Captain's Log

Allt Saigh

I’d wildcamped in the plantation near Allt Saigh last night. I did wonder about trees blowing down on me, but there had been only a slight breeze when I'd pitched. I actually slept well and was up early to start the next section of the Great Glen Way. I was nearly a day ahead of schedule now and so I had to slow down a bit. Today’s walk would only be about 10 miles and take me along the western hills above Loch Ness to the town of Drumnadrochit. 

I set off along the forestry track and almost immediately a shower started. I put on my waterproofs and then the rain stopped. I couldn’t be bothered to take them off again, which was a good job since it started again five minutes later. It set the weather pattern for the day. The trail was quite undulating which added interest. I couldn’t see Loch Ness because of the trees. There were some open views of low hills on my left. The path climbed up to a wonderful stone shelter that was clear of nearby trees and so offered a magnificent view along Loch Ness. I settled down to have a cup of tea and have my breakfast. A feature of the shelter meant that the seating was on the opposite side of the stonework to the view. Not only that, but given today’s wind, the seating area also was a maelstrom of air turbulence. I transferred my gear to the other side of the shelter. As I did this a wonderful rainbow suddenly materialised over forest. No sooner had it formed then it faded to nothing. I probably could have pitched at the viewpoint, but there wasn’t much protection from the wind.

JOGLE

I continued along the trail and gradually I started to lose height. After a while I came to an even larger stone shelter that had wooden seats. Again, there were incredible views along Loch Ness. There was also quite a large, flat grassy area suitable to pitch a small number of tents. I guessed that this would have been where Billy and Luke camped last night. I wandered around to the side of the shelter facing south and found a fire pit so close to the seating, there must have been a danger of igniting if the pit was used. 

On yesterday’s walk, just after Fort Augustus, I’d opted for the High rather than the Low Route along this stretch. The Low Route now came back up to merge with the High Route. I suppose the Low Route does give you another option if the weather is bad, but the High Route is quite well protected by the trees anyway. Given that you also have to ascend quite away to get onto the Low Route at Fort Augustus, I wouldn’t be surprised if there actually wasn’t that much difference in terms of total ascent between the two routes.    

The track now turned into a forestry road and I started following this as it continued the gradual descent along the hillside. I came to a walker who was using a bench to support his gear while he repacked his backpack. We got chatting and he told me that he was doing the John O’Groats to Land’s End. He was two weeks into his journey and so was making good progress. He’d used the John O’Groats path…’... it was a bit exposed in places where I was squeezed between a fence and a cliff…’ and then he'd had three days of road walking to get to Inverness.
‘Why are you doing it from north to south?’ I asked.
‘Well, if I did it the other way, I’d hit Scotland during midge season.’ he replied.
‘Won’t you be getting to the South West during the tourist season? Won’t that make it harder to wildcamp or get accommodation?’ I enquired.
‘I’ve done the South West Coast path before and so I know the ideal locations to wildcamp.’ he replied. I wished him a good journey. 

Ultras And Pigs

The forestry road drifted into a more rural setting. Sketchy fields started to appear and even some houses. As I walked near to one of the houses I heard lots of cheering and clapping.

‘Aye, aye. Somebody’s arranged a reception for me’ I thought. I walked through a gate and reached a road head where a number of vans had parked. There were a dozen or so people stood around and runners were approaching them along the road. I’d reached a checkpoint for an ultrarun. I’d seen some orange route tags tied to vegetation along yesterday’s trail too. I found out that this was a 2 day event over 102km. Some runners went straight through the checkpoint whilst others took a breather. I had now joined a single track road and this would take me most of the way to Drumnadrochit. I walked against the flow of the runners, but they became quite sporadic.

I came across three pigs in one of the fields alongside the road. Two of them trotted over to see if I’d got any food whilst another one couldn’t be bothered and settled down in the mud. I guess they’d never seen so many people pass their field before. After a while I saw a woman walking towards me along the road. She had a small daypack on her back and was also carrying a carrier bag in her hand. She stopped and asked if she was on the Great Glen Way. I said that she was and then she got a high level Scotland tourist path out of her carrier bag that didn’t even have the Great Glen Way marked. As best as I could, I pointed to the position on the map where I thought we were located.
‘Just continue along the road until you get to the runners checkpoint and you’ll find a gate nearby to take you onto the continuation of the trail’ I told her. Her destination was Invermoriston today.

There were still runners heading up the road as I continued the descent to Drumnadrochit. These were the less fit and the infirm. The last contender was stretching his lycra to its plastic limit around his waist.
‘Is the checkpoint at the top of the hill near that gate up there?’ he gasped and pointed uphill with a shaky arm.
‘Nah. You’ve got another 6k to go once you've reached that point’ I responded. I always think it is better to be honest with people so that you don’t give them false expectations. His jaw nearly hit the tarmac with disappointment.

Drumnadrochit

I called in at Cafe Eighty2 for coffee and cake and wished that I hadn’t. I paid handsomely for an average quality coffee in a cardboard cup no higher than my credit card. I walked further along the road to the Co-Op and filled up a basket with provisions. They had a takeaway section, but only one staff member serving. Somebody wanted help on the self-service machine, but there wasn’t anybody to sort it out. There was one cashier servicing a massive queue of customers and some of them had full trolley loads. After 5 minutes of waiting and no real progress, I decided to move on and so replaced all the goods and went to see if I could find anywhere else. Almost next door to the Co-Op was the Italian Job; a pizza parlour believe it or not. I ordered a sit-in pizza and coffee. The coffee was twice as big, half the price and tasted better than the one at Cafe Eighty2. There was a curious Aston Villa theme going on in the venue. ‘Up The Villa’ was displayed in neon lights on the wall and there were some shirts from Aston Villa players. Drumnadrochit seems a long way from Birmingham and I wondered about the backstory. I would have enquired, but a number of customers entered and the waiter looked busy. After the pizza (which was okay) I went back to the Co-Op. Things were quieter now and I was served almost straight away.   

Drumnadrochit seemed a funny old place. There was the Co-Op, an Estate Agent, The Italian Job, quite a bit of housing, a Pharmacy and of course, Cafe Eighty2, but it didn’t really seem much like the hub of a community. There seemed to be plenty of buildings in the area, but they were all spread out. I was in the middle of a light shower again and so I couldn't be bothered to investigate. I headed back along the A82 to the Loch Ness Bay campsite.    

It was a good campsite with great facilities. I pitched my MSR Hubba, not too far away from an MSR Hubba Hubba to see if I could get a handle on how much extra space the bigger tent gives you (quite a bit it seemed). It had been just over a 10 mile walk today. It had started well on the forest trail with its good viewpoints. The long road walk had been less interesting. The second half of the walk drifted away from Loch Ness and felt more rural. The ultra runners and pigs provided some interest though. I was still way ahead of schedule and so I needed to decide how best to use the next two days to walk the remaining 20 miles along the Great Glen Way to Inverness. I’d sleep on it.