If yesterday was the long dark teatime of the soul, then today was brunch. It took a little longer than expected, but made for a pleasant surprise.
We woke up early to a brisk, sunny morning. Off we wandered to see Urquhart Castle. Like us the castle was in ruins. Heley chose to use her baseball cap for the first time, she also wore seven layers of clothing to keep warm; I set off in a t-shirt.
The castle ruins were nice enough to look at, and worth the detour, but we were keen to get back on the road and finish the 79 miles that make up the Great Glen Way in only three days.
We took our time over those last twenty miles. Partly to enjoy the scenery, partly because we couldn’t hobble any faster. We managed to get to Inverness for 17.30, giving us plenty of time to wash our stinky kit.
We are two days ahead of schedule and have now completed over half the distance. Some of the stretches have been very tough, both mentally and physically. It’d be so easy to quit in Inverness right now, so easy to just get on a train and head home.
The hills have a way of wearing you down. Days with wind or rain, sleepless nights and the in-between hours filled with midges. Every step hurts. Some steps it’s the knee, others the hip, then you notice the blisters.
Even our kit is finding the going hard. We’d bought some expensive, good-quality kit to ensure that we didn’t have reliability issues along the way. Having zips and rucksacks failing us is just another thing on top of another thing. Perhaps we’ve just been unlucky.
The worst thing to deal with is the damp. The weather has been good to us overall, just not good enough to dry anything out. Did you know that water seems to hold it’s temperature well overnight? Do you know what that temperature is? It’s bloody cold!
As strange as it sounds, as perverse as it seems, we are still strangely enjoying the trip. Despite it all we still have the drive to carry on, to make it all the way to Aberdeen.
Injuries permitting we’ll get to Aberdeen in the end, but more on that later.