Hundreds and thousands!

I am SO excited - my charity, the Search and rescue Dogs Association has now benefitted from more than £1000 from all you lovely lovely people - thank you so much every body - I am just so thrilled, it is such a good cause. Couple that with the fact that we have today, passed through the 1000 mile mark, AND into our final hundred miles and it's looking good.

Not so good yesterday.

We got off to a good start, leaving the Lovat Hotel in the pretty town of Beauly, and we must thank them for their wonderful hospitality, for the last 3 nights they have looked after is really well.

In Dingwall mum went to get some super super strength hairspray in a pathetic effort to get her hair under control. She took one of those small cans to the counter, full walking gear on, boots, rucksack, poles, the works. Ah says the assistant we are doing hair products 3 for the price of 2 at the moment. Mum pointed to the rucksack and said no thanks. Would you like it in a bag said the assistant, mum pointed to the rucksack and said no thanks. Have you got a points card? said the assistant, mum pointed to the rucksack and said no. Would you like....mum pointed to the rucksack and.....!!

Our walk took us alongside the Cromarty Firth for the whole day. As we neared Evanton we looked up and spotted the Fyrish Monument (google it) on top of the hill overlooking Evanton, where we had arranged to meet the Yorkshire gang for lunch. After that, David walked with us for an hour which meant that mum could lose her rucksack in their car. When we joined up, they left us to make the long journey south but not before Rachel had presented us each with a bag of old fashioned sweeties to help us on our way - yes, even me. It's been wonderful to see you, people, thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to come up.

This is maybe a good time to thank everybody who has made the effort to visit us, walk with us, and eat with us. It has meant a great deal to us, and has always spurred us along. We're on our own now to the end, and thoughts of past visitations will be in our minds as we wander on.

We had some good spots yesterday, herons, red kites (didn't know they were up here) and oil rigs.

Then we got to Alness and our B&B for the night. You can imagine, I am sure, that we have had some pretty hairy experiences in the accommodation stakes, and we have spared you the gory details. Last nights abode had 58 excellent ratings on Trip Advisor, and that really should have told us something. When we got there the owners were out but had left a note on the door, telling us which room we should occupy. They had also left their two dachshunds lose. They were extremely vocal and were clearly very fond of the human ankle. Dad left mum and I outside whilst he went to locate the room, and lock the dogs out of the way. The all pervading smell of cigarette smoke was enough to knock you out. Once we had ploughed a furrow through the rubbish on the carpet (including a fine selection of toe nails) and layers of dust on every single flat surface, we got to the bed. It had quite clearly not been changed and nor had the bathroom been cleaned (for a long time). To cut a long story short, we were able to get a room at the hotel we are staying in tonight, and they sent one of their staff down to pick us up. Dad rang the B&B to tell them we wouldn't be staying. They said why. Dad said because it wasn't clean, and the man put the phone down on him!!

Anyway, all this made us very late getting in and that's why you didn't get a post last night, and I'm very sorry!

Today we have walked from Alness to Tain. We are near enough on Tarmac all the way to the end now but we have been on back road with very little traffic. The daffodils and primroses have given way to lupins,  rhododendrons and foxgloves all prevalent in the wild. Gorse and bluebells continue to sweeten the air with their wonderful aromas.

Tomorrow it's Skelbo.

Keep spreading the word.

M
x

Let them eat cake - just a quickie

There we all were having a snooze on our day off when I heard a voice from below. Yes, it was Rachel, David and Val come all the way from North Yorkshire, to brighten our day. And so they did.

Rachel had baked a magnificent cake, portraying our journey, although we had to remove some silver balls at the end 'cos we haven't finished yet.

They spent the afternoon and evening with us and it was just wonderful to see them. A real pick-us-up.

We have sent a whole load of 'stuff' back with them, including all our camping gear, and dad is undergoing severe withdrawal symptoms.

We will see them again tomorrow because David is going to walk with us a while which will be a really nice change.

Thank you all, it's been brilliant to see you.

Keep spreading the word.

M
x

The tide has turned

Over dinner last night, they were discussing the final part of the jigsaw, to get home - somewhere to stay on the way down. Dad's opening gambit was for a really nice hotel, and buy some new clothes on the way down. Mum was concerned because that would mean shoes make up and everything. Oh said dad, make up maybe, but I don't think you need shoes. Ian, she said (very patiently, in my view), I can't wear a frock with walking boots!

When asked for her opinion, the waitress said, oh yes and a bag, and jewellery, oh and a pedicure and manicure. He's gone a bit quieter on the subject now.

Today, we have walked to Dingwall. Nearly all Tarmac, but some pleasant countryside nonetheless. You know how we've kept going on about phone boxes. Well we passed a phone box graveyard today, with 6 of them in a very poor state of repair. Bless.

On the way,we went through Muir of Ord. This is a small market town which also has a distillery. They visited here on the Royal Scotsman 2 years ago. Dad remembers the distillery, mum recalls the visit to the stately home. Neither can remember the names. The village has a curious sign to the PCs which are said to be seasonal. Must be in season, because we managed to hunt them down.

A little further on we passed through Conon Bridge. As we were coming out of the other side, there was the sound of a car pulling up and a pipping horn. The car was driven by Angela, accompanied by her freind Mary, who had heard of our exploits in the village shop and were anxious to give us a donation. Thanks so much for making the effort 'girls'.

As we approached Dingwall, mum got her first glimpse of the sea proper, and dad was tempted by the auction mart. We were overtaken by 15 Italian mobile homes - could this be the support fleet for yesterday's Ferraris?

Those of you in the know, will be wondering why there has been no reference to the campsite on this beautiful summers day. Not. Last night, the old dears watched the weather forecast and decided it was time to throw in the tent. We did go to the campsite - to collect the final box from home and my last box of Burns, hailed a taxi and went back to the hotel. I'm not arguing, those two take up so much room! The site managers wers so kind, allowing us to dry our waterproofs in their tumble dryer, finding us a seat in the dry, offering us a cup of tea, and making a donation. Thanks so much boys.

Final rest day tomorrow.

Keep spreading the word.

M
x

The Deer (dear) Hunter

From Drumnadrochit, back up into the forest (all the way up) where I spotted 6 young red deer stags grazing. Later on in the day, I also spotted a roe deer. Mum is very pleased with me and calls me The Deer Hunter. She also asked me to keep my eyes peeled for; otter, wild cat, red squirrel and polecats. Honestly, some people are never satisfied.

Shortly after leaving Drum, we had a brief glimpse of the Loch, and the ruins of Urquart Castle nestled on a promontory near the village.

We walked up to the Eco Center at Abriachan Forest. This is a forest purchased by the village of Abriachan, and they have developed the Eco Center for the benefit of local children to teach them all things natural, and indeed, there was a school present when we got there.

This is where we left the GGW to wend it's merry way down to Inverness whilst we turn northwards for Beauly. It is perhaps an appropriate time to thank the GGW and all the other ways we have used along the route. They have contributed hugely, saving us many hours of research and negating the necessity to be constantly referring to maps. Now we're back on Chippy's Tours until we reach the final destination.

In addition to leaving the Way, we are also leaving behind the last of our forest walks. This afternoon we have had a lovely walk off the top, mainly on road but through some very pretty countryside. We passed some highland cattle who's fringes were nearly as long as mum's. Her hair is nearly down to her ankles and she has completely lost control of it.

We passed a Writer's Centre, presumably where people go to write. And we were passed by 19 Dutch Ferraris out on tour.

They decided to walk through Lovat Bridge and on to Beauly where we will overnight prior to walking on to Dingwall tomorrow.

Keep spreading the word.

M
x

Monstrous talk

We leave our caravan in the woods and the very kind hospitality of Duncan and Yvonne. We did not hear the patter of tiny feet, but we did have an excellent three course dinner last night and some fascinating insights into life beside Loch Ness.

The bungalow is exactly opposite where the main Nessie sighting was made. Duncan tells the tale of one night when he was out fishing on the Lochside when out of the water reared a huge and roaring beast. You can imagine he turned tale and ran home and Yvonne says he was having palpitations for over a week. The next mornining he went down to check and found some large deer prints. Apparently when deer are being stalked on the other side of the loch, they quite often take to the water and swim to the other side. Duncan is convinced that this is what had happened, but what I would like to know is ....what do Nessie footprints look like? Ummm.

Apparently, if, as often happens, anybody is looking to undertake a monster themed scam on the Loch they must ask permmission of the police, so that any chance of road disruption can be avoided. Who should they refer to to? The Monster Officer of course. Absolutely true.

Our walk today was back up into the woods, right up to the top, where we did actually have some views of the loch. After nearly three days of walking through dense woodland it was a relief to walk the last 5 miles on roads through open countryside.

On the way we came across two gardens with splendid tree houses in course of erection about 100yds apart. A bit of competition maybe?

We have landed up in Drumnadrochit, known locally, as Drum - don't blame 'em! where ther are 2 visitor centres both concentrated on Nessie, and both claiming to be the official version. This was the subject of a very expensive court case in recent years following which a compromise was reached - they're both still there. Mum was going to go and have a look round one of them, but claimed to be Nessie'd up and relaxed instead.

Tomorrow, we will be leaving the GGW and heading north at last (again - last said that at Bath) making for Lovat Bridge.

Keep spreading the word.

M
x

Nessie rides again

Of course they had to have a little play round the lochs before we left, especially as the road bridge was opening as we came down the road.

We have referred, in the past, to alternative uses for redundant phone boxes amongst which have been; village libraries, art galleries, information centres and a historical society exhibition. Today we have encountered a fresh approach - a greenhouse! I'm not sure where the box has come from becaiuse as far as we can see all Scotland's phone boxes appear to be in good working order.

A little further on, we met Scrumpy, a 14 week old Labrador pup, who was just a delight and such a good boy.

On with the Great Glen Way then. Today's walk has been beside Loch Ness although we have actually been in dense forest nearly all day and have seen very little of the water. This has been particularly frustrating for mum who has been adamant since we started on our little adventure, that she was going to be the first person to spot the monster in 50 odd years. Now we all know that the monster is amphibious, but what you may not realise is that it lives on the hill, in the forest beside the loch. It is huge, I mean massive. It's green, roars, churns out smoke, and eats trees. Men called foresters chop down the trees to appease the monster and leave them in neat stacks so that it can feast with relative ease. It also eats people and we could see one waving from inside its eye, trying to get out.

This all came about because we came to a sign in the forest warning of felling operations which could cause certain death and recommending that we use the diversion that somebody had already told us, went all the way down to the bottom of the forest, along the very scary A82, and all the way back up the hill we had only just come down. Of course the Dynamic Duo decided this was a complete waste of time, and that they would stick with the path. There were huge stacks of logs for the monster everywhere,  and at one point he came roaring up behind us, and we ran.

A little further on we came round a corner on the hill into a small clearing, to find a helicopter parked (as you do). Dad decided it was a good photo opportunity and dragged me in front of it, only to find that it was full of men in orange coats, eating sandwiches. Mum's convinced it was just a glorified chuck wagon, but they reckoned it was taking stone up to the top of the hill where the GGW is shortly due to be re-routed. Thank goodness we're not doing this walk next year.

We lunched at Invermoriston at a small road side cafe on the Skye Road. If anybody's going that way, the food is all home produced and of excellent quality. Fortunately we were between showers because, guess what, we weren't allowed in.

This afternoon, in the middle of the forest, we came across the 'Stone Cave' said to have been built to offer shelter to a washerwoman on her frequent journeys between Altsaigh and Invermoriston.

Destination tonight is Altsaigh, where, I think I mentioned, we are in a caravan just on the edge of the forest. We are reliably informed that if we hear noises on the roof in the night it will probably be pine marten or red squirrels. That's all right then!!

Drumnadrochit tomorrow.

Keep spreading the word.

M
x

How 'fortful'

In the wee small hours, mum and I were awoken by a glaring light flashing in our eyes. Briefly we thought we were under interrogation, but no, only dad being thoughtful using his mobile phone torch to find his way around instead of putting the light on. How thoughtful. This was particularly onerous for mum who is still suffering from a dollop of voltarol lingering on her finger in one eye, and rivulets of super duper midge repellant dripping into the other. Mum is now a walking midge repellant, although the midges don't seem to have been told! We are advised that Avon do a good product that co-incidentally acts as a repellant which the commandos recommend. Not too many commandos or Avon representatives in the middle of the Scottish Highlands!

Today we have had an enjoyable Sunday saunter to Fort Augustus. We started off walking down the side of Loch Oich but didn't see too much of it for woodland, even though we were rarely more than 20' away from the loch side. Then we moved on to walk alongside the canal. This was much more open and gave us some more scenery to look at. A pleasant if slightly cloudy day, not quite as hot as yesterday, and more pleasant for it. Mum and I don't do hot.

We have crossed a number of swing bridges that carry the A82 across the canal, all manned during the day, and apart from the one in Fort Augustus, seemingly rarely active.

As we got closer to FA we saw a number of craft coming through from Inverness, and it's surprising how many non-UK boats there were. It's rather a tourist hotspot in the town, and here too, the Scottish tourist board has done an amazing job on attracting a worldwide audience.

You will recall, I am sure, the incedent of the defective key, and dad's subsequent 'escape' in Glencoe. Well mum and I knew that his face went purple as he was squeezing through the window, what we hadn't realised, was that he had also incurred a massive bruise across his stomach where he got stuck. Of course, by now it has turned all the colours of the rainbow. No wonder he has been complaining about a pain when he secures his rucksack belt! Bless.

Tomorrow, we move on to Altsigh where we are to have a new accommodation experience on the trip. We have a caravan for the night. That's because, yet again, we have had difficulty in finding somewhere to accept me. You know a girl could get a complex.

Keep spreading the word

M
x