1st August 2011

The Vale of Pewsey and the White Horse in chalk

Andrew and I were inspired by Julia Bradbury's "Canal Walks" to walk along part of the Kennet and Avon Canal this weekend. We were very lucky with the weather which was perfect - about 20 deg. C and dry.
On Friday we drove to Pewsey, then took the train from Pewsey to Bath and stayed the night at the Travelodge in Bath. It was very hot and rather cramped in Bath, but we compensated by having a lovely spanish meal in a tapas bar (well more of a tapas restaurant really) in Bath.

On Saturday we walked 24 (!!!) miles from Bath to Devizes. It was a long tramp, but there were so many plants and boats to see that the journey flew.

Lovely plants along the canal

The path along the canal was flat and it was almost impossible to get lost (just keep the canal on your right/left!) so the only obstacle to keeping a good pace were cyclists and occasional fishermen.

Caen Hill Flight of lochs

BOTO-X loch !!

I was very relieved to get to the Caen Hill flight of lochs in Devizes, which meant we were nearly there. Hurrah!!

It was downhill from there to the Travelodge and we managed to struggle into town later for a delightful supper involving chips. There was no need to count calories that night!!!



The next day we walked a humble 12 miles from Devizes to Pewsey. The weather was warmer than on Saturday and the canal was quieter. It was very peaceful and therapeutic.

Swans near Horton

The Vale of Pewsey was gorgeous and Andrew and I both agreed that we should do this kind of walk (i.e. flat and local) again. We are going to investigate Britain's Canal network. When we got to Pewsey we had a lovely lunch in a pub next to the Canal, and then drove home to Alderbury. It was 28 miles from Pewsey to our house and took less than an hour. But the whole experience felt like going to a foreign country, and was more restful. I arrived home feeling about 10 years younger than when we left.

When the weather is good in England this country is unbeatable.

Monday 25th July

Another lovely day in Wiltshire. Certainly better than yesterday turned out to be!


Looking north towards Pepperbox hill from Whaddon

Is this corn???

I couldn't stay indoors on such a gorgeous morning and decided to cycle along the local fields - golden with corn - to Downton. I took Andrew's GPS with me, intending to measure the altitude I climb doing this route, as it feels like constant ascents and descents.





My favourite part of the journey, once I have climbed Pepperbox Hill, is the gentle descent towards Downton through shady old 'hollow roads', lined with trees.

A great place to see squirrels bickering/mating

From Downton I followed my regular route via the Great Yews, and then along dusty bridleways to Odstock. I saw two leverets (young hares) along this way, both very large. One of them came straight towards me as I cycled slowly towards it; clearly it had self-confidence and believed it had right of way!

My return journey took me via Salisbury District Hospital and Britford.
About a mile from Britford I came across a memorial (looking rather like a gravestone!) bearing this interesting sign:

The plaque celebrates the fact that the Salisbury bypass did NOT go through this valley, and a Black Poplar tree was planted at this site by Salisbury Transport Action Committee in 1979 to celebrate their successful defeat of a campaign which would evidently have destroyed the area (this may be open to debate...).

The Black Poplar is still there, but is being crowded out by Field Maples and other hedgerow trees.

I must share a recent discovery. Last year I bought a pair of sunglasses in Lidls which come with three different lenses. I have just started wearing the 'yellow' lenses and am convinced they are more mood-enhancing than every drink I have tried (and that is saying something!) and possibly more of an 'upper' (not that i know anything about such things)than psyotropic drugs. You need to try them. The really good news is that Lidls are selling them again this year.

Lidls sunglasses

As well as lifting the spirits these sunglasses also significantly improve depth-perception, and come with an excellent container which has 6 individual compartments to protect the different lenses from being scratched. The glasses even come in a choice of 3 stylish frames; blue, black and silver. Perfect.
So if you suffer from SAD or depression, or just want to imagine you are cycling in a warm and sunny place (when it is raining), buy some. They cost £3.99 from Lidls. You just can't go wrong.
When I was on Ben More Assynt in Scotland at Easter, I changed to the clear lenses to protect my eyes from the horizontal wind. The next day I was wearing the dark lenses as it was bright and sunny. Such versatility is priceless.
Anyway, enough about the glasses.

According to Andrew's GPS I cycled 19.7 miles and the total ascent was either 1,356 or 1,035 feet. Somewhere I goofed up with the GPS. Maybe I will get round to working it out by hand using the OS map.

24th July 2011

Well, The forecast was good today (erroneously as it turned out!) so we set off early for the New Forest.
A breakfast of porridge was a good start to the day and we took a fruit 'smoothie' with us (made of 1 banana, 1 peach, 35 g raisins and 200 ml of skimmed milk). We shared it when the energy levels got low and it was a real life-saver.

The horses were enjoying the dry weather and looking cute. This one was particularly unafraid.

We noticed a real shortage of water, with most of the streams reduced to a trickle or completely dry. Many ponies were gathering by the pond near the WW2 mock German U-boat shelter.. On the OS maps this lamdark is marked as 'Tumulus' between Pitts Wood Enclsure and Amberwood Enclosure.

We messed around with our cameras at the trig point at Whitefield Plantation (on Ibsley Common), and took some silly photos like this one of me on the right...






We also saw a very large, old oak near Moyles Court School, and couldn't resist a photo to show how huge it is.



We walked a total of 14.5 miles in 6 hours today, with no major arguments (over navigation or anything else!!).  A few minutes after we got back to the car at Ashley Walk car park (on Godshill Ridge) it began to rain. Bonus!

15 July 2011

So one of my jobs as the 'Progress Leader' of Year 8 (at the Stonehenge School) is to lead the year group (approximately 130 students) on their '10' mile walk from Amesbury to Amesbury (via Stonehenge and Wishford-cum-Lake). The sun shone and most people had a fabulous adventure. There were, unfortunately, some fights and injuries, but most people completed the walk without getting more than a blister and (occasionally) lost.

On Saturday the weather was very wet - wonderful for the garden - but not so good for lovers of the outdoors. I spent an hour on the exercise bike, did lots of work, and had supper at the local pub with my husband.



Poppies and the pylon on a local walk

Life is good.

28th June 2011

What a Wonderful World

Life is being difficult this month, so I am trying to be positive and my dear husband is being fantastic and more supportive than I could have hoped. So after a nice evening I put "What a wonderful world" into google's search engine, and (after numerous references to Louis Armstrong) this picture was the first thing that caught my eye. It is, obviously, not a photo by me. But it looks like an impression of Spain, Greece or somewhere like that. I want to be there. And it is dedicated to Andrew with my love and thanks x

20th June 2011

This weekend my husband and I went back to Wales and stayed in the Castle Hotel, Merthyr Tydfil. The trip was an enjoyable and enlightening experience, made more memorable by the fact that on the Saturday morning a naked man tried to reverse out of the window opposite (on the second floor!) and appeared to be attempting suicide... Fortunately he wasn't, and the reasons for his strange behaviour are beyond my imagination and, fortunately, outside my comprehension.

The purpose of the trip was to go walking, which we did in some variable weather. However we had the clothes for the job so rain, wind and squelchy ground didn't matter. The only bit of kit that let me down was my Gri-Sport boots, which let in rather a lot of water. However this could be due to lack of maintenance on my part, and I still have to commend boots which have been properly used and abused and have never given me one blister!

We walked 11 miles on Saturday (altitude climbed was 2,400 ft) and climbed Fan Frynach via a Roman Road and some lovely valleys which we have eye-balled as future camping spots. On Sunday we went for an "easy" waterfall walk which was supposed to be less strenuous than Saturday's experience! It was slippery, great fun, 9.7 miles, and the altitude we finally climbed was a whopping 4,400 ft according to Andrew's GPS. We walked under a waterfall called Sgwd yr Elra and got pretty wet. It was rather good doing the waterfall walk after so much rain, as the sounds and sights of the water were impressive from start to finish.

Altogether Sunday was a rather long day, and by the time I had driven back to Wiltshire I was knackered. But a change is as good as a break, as someone said. We are going to return to south Wales for a weekend in July, and both agreed that Merthyr is very interesting but perhaps we will stay somewhere else next time. So Andrew is looking at bothies, bunkhouses etc for us in the Ystradfellte region.

This final picture shows the corn fields near home.

5th June 2011

The Puck goat guarding the entry to Killorglin

I am just back from county Kerry, SW Ireland, where I had a lovely few days in Kilorglin - host of the Puck Fair every August. It is all about a goat...

I stayed at the Grove Lodge Hotel and drank Bulmers in the newly painted Kingdom (of Kerry) Bar. I had Jumillla wine in the Tapas Bar (believe it or not) in Killorglin, which is a converted church with a very bright and Spanish atmosphere.

Loch Com Lothair

Then I tried to get up Carrauntouhil, which was the whole point of the trip really. The weather was perfect to start with - clear and sunny - and I had great hopes I would get to the top of Ireland's highest mountain. I set off wearing shorts and a T-shirt and it was 23 deg. C.

However, after I had achieved the climb to the summit of Ben Caragh (1010m), the weather deteriorated and there was cloud on the tops which completely obscured my view of the famous (and dangerous) Ben Caragh Ridge.

I had STUPIDLY left my compass at home, so was completely reliant on my vision and the rather inadequate map I paid 14 Euro for! Give me Admiralty charts and Ordnance Survey maps any day, please!

Under these circumstances, and since I was walking solo, discretion had to be the better part of valour; so I bravely 'bottled out' and descended very steeply to the lakes below. The weather immediately cleared up and I even contemplated going back up, but the thought of climbing 1000m TWICE in one day was too much for me.



The main streeet of Caherciveen

So I got back to my car and went for a drive to Ballinskellig and then back to Killorglin via Caherciveen. The clear weather mocked my attempt to climb Carrantouhil, and I heard on Radio Kerry that a party of school children had made it to the summit that day. Great! Still, it was my first attempt, I didn't know the way, and I was alone. I will have to come back I guess - no further excuse is needed!

Ireland's Highest mountains from Killorglin

Low cloud on Ben Caragh

1st May 2011

The path north from Downton

I went for a bike ride yesterday - about 22 miles on a glorious spring afternoon. It was sunny, dry and windy. I could have been in the Highlands for the number of people I saw (i.e. the usual zero)!



My route took me X-country from home to Downton, where I crossed the River Avon and climbed up to the Great Yews, an ancient plantation of (mainly) yew trees.





Looking towards Clearbury Hill through dog rose and Elderflowers

 From the Great Yews I descended to Coombe Bisset, and then climbed uphill to Salisbury hospital. Then home via Tesco's in Sailsbury. It was a fabuluous day.


Cygnets near Salisbury college on my way home




Andrew and I are off to County Kerry, Ireland tomorrow and plan on climbing
Carrauntoohill, Ireland's highest mountain. So I will certainly take some photos there!

Then I'm away to Wales (Pencelli) for a week on a school trip. So I will be getting my Celtic experience for the year!!
I'll have visited Scotland, Wales and Ireland in the space of about 6 weeks. Lucky me.

29 May - TRIP REPORT FINISHED

If you are interested in my experience of following the Cape Wrath Trail in April 2011, follow my TRIP REPORT link to see what I did, where I went and how I felt about it all.

Saturday 21st May

I did walk the CWT from April 8 - 25th 2011 and it was indeed awesomely beautiful.
The people I met were among the sanest I have ever encountered.

I am slowly (but steadily) writing my trip report and have completed Days 1 - 14 (out of 17). At this rate, writing my trip report will take longer than the trip itself!
If you want to see the account of my progress you need to look back at my Blog starting 8 April. As ever with blogs, the newest post is at the top and the oldest at the bottom.

2nd May 2011

I have started writing my Cape Wrath Trail trip report as a word document, and will be copying the relevant pages into my blog, under the appropriate date. I am starting at the beginning of the trip and so far I have completed it for April 8 and 9th. This is quite complicated (for an amateur blogger) and will take a bit of time.

The trip report will include the route I walked, the distance walked, photos, and any navigational hints and thoughts about the route I can think of. I will also include my own personal thoughts about the journey. It will take me a few weeks to complete this account so please bear with me. Any advice on how to make it more user-friendly will be welcomed. I am simultaneously going to write this report as a separate word document, which is much easier to read, so if anyone is interested in being sent the entire word document, please let me know your email address and I will send you the entire report once I have finished it.

27 April 2011

This weekend - after a rather stressful and busy return to work - I will start to write my report about my trip and will add photos and details regarding the route I took. I very much hope this will interest any other CWT 'ers' out there. Anything to avoid the Royal Wedding (you might be thinking), although with no T.V. I would not be watching it anyway!
I have downloaded about 400 photos and 7 video clips, and will select some of these for this blog.

For now, here are a few selected photos:



Heading towards Shenevall Bothy from Ullapool

Today, after several very solitary days when I was lucky to see even a human footprint, I encountered about 40 people doing a "Mountain Marathon" from Ullapool. I stopped some of them (the more tired ones who weren't looking as if they were going to win!) and asked them to take a photo of me.

On another day, on the way to Kinlochlewe, I came across a very un-timid flock of red deer. I kept expecting them to run away, but they just stood still, watched my every move, and seemed curious enough to want to follow me as I left them. Amazing. I felt very lucky undeed.

This last photo (FOR TODAY!!) is taken on 24th April as I approached the summit of Gleann a' Chaorainn and started the final descent to Glenfinnan (and so-called civilisation). It seemed a long and arduous descent and I was reminded that the last mile of a long walk is nearly always the hardest. Of course I was tired, but my pack was the lightest of the whole trip, as I had run out of food and fuel.

It rained for most of the day, apart from when I was de-camping, and I considered myself to be remarkable lucky.

8th April - Home (Wiltshire) to Inverness Youth Hostel

Cape Wrath Trail Trip Report

Day 1:      8 April 2011

Home (Wiltshire) to Inverness Youth Hostel

(hundreds of miles)

Today I went to work at the Stonehenge School from 7.15 – 12.30 and then rushed home to get changed and get a lift to Southampton airport from my husband. The usual minor catastrophes happened; one of the Cover Supervisors collapsed at school, and I got stuck behind a tractor on the road to Laverstock. (You will be glad to know that the cover supervisor is O.K. and his wedding is proceeding as planned - perhaps this catastrophe should not be referred to as minor...)

But the flights were on time and I made it to Inverness Youth Hostel by 9.30 p.m. despite everything; I even managed not to forget anything crucial. You might be interested to know that my pack weighs 13 kg (exclduing food, fuel and water) and I expect to carry a maximum weight of 16 kg when I am carrying 5 days' worth of food.

In my diary I have written (at 20.29 p.m.) “Oh S***! I was looking out of the (airplane) window and I saw snow on the mountains. And I’m only just in Scotland. Bugger! I just know I’m going to get cold and miserable”. Reader, you will only know how true this prediction was if you read my trip report!

My experience at Inverness Youth Hostel was not very positive. There was an American woman in my dormitory who spent about an hour between 11.30 p.m. and 12.30 a.m. trying to find her phone charger. This activity involved incessant rustling of plastic bags, loud use of zips, and annoying mutterings and tuttings. I was not impressed, as I wanted to go to sleep much earlier and failed miserably. I wish I was more assertive in these situations. However I was buoyed up by the thought that I was going to get up extremely early in the morning so I could get my revenge.

At manchester airport.

The adventure has begun. I am told it is too early for tics and midgets. Small people visit the the highlands later in the year.

9 April - Inverness Youth Hostel to Rosehall

Day 2:      9 April 2011

Inverness Youth Hostel to Rosehall (Achness Hotel)

(11 miles          4 hours walking)

I woke up deliberately and unnecessarily early at 5 a.m. and spent an hour showering and drying my hair with the hairdryer I had brought with me. The American woman was not impressed but got the point, I hope.

This is me about to leave Inverness Youth Hostel on my great adventure.

    

I had my breakfast at Morrison’s this morning and got my first omen about the trip: I was seated at table number 13. I believe I mentioned this in my blog and took a photo of the table number.

I did some shopping in Inverness (which is a lovely town by the way) and bought some meths and a Gelert water bottle in an excellent shop called “Tiso’s”. My water system was two-fold; I had a 'Source' 1l bottle and drinking tube, to which I added an orange-flavour multivitamin tablet for daily use. I also had my 1l Gelert water bottle which I kept clean and used to collect fresh water in (and carry spare water for cooking).

I also went into the Blacks at Inverness and found the staff there were as useless as they are at the Blacks in Salisbury. This is the conversation I had with a member of staff:

Me: “Do you have any meths” (Blank Look) "It is a kind of fuel"

Staff member: “Oh. Look we have fuel” (showing me an empty bottle labelled

’Fuel ’ that I have already looked at    

Me: “It is empty, look” (I shake the bottle to show her)

Staff Member: “Oh. I’ll ask the manager then”

What is it with Blacks?!! I have vowed never to return to another Blacks store.

After breakfast at 08.42 I got the train from Inverness to Inverchin and arrived at Inverchin in the middle of a misty afternoon at 12.00 noon. I had to request the train to stop and I was the only person to get off at Inverchin. There was a really “Conan Doyle” feel about the place, but after about half an hour the sun burnt through the clouds, and by 1 p.m. I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt.

My walk to Inverchin was uneventful. The navigation was easy and the weather was excellent. This was the first of many days when I saw no people (walking) but some pretty scenery.  I felt as if I was away from home and in Scotland. It was a real blessing that the weather was warm and sunny, and I felt very positive about overcoming the challenges ahead of me. Today's journey took me along small country lanes, so there were no problems with bogs, tics or stiles. My feet and body felt fit and healthy and I was quite excited about the walk ahead. The countryside was gentle and the road was tarmacced.




I am a sucker for old crofts and houses and loved this one.

The staff at the Achness Hotel were very friendly, and the meal I ate that night (chicken, cheese and bacon and chips) would have kept an army on the move for a week. But I comforted myself with the knowledge that I would be camping for the next few nights and would probably burn off the calories. I went to bed at 8.45 p.m. absolutely knackered! There were no rustlings or mutterings to keep me awake and no train to catch the next day. I was going by foot from now.

I have not included any route notes for this section as this is not an official part of the CWT.

“I took the road less travelled, and that has made all the difference”
<>  <>  <>  

Robert Frost The road Not Taken Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

<> 

10 April - Rosehall (Achness Hotel) to near Duchally Lodge

Day 3:      10 April 2011

Rosehall (Achness Hotel) to near Duchally Lodge (wild camping

(12 miles          7 hours walking)

I got up at 7.00 (after more than 10 hours’ blissful sleep!), packed, and then had a lovely breakfast at Achness Hotel. I was quite restrained and avoided the cooked breakfast. I had some grapefruit and prunes, a small bowl of porridge with honey, and some brown toast and marmite. This seemed like a good breakfast to march on and I knew I wouldn’t see any toast and marmite for a while….

I had breakfast in exalted company that day; “Sir Henry”, an assortment of armed forces veterans and two young veterinary surgeons were dining at an adjacent table, wearing very expensive fishing gear. I felt completely out-of-place in my ‘rohans’ and ‘crocs’. Their conversation, which concerned employing Somalis to do students’ dhobi (“They’ll be glad of something to do”) was extremely un-politically correct and I enjoyed it hugely.

The weather was great, sunny, calm and clear. I felt I had the beginnings of a mouth ulcer, and after some embarrassingly blatant hints, the manager of the hotel very kindly gave me a tube of bonjela. The hypochondriac in me was strong that morning.

I followed the beautiful river Cassley north for a while, and saw my first (and only) otter on a rock in the middle of the river, fishing for salmon perhaps. There were lots of unidentifiable birds, high up and flying in formation, heading NW along Glen Cassley. I saw many lizards, hundreds of red deer, and no other humans whatsoever for most of the day.

Looking towards Ben More Assynt from the south with a Highland cow

I was planning to camp near Duchally lodge, but on approaching I was surprised to see a naked man standing pinkly in the doorway, completely oblivious to my presence and enjoying the fabulous weather. I altered my plans and crossed the Cassley River via a convenient bridge.

Then I had to find a sensible place to camp, away from naturists. This was surprisingly difficult (not, unfortunately, due to an abundance of naturists) as the ground was soaked from previous rains. In many places the path was a fast-flowing stream, and the ground was extremely boggy.

However, I soon found a lovely spot to 'plot up' near a stream, just past some woodland. It was just before the beginnings of the climb towards Ben More Assynt. As I was feeling rather hot and grubby I had a wash in a stream. The fact of seeing no people all day was very liberating, and over the coming days I got to depend upon nobody surprising my solitude in the wilderness (and became a bit of a naturist myself!).

I had a nutritious supper of soup and couscous, which I really enjoyed. I had seen Ben More Assynt and Conival getting larger and more ominous as the day approached, so had no illusions that the next day was going to be easy. But having experienced two days’ fabulous weather my spirits were high and I felt really positive about the climb. I had no phone reception but that was only temporary I realised.

My Vargo hexagonal stove was ace…really my favourite bit of kit!

I should mention that today was my first experience of tics in Scotland. I went through a patch of long grass and brushed off a small cloud of them onto my legs. That afternoon I had to remove about 7, the size of grains of dust, from my legs. The number of deer prints around convinced me they were deer tics and I increased my vigilance w.r.t. tics from this day onwards. Lyme disease no thanks!

11 April - Duchally Lodge to Inchnadamph via Ben More Assynt

Day 4:      11 April 2011

Duchally Lodge to Inchnadamph (and on to Lochinver via thumb)

(12 miles          8 hours walking)

Well I woke up to the sound of rain and that awful wet head you get when the tent is really damp on the inside (and too small). It had rained overnight and was raining when I de-camped in the morning. To make matters worse, I found that my Coleman single-skin tent did indeed not let condensation out so the inside of the tent was quite wet and my sleeping bag was damp. Not ideal. But thank goodness for Andrew's lightweight tarpaulin, which had protected everything from the worst of the rain.

I quickly de-camped, cooked up some porridge (which was gorgeous by the way) and started walking at 7.30 a.m. I had survived the night (my first one all alone in a tent ever I think!) and was quite proud of myself.

This photo shows the view looking back to the SE down Glen Cassley. My campsite was just to the right of the centre of the photo.

 The next few hours were purely up-hill. I went over a MASSIVE pipeline which I think had oil inside it. Certainly the pipe diameter was about 2 metres and it traversed the mountain-side like a motorway. An amazing feat of engineering to be sure.

The countryside was beautiful on an epic scale. The weather was wet and misty so photos will not do the scenery justice. This is a view of Ben More Assynt and Conival from the east side.

Shortly after crossing the pipeline my path petered out (where does that phrase come from by the way?) and I took a compass bearing to intercept the ridge path I hoped would exist and take me to the summit of Ben More Assynt.

After several hours of tramping uphill, just following my idea of what was ‘Up’ (and keeping just below the steepest snow-line on the ridge) I finally reached the summit of Ben More Assynt. On the way the weather did its best to deter me. I experienced rain, snow, hail, gales and low cloud which completely obscured my view of the summit. Occasionally the cloud shifted a bit so I got a slightly different view of the 100 meters above me, but generally speaking I went by map, compass and gut instinct.

At about 11.00 I reached the top of Ben More Assynt - wearing dad's hat and Andrew's buff (as well as my other clothes of course).

I was feeling rather smug because I had reached the summit despite snow, hail, gales, rain, 45 degree slope, bog, fog, ice, and a heavy pack. Yes I was rather proud of myself. I rang my husband to tell him of my achievement, and to confirm that I was alive after 24 hours’ without phone reception. It was at this point (I realised several days later) that I knew I was going to make it all the way to Fort William.

Pride comes before a fall; so I went the wrong way off Conival and had a nightmare finding my way back on track. I had one of those real nightmare moments when I realised what a cock-up I had made. I had ziz-zagged off Conival and mis-identified Dubh Loch Beag as Dubh Loch Mor. It was only as I came out of the cloud and saw clearly that the lake I was heading for had a small round island instead of a small oval island, that I realised I was about 1 mile off track. This might not seem like a long distance, but when the terrain is purely wet, bumpy, treacherous bog, and you are already exhausted, the extra distance back on track seemed heart-breaking. I had two choices; I could forget about Inchnadamph altogether and head straight south towards Oykel Bridge, or I could back-track and try to get to my intended goal of Inchnadamph. With a wet tent and sleeping bag, and the lure of a hot meal in the hotel at Inchnadamph, this was no choice at all. (The third choice, of just stopping and giving up, was no real choice either, although it did enter my mind for a fleeting moment). I back-tracked with a heavy pack and heavier heart.

I was absolutely knackered by the time I got to Inchnadamph - and to bang the last nail in the coffin everything was shut. The hotel was shut, the hostel was shut, there was no phone reception and even the phone box didn’t work.

I looked half-heartedly for a camp-site and there was a realistic bit of land which even had a picnic table; however it was bleak, squishy, and had driving rain blowing through it. The only bonus about Inchnadamph was there was a road passing through it WITH LOTS OF CARS. I decided (not liking sleeping in damp coffins) to hitch-hike ANYWHERE. Kylescu was my plan. However I was immediately picked up by Dutch Ed and his Northern-Irish girlfriend Maureen, who whisked me away to Lochinver to their B & B (“The Rose”). There I hung up and dried my damp clothes, tent, sleeping bag etc, fillling up two entire washing lines, and went to the local pub called “The Caberfeidh” where I had a lovely meal of smoked haddock and chips. The weather at Lochinver was stunningly clear, sunny and windy; perfect drying weather in fact. Ed had an airing cupboard where I dried out my soggy boots, and I had no blisters. I had amazing views of The Suilven from the B & B and I started to feel that things were looking up. I had survived a challenging and difficult day, and was reminded thatt flexibility was the key to coping when adverse circumstances arise. 

The view of 'The Suilven' from the window of 'The Rose' in Lochinver

This is my opinion of Inchnadamph according to my jourrnal entry for that night. I hoped never to go there again. (But this was only temporary!!!)