had given me a heat rash. That dealt with, I dropped into Morrisons to top up snacks and some lunch and then waited for the coach back to Glencoe.

Back at the Resort, I struck camp and then sat under a tree to eat my lunch and condense the shopping into something more efficient to carry. It was 1:15 before I actually started walking – my latest ever on the Challenge

I did about a mile and a half and then stopped again – at Kingshouse. My route took me right past the door of the Hikers Bar, so I stopped for a cold drink. I wasn’t really in a hurry anyway – I just needed to get into double figures of kms and that would be enough.

All of this was familiar territory as I came this way in 2018, so I found the right track without a problem, and then began the walk out onto the moor, the scenery behind seeming to take ages to recede into the distance. I wasn’t in a hurry though, I had to keep reminding myself.

I had a little rest on a rock and then continued, finding water soon after. It wasn’t long before I was approaching where I’d camped in 2018, and decided to do my first ever repeat TGOC wild camp. Indeed I reckon I was within a metre of the exact spot.

It was breezy which slowed down putting the tent up, but eventually I got it up and piled inside, just in time before a few drops of rain fell.

Later it calmed down and it was pleasant to finish a day without having wrecked myself and to have a good long chill out at camp. This would set the tone for the next few days – with easy distances and good weather ahead, it was now time to slow down and start to enjoy the walk rather than be constantly concerned with catching up or knocking off an amount of miles that was more than I wanted to do.

My dropping of Schiehallion could in theory get me to Blair a day early, as per my FWA on my route card, but I actually preferred to do less and eat the spare day bit by bit.

Day 6: Rannoch Moor to Loch Rannoch

26.4km and 325m of ascent. Total distance so far: 155.8km

It was a bit of a toss and turn night and I woke with a headache. It was also decidedly cool, and for the first time this trip I set off wearing an additional layer.

I soon reached the end of the good track and started following the line of pylons and the faint path parallel. I stopped a couple of kilometres from the end to get some water, and while I was sat there, an actual person came by. Not a Challenger, but someone just out on a big circular route, he’d camped about 1km before me and clearly seen me moving ahead in my bright yellow jacket. we chatted a bit then he moved on.

I caught up with him again talking to another person – this was starting to feel crowded! We set off initially together but I soon pulled ahead and further still when I entered the forest, which was just as boggy and unpleasant for the first 400m as I remember from last time.

While bombing along the good track that eventually appeared, I decided to call Rannoch Tea Room on the off chance they could fit me in, and so it turned out. I gave them a conservative estimate of my arrival and ended up arriving 15 minutes early. Sat with another solo person, I tucked into a large bowl of the best leek and potato soup I’ve ever had.

I could have eaten it again, but settled for a big hunk of cake.

Back under way, it was now a lot of road walking, which I took pretty easy. I stopped for water from the River Gaur and ambled along the road south of Loch Rannoch.

The guys from Finnart Cottage had messaged me on Instagram a couple of days ago to see if I was stopping by, and so I duly rocked up for tea and biscuits. After that the inclination, and the need, to push much further wasn’t there, so I started looking for a spot by the loch, finding a good one on a bend in the road, mostly screened from view by trees.

Day 7: Loch Rannoch to Tummel Forest

29.4km and 385m of ascent. Total distance so far: 185.2km

A different start compared with the previous day – bright sunshine. I sat eating my breakfast on a rock with the loch waters gently lapping at my feet.

What then followed was more shady road walking. I stopped at Carie for a, quite long, brew up. It was at this point that I started to be alarmed about how light my gas canister felt. I hoped I could get some in Blair Atholl, but also doubted I’d make it that far. I also noticed the portaloo that was here before had now gone – I’d been counting on that.

It wasn’t a huge distance to the end of the loch though, where there was another one, just before entering Kinloch Rannoch. I popped into the shop, and bought lunch, eating it on a patch of shaggy grass opposite.

The afternoon was yet more road walking, with Schiehallion looming impressively ahead as if to taunt me. I was starting to flag a bit on this stretch.

In Tummel Bridge I popped into the holiday park shop for an ice cream and cold drink, then set about the final climb up into the forest.

This was by a long way the hardest part of the day – first finding the path, then as it narrowed and became steadily more overhung with rampant vegetation. I was still picking leaves and small twigs out from my clothes the next day. I found nowhere to camp, and had already gone further than I wanted, and resigned myself to having to find somewhere by the forestry tracks.

A suitable opportunity presented itself shortly after gaining the track. One of those little cul de sacs that are presumably there for vehicles to turn around in – this one had enough “almost grass” at the back to be viable for putting a tent on. Getting the pegs in was difficult, and needed a rock to help.

Day 8: Tummel Forest to Blair Atholl

14.0km and 176m of ascent. Total distance so far: 199.2km

I was in no hurry at all today – with 13-14km and an earliest check-in of 1pm, I could take it quite easy. Even so I was away for 0840. The first few kilometres along the tracks passed easily enough, and then I came to Loch Bhac. This would clearly be the highlight of the day, and I spent a good long time here having a brew up on a bench, watching a few people turn up and head out onto the loch to fish.

Next came a few hundred metres of quite pleasant forest path.

The forest then spat me out onto open moorland where I could see roughly where I was aiming for. It was a long and slow descent from the moor into farmland.

The last bit across fields parallel to the A9 seemed to go on forever, and it was a relief to finally take my life in my hands and scuttle across the A9. A quick stop at a convenience store and then off to the campsite. Just my luck, a pitch right by the bloody crows again.

The campsite did sell gas, but only the pierce top kind. A tip off from someone in the TGO Challenge Facebook group suggested I might find some at the garage, so after setting up camp, having a shower and chilling for a bit, I set off on my quest.

Success!!

I spent the rest of the afternoon just chillin’ in my tent, before Food in the Park opened. There I got some pie and chips and a drink from the bar.

On this second section I’d started having thoughts that maybe this would be my last crossing. I’d got through this second section a lot more easily and enjoyably (that path in the Tummel forest aside!) than the first, but the lack of other Challengers or even people at all on some days, had started to get to me. This fed into the thinking I was now doing about the rest of the walk.

In the hot conditions, I didn’t have much inclination to walk super long distances or climb things. Troubling me in particular was a potential 39km day on day 12, which followed a day with over 1,000m of ascent. This was easily avoided. But this was the 4th time I’d had those Munros on my route, and if this was going to be my last Challenge, and conditions were likely to be perfect, then I should really tick them off and lay the ghost.

More thought would be needed over the next two days to Braemar…