TGO Challenge Day 6 - 17 May 2022

Walking 8.25am to 6pm

Distance walked 15.5 miles

Distance remaining 99.5 miles

Had such a good night's sleep on the bothy floor but the upstairs floorboards were very creaky, although I was only aware of this after 5.15am when I surfaced and heard the others moving about.

I was the last to leave the bothy and gave it a good sweep out, being rewarded for my effort by finding a wrapped Snickers bar on the floor, only recently dropped.

Looking back to melgarve bothy

 

Most of the day was easy walking on good vehicle tracks and all low level. After nearly four miles I passed by Garva Bridge which had been my overnight stop on my planned route. 

Today's coffee stop

 At Laggan the store was still operating (I think it had been for sale) but today was its weekly closing day. I'd planned to buy tomorrow's breakfast there. My intended path out of Laggan at NH615945 led just to some properties with a sign saying no public right of way so I road walked along the quiet A86 for a little over a mile to go through the open gates leading to Cluny Castle (site?) and went through the grounds and behind a very nice large house to reach a bridge at the back. I think there may have been another access to this from the road.

Anyway, a track took me northwards skirting Sliabh Bàn and into a wide valley with level walking for a couple of miles. 

Just past a small bothy the path crossed a river very easily and then followed the river east for a mile. The path was indistinct at times and quite wet and boggy. One stream crossing had to be waded but my feet were already wet anyway. 

Bothy at Dalballoch (ruin)

I've pitched at NN673988 next to part of a broken wall. Also here when I arrived was Barbara who I met on Day 1. It's now raining quite hard.

TGO Challenge Day 5 - 16 May 2022

Distance remaining 115 miles

A crazy day today. For the last week, I've been taking antibiotics for a cut on my shin which had become infected. I had just one day's capsules left and didn't feel that they had cleared up the infection and I was about to be in the wilds for a couple of days before coming back to civilisation. In the very early hours I woke and started worrying about the wound turning septic and all sorts of things. At the bothy I had no phone signal or Wi-Fi and decided to head back down to Fort Augustus with a view to catching the first bus to Fort William and get to the hospital A&E and assumed the first bus might be around 7am.

I packed up in the dark and was away by 3.15am. I was thinking I might have to bail out of the Challenge. On the way down I got a 4G signal and found that the first bus was at 10am so stopped to make tea. I had more than enough time. On reaching the village I found that there is a pharmacy and a medical centre. I was at the centre when it opened at 9am and managed to bypass the now usual rule of a prior phone consultation but was told to come back at 11am when a doctor would be there.

I went off to while away the time. I had a somewhat lacklustre full Scottish breakfast at the canalside centre but chatted to a young couple who had been at the bothy.

The doctor was very helpful. The likely reason my leg hadn't healed was that I hadn't rested it and kept it elevated. Far from it! He gave me a prescription for the same antibiotics but double the dose. We discussed whether it would be sensible to continue walking. Basically, the decision was mine. I got the capsules from the pharmacy and texted Challenge Control to say that I was back in the game.

It was five miles down to the village and another five back to the bothy which I reached at 2pm and had lunch there. I left at 2.45pm to see how far I could get. It was a long, long ascent up to the summit of the Corrieyairack Pass, the weather closed in and it rained for much of the afternoon. The wind, coming straight at me, was horrendous. It seemed to go on for ever and I have rarely encountered worse anywhere. At the summit I stopped to talk to a cyclist coming the other way. He looked a little battered.

There then followed a long descent and the rain stopped and the wind died down. I thought about finding a place to pitch but there wasn't much. I picked up water from a stream and in the end decided to head for Melgarve bothy, right on my route. I scoffed jelly babies which really helped. From bothy to bothy was 12.5 miles so altogether I've done 22.5 miles today. I arrived here at 6.30pm.

The bothy is lovely and three Challengers, Rob, Michael and Andrew had a fire going. I decided to sleep there. There are several rooms and I have a room downstairs to myself with my sleeping mat on the floor. What a day. No photos, the weather was so awful.

                                                                    My accommodation

 

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TGO Challenge Day 4 - 15 May 2022

Walking 8.00am to 5.00pm
Distance walked 14 miles
Distance remaining 123 miles

It wasn't capercaillie I saw last night, it was black grouse, identified on an information board I saw later. They (I assume it was them) have a very unusual call which actually got on my nerves this morning as I was lying abed willing myself to get up. It was a beautiful morning, the early sun streaming into my tarp and a cloud inversion down below.

My pitch last night was OK but there was a much better and larger grassed area further on towards Torgyle Bridge at NH305141.

Taking the logging road up through the forest, I stopped to replenish water at Allt Phocaichain and along came the first Challengers I'd seen since the day before yesterday, Dave & Julie Skipp and their two team members. I was following a new road parallel to the pylons which isn't on the OS map yet. Much of the forest shown on the map has been felled.



Eventually I started on the muddy at times path that wound its way down to Fort Augustus, teeming with day trippers. I phoned in to Challenge Control, resupplied at the Londis shop and downed fish and chips. I was also able to refill my water from a tap at the side of Londis.

Leaving the village, I followed signs for the Corrieyairack Pass. It involved a steady ascent over about 1.5 miles, followed by a gradual descent to my pitch outside Blackburn of Corrieyairack bothy. There are five overnighting in the bothy, including two Challengers, Kevin Parisi from the USA and Noam Gal from Israel, walking as a team.

 

Blackburn of Corrieyairack bothy

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TGO Challenge Day 3 - 14 May 2022

Walking 7.30am to 5.30pm

Distance walked 13 miles (plus a couple faffing about)
Distance remaining 137 miles

A peaceful night and the forecast for today was good. After a short distance was a sign and steps up to a viewpoint giving a great view across the forest and loch with the mountains beyond and, fortunately, a 4G signal so I was able to call Amanda who was mightily relieved to hear from me. There'd been no signal at all yesterday.

                                                         Viewpoint Loch Beinn a' Meadhoin
 
I overshot the path I was to take at NH299278. I went back and at first I didn't see it but inside the forest I made out a strip of green and made my way to it. It was very poor underfoot and eventually petered out so I returned to the forest road. This was to have been my shorter route to Tomich. As I progressed, I could see the parallel road I wanted down below but how to get to it? The forest road would lead me to it but only a mile further on. I tried cutting through a belt of forest but was met with a barbed wire-topped fence so returned again to the forest road and plodded on. I eventually reached the road leading back towards Tomich. I had thoughts of stopping at the hotel there for coffee. I stopped there on my Lands End to John o'Groats walk in 2009.

However, I espied a bridge that didn't appear on the map at NH289257 and this took me over the river sooner than the bridge in Tomich. In the field the other side of the bridge, I turned left to climb over a locked gate fifty yards away into another field. I was then able to reach the vehicle track also leading to Tomich. Here, there was a steep bank up to the track with a fence at the top, just too difficult to get over but then just a few yards away was an overgrown tree stump at the top of the bank which enabled me to get over the fence. Phew!

A little way along the track was Sue's Cake Shed with an honesty box. I needed cheering up with cake.

 

I reached the forest tracks which took me up to enter Guisachan Forest (probably many years since it was aforested) which is a vast open moorland. The track was clear and I followed it for the rest of the day, wide ranging views all the way. 

Two cyclists went by during my leisurely lunch stop but I saw no-one else. After rejecting several possible camp spots, I eventually settled at NH298151, right next to the track. A farmer went by earlier on a quad bike and waved but all is quiet apart from the odd sheep and I saw and heard some capercaillie a while ago.

TGO Challenge Day 1 - 12 May 2020

Walking 8.30am to 4.30pm

Distance walked 11 miles
Distance remaining 164 miles

I packed up quickly as rain threatened and was spitting but it then held off. The forecast for the day was much rain, tomorrow as well.

 
I walked a mile down the road to the Kintail Lodge Hotel where Challengers starting from Shiel Bridge are required to sign out so Challenge Control know who's started their walk. Here I met Ellie, a lady of around my age who was waiting for her friend, Barbara. I went on and after a couple of miles joined the start of the Affric Kintail Way. It was a level stony track for three miles along Glen Lichd and the rain started.

Sheep on an island - not sure how it got there

Gleann Lichd

At Glenlicht House, a private locked bothy, I stopped as, fortunately, the lean-to store was open. There wasn't much room but I brewed coffee and was then joined by Barbara (not with Ellie) and Esther, who had just met. They managed to squeeze inside as well. Coffee finished, I went on my way, across a couple of wooden bridges and a winding ascent, past some waterfalls with numerous streams either under or across the path. Some were more than just a step across. Before starting, I'd decided that if any stepping stones seemed too precarious then I'd just walk through the water. After a while I wasn't bothered about wet feet. They warmed up quickly.

 

Waterfalls - Allt Grannda

My next stop was for a late lunch at Camban bothy which was occupied by quite a few Challengers who had decided to stop for the night in view of the weather. I had lunch and then braved the rain again, stopping to pitch on a nice grassy area about a half mile from Alltbeithe Youth Hostel. It's still raging and blustery but I think I'll have a better night's sleep here than in the bothy, not that there was really any room.

TGO Challenge Day 2 - 13 May 2022

Walking 8am to 3.10pm

Distance walked 14 miles
Distance remaining 150 miles

It was quite a wild and blustery night and it hardly stopped raining. Still, the tarp held up well and I was on firm ground. Had a good night's sleep, better than I'd have had in the bothy, waking every time someone went outside to the "loo", not to mention my own visits.

It was raining a bit as I packed up. Because of all the rain the track was flooded in many places. I managed to walk round most but where a stream crossed the track it was easier just to walk through, maybe about nine inches deep.

Looking back to Athnamulloch

                                                                                    Towards Loch Affric

 

The rain continued on and off all morning so coffee at 11 was out. I stopped at 12.15 where the Affric Kintail Way turns right and straight on to the Affric car park. Had a late coffee followed by early lunch. Just five miles to go. The track was easy and generally level. Collected water for the night along the way. My vetter, Emma, thought I might struggle to find somewhere to camp but I'd noted a location from someone's blog and found it easily, a flattish area down a steep trod below the track. It's at NH264269.

 

Camping at Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin

I'm on my own and have rinsed my socks and dunked my feet in the loch. Now to heat up home cooked spaghetti bolognese.

TGO Challenge Day 0 - 11 May 2022

Travelling today, having overnighted at the Travelodge in Queen Street, Glasgow. Just a couple of hundred yards walk to Queen Street station this morning for the 8.20 to Fort William. On arrival, I ascertained that Morrisons' cafe doesn't do hot food so had a (late) full Scottish breakfast at the Lochaber cafe at the station. 

View from the train 

Anyway, it was fine and convenient for the 915 bus to Shiel Bridge where I now am. It's raining now and set to continue for the next couple of days. 

My planned route for the Challenge (https://www.tgochallenge.com/) is 175 miles from Shiel Bridge to Kinnaber Links just outside Montrose on the east coast. I should finish on Tuesday, 24 May, all being well. 

I plan to camp every night, using an Alpkit Rig 7 tarp. There have been a few midges about but hopefully it's too early in the year for the hoardes. 

Glenshiel Campsite

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