Walk Free

Thanks to everyone who came along to our presentation at IC on thursday - we're glad you enjoyed it and we're very happy to announce that together we raised £210 on the night - Thanks!

Now that we have finished the walk it seems appropriate to fill in all the blanks of our trip, given that we only managed to write about the first 700miles, whilst we were en-route. When we set out from John o’ Groats four months ago we had great intentions of keeping up-to-date but with such a long walk we were soon found that the evenings were just about long enough for eating, sleeping and preparing for the next date – no time for creative writing!

After leaving the Pennine Way we headed straight through the white peaks area of the peak district towards Litchfield were we picked up the heart of England Way. I especially loved the beauty of the white peaks along with the good weather and we finally got to enjoy a pint of Bakewell Best Bitter, brewed by our sponsors ‘Peak Ales’. Unfortunately as we neared the Heart of England Way we also left behind open countryside and good signposts and found that we not only got lost, but that we had to wade through inches of cow crap. Nevertheless the HofEW was indeed the safest and quickest way around Birmingham despite having to wrestle a few cows away from the ridiculous number of styles along the route. We also met a large group of ramblers out for a Sunday walk near Abbots Bromley – reminded us both of all the Sunday walks we enjoy with the fellwanderers back in London.

Thankfully we were only on the HofEW for five days before joining the Cotswold Way national trail at Chipping Campden. On the first day of the trail we were met by Claudia and Martin who joined us for the following few days, and later by Nicks parents who joined us for the afternoon. The Cotswold Way was another definite highlight of the trip as the route passed through many beautiful country hamlets and the countryside was spectacular (likely the good weather helped!). En-route we also had time to explore the Broadway tower, built on the highest point of the Cotswolds and a number of ancient burial mounds. Unfortunately we did have one horrendous day of rain in the Cotswolds and so cut a sneaky 3km off our day so that we could all head to a pub in Cheltenham to dry off. From Cheltenham and after a 2day rest Nick and I headed on once more towards the end of the Cotswolds Way in Bath. Along the second leg of the journey we were joined by a few more fellwanderers (Tim, Sarah and Richard) for a very pleasant walk near Chipping Sodbury and some morale boosting for our last leg!

After Bath we both felt that we were finally on the last leg of the trip – only 250miles to go and three counties. At this point it actually felt that it was in the bag! From Bath our route to Land’s End took a slightly different track than planned as we decided to walk on roads rather than footpaths to speed up and for navigation ease. We also walked the Grand Western Canal and part of the exe valley way through Devon, both highlights and places I would like to explore again. Finally the last 7days of hiking were spectacular and the weather despite being freezing was perfectly dry. After leaving north Dartmoor, we bee-lined towards Truro for Christmas day and then on to Helston, to pick up the SW coastal path to Penzance. Once again my parents were able to help out with accommodation and cooking over the Christmas period so we didn’t miss out on a Christmas day dinner with all the trimmings – yummy! On Boxing Day we carried on to Helston and then on the 27th we had our first view of the ocean in 78days and 1100miles, to top it off it was almost T-shirt weather as we walked the coastal path. For me this day summed up our trip and showed how spectacular the UK is, I was really excited about having walked so far and being so luckily with scenery, weather and lack of blisters!

The last day we walked across country from Penzance to Land’s End taking only 11miles. Setting off early in the morning we headed through the last farmland of our hike towards the highest hill in West Cornwall (190m!). From the top of the hill we had our first view of Land’s End only 2.5miles – we stood and we savoured! At the bottom of the hill we met up with Nicks Dad and brother, and together we all walked to Land’s End via Sennen Cove and the Coastal Path. After 85days on the road arriving at ‘THE END’ felt good – no more walking! – But also didn’t seem to have the elation I was expecting (I think the feat Nick and I have managed will take time to sink in!) at the end we went to the pub and enjoyed a pint of Cider and a Cornish pasty.

Hi Everyone,

Well, we've made it! We got to Land's End at 1pm. We'll update the website over the next couple of days to tell you how the last stretch went and to add more photos.

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and that you have a great start to the New Year,

Nick & Charlotte

Merry Christmas to you all from both of us! Hope everyone has a wonderful day celebrating with family and friends. This morning we hit the road to Truro, no doubt while most were still in bed. Now we're enjoying the afternoon off and have tucked into some delicious Christmas dinner

Tomorrow we start the last three days to Lands End - can't believe the end is nearly under our feet!

Hi Everyone,

Just a brief update. We've uploaded some more photos for you to look at - a bit of a blog update on how things are going should be coming in a few days time. We'd just like to thank everyone for the donations so far - we've reached about a third of our target now.

We would be most grateful if you could keep spreading the word about our walk and the causes we are supporting to family, friends and colleagues.

Nick & Charlie

Over the past two weeks we have been making our way south via the Pennine Way and have just enjoyed two days rest and respite from the weather, at the ‘half way trip point’ (550miles). Right now we are in Oxenhope on the Yorkshire Moors and tomorrow we’ll be on the road again, due to finish the Pennine Way in four days time. Hopefully after the Pennines the trail south will get a little easier as over these past weeks we’ve had to survive constant rain, gale force winds and lots of bog!

In brief the Pennine way has taken us over the Cheviot Hills, through Kielder forest, and through the Yorkshire dales and currently the moors. So far we have walked through four counties the Scottish Borders, Northumberland, Cumbria and Yorkshire. Compared to the previous months scenery the Pennine way has changed dramatically although the pathways have been largely boggy or muddy. Most days on the Pennines we have been caught short of daylight which has certainly improved our navigation skills, particularly when we got caught on Bowes Moor in thick fog and had to navigate by compass off the hillside (thankfully we only had to walk south).

First two days of the Pennines we headed along the Cheviot Hills and wiggled over the England-Scotland Border numerous times. We also noticed that all the grouse appeared to be on the Scottish side whereas the very stinky wild goats were on the English side – go figure! Finally on the second day to Byrness we left Scotland for good and started to head south towards Hadrian’s Wall, were it finally felt like we have well and truly left the Scots behind. A highlight of the Pennines way for me was defiantly the first view of Hadrian’s Wall standing proud on top of the hillside and as we approached we were able to walk completely along the wall to observe the best sunset of the trip so far. From Byrness my parents came up to stay for the week in Bellingham, which greatly helped Nick and I as we didn’t need to carry all our gear and we enjoyed some wonderful home cooked food (hum.... vegetables are great after trail food). Given that we were staying in Bellingham for a week each morning Nick and I would be dropped off at one leg of the Pennine Way and then walk to the next section were we were picked up. We also enjoyed another two days rest which given that I discovered I couldn’t tolerate Kendal Mint Cake became a necessity.

Over the first week of walking on the Pennines we generally had good, although windy, weather which made the bog walking slightly more tolerable. We did however much appreciate the board walks and paving slabs that had been placed along the otherwise un-passable trail. Aside from dodging bog we soon realised we had become an attraction for horses and sheep that keep following us or charging at us in the fields so we soon had to start dodging them too.

After my parents left us Nick and I headed to Dufton on the Pennine Way over Cross Fell, the highest point on the Pennine Way. From this point on the weather deteriorated and we’ve since had 10 days of straight rain which meant that we had to take some alternative routes to the Pennine Way for safety. The first detour was on our way into Langden Beck after we had been to High Cup Nick (an impressive valley carved by glaciers). After a deluge of rain the Pennine way had simply been washed away so that we had to climb over boulders at the side of the River Tees. As we progressed along the path slowly we suddenly found that a small stream had become another river preventing us from continuing along the trail but luckily a farm track was nearby and we were able to walk out to a hotel 2 miles away were the owners of the B&B picked us up. After this we have taken a few roads running near the Pennine trail to avoid flooded rivers and farmland. On a good note the waterfalls we have passed along the route have been pretty impressive given the rainfall (good pictures!)

In fairness there is much, much more about the route that I could talk about, but this rest break we have been able to add some photos to the site as well so that you can get a fair idea of the trail and scenery from that instead. Other highlights of the Pennine Way have been, finding a golden sheep (spray painted ram), visiting a sweet shop, having a pint at Tan Hill Inn the highest pub in the UK, signing the Pennine Way book at the Pen-y-ghent cafe, witnessing 20 boy racers drive past on the road from Keld to Hawes (they were just as amused to see hikers as we were to see 20 modified ‘racing’ cars), being chased down the road by a farmer in a 4x4 so he could give a donation to our fundraising, meeting a stingy Yorkshire-man (his words!) and having lunch in the barn of a National Trust farm to shelter from the rain.

After reaching Fort William and having our rest day we headed off towards Glasgow on the West Highland Way (WHW). The WHW was rightly summed up by Chris, who joined us for the trail, by the comment ... ‘demanding’. Indeed after almost two weeks of dry weather the west coast of Scotland lived up to its reputation and dumped what felt like the entire contents of Loch Ness on us in three days – needless to say there were a number of underwear wet days.

On the first day of the WHW we trekked from Fort William to Kinlochleven. In the morning Nick and I headed out to the start of the route where we met Chris fresh from the Caledonian sleeper after his overnight train ride from London. Given that breakfast on the train was nothing more than a shortbread biscuit we allowed time for Chris to devour a sandwich or two then headed up the pass towards Kinlochleven. As we walked up the pass we had some spectacular views of Ben Nevis before dropping into the next valley and picking up the old military road through the mountains. Shortly before descending into Kinlochleven we enjoyed an amazing sunset over the valley and quickly walked through the forest before the dark took hold arriving at the MacDonald Hotel. This night turned out to be the first and only time we used our sleeping bags, and shortly afterwards a decision was made to leave our sleeping bags in Edinburgh. After a quick meal of spaghetti, cup-a-soup sauce and chorizo we headed into the hikers bar (clearly we were too posh for the other side) and enjoyed some celebratory Whisky for Chris joining us on the trail.

Next day we headed towards Bridge of Orchy (22miles). The day started out with another height gain and pass to overcome, which unfortunately aggravated the swollen nerve in my hip. After a slow and painful accent however we made it to the top and headed down the devils staircase into the Glencoe. As we continued along the old military road the footpath became increasingly painful as the cobbles seem to stick upwards into the feet rather than flat. Aside from the sore feet however the path was certainly better than the alternative WHW route that we attempted to take straight through a bog – after the short detour we quickly headed back to the military road to stay dry footed and continued to Kingshouse (a pub in the middle of nowhere). After a quick lunch Nick and Chris continued on the original route for the remaining 24 miles to Bridge of Orchy, while I had to get the bus around the lake, as despite being drugged up on Ibuprofen the pain in my hip was too much for walking. Given the length of distance Nick and I have to continue walking over the next few months it was definitely a good decision for me to walk less and rest the hip. A few hours later we rendezvoused in the Bridge of Orchy bunkhouse.

Day three on the WHW; we headed to Crianlarich and this happened to be the first day of rain we encountered. By about lunch time we were soaked and by dinner when we arrived at the YHA our underwear was beyond wet. Thankfully the beginning of the trail wasn’t too demanding and we made fairly good time to Tyndrum were we stopped for lunch at the Good Food Cafe for some much needed rain respite, washed down with cheesy chips and bacon rolls. After lunch we braved the rain again and headed to the local coop for some provisions, then trudged the last 7 miles to Crianlarich. En-route we passed the lake where Robert the Bruce supposedly disposed of his sword while fleeing his enemy, but we didn’t fancy a swim to try and find it!

For day four on the WHW, we again split into two groups. I took the ferry across Loch Lomond to walk a shorter path, while Nick and Chris walked the long way round. Supposedly mine route should have been a nice 8 mile stroll, but ended up taking 7 hours, due to the fact that the path became non-existent, I sat in a bothy for 1 hour waiting and hoping for the rain to stop whilst reading National Geographic, I slipped off a wooden bridge that resulted in a golf ball sized lump on my knee and I got ambushed by wild goats. Eventually I arrived at Rowardennan Lodge YHA a little wet and spent a couple of hours waiting for Nick and Chris to arrive. As it turn out their route wasn’t much better with many steps, rocks and tree routes to navigate. However they did improve their day by heading into the Inversnaid Hotel for coffee after lunch. Once we had all arrived at the YHA we enjoyed our last supper together as Nick and I were taking a rest day and Chris was walking straight to Glasgow (24miles) the next day. On our rest day Nick and I managed to whittle away 4 hours in the local pub eating lots of good food.

Day five on the WHW Nick and I headed to Drymen and enjoyed a very pleasant, sunny walk along the south edge of Loch Lomond. This was perhaps my favourite walk of the WHW and in the evening we enjoyed a pub meal in the oldest pub in Scotland (The Clachan). Finally the last day of the WHW we walked to Milngavie and again the rain set in. By lunch time we were soaked, but just in the nick of time the Glengoyne distillery loomed out of the horizon and we headed in for some much needed tasting and warming! After being able to kindly eat lunch in the shop we headed back out into the drizzle and walked the last leg into Milngavie to meet Yvonne’s parents who looked after us extremely well for the evening, and fed us in true Fellwanderers fashion... Good food and lots of it!

From Milngavie we hopped across to Edinburgh where we spent a few days resting and preparing for the next leg of the trip – the Pennine Way. To get to the Pennines however we walked from Lauder to Kirk Yetholm, over the Scottish Borders via Kelso. Along this route the scenery was beautiful and we enjoyed the blanket like green fields and a short stop at Floors Castle in Kelso where we were stampeded by were-cows (the moon was rather large and full and the cows were scary). The next day we walked into Kirk Yetholm, and although a short day, took relatively long by the time we stopped for soup in the Plough Inn at Town Yetholm followed by coffee in the Border Inn at Kirk Yetholm (the official end of the Pennine way).

It has been about three weeks since we started our trek and as yet I have not managed to keep you updated as I would have liked, but now I have some time in which to fill you in on how things are progressing. We're currently on our first major rest in Edinburgh after a tough start. The beginning of any long excursion is never without a little blood, sweat and tears - we've managed them all - but we're in relatively good condition.

On the evening of Monday 5th October we departed for London Euston where we were due to take the Caledonian Sleeper to Inverness and arrived in plenty of time. We said our farewells to Charlie's mum and piled ourselves and our hefty rucksacks into or cabin. It was then that we were told that the engine had broken down and that they would need to replace it. Everything was fairly calm however and we were moving about half an hour later than scheduled. Before long we were tucking ourselves into our berths hoping that time would be made up to allow us to stick to our planned itinerary. Beforehand I was consuming the wonderful medical beverage alluded to in the title of this post, as typically I had managed to become ill with a nasty cold the day before - something of a common misfortune for me!

Despite all of this, the night was surprisingly comfortable and the train caught up time and was due to arrive on time in Inverness. Our host had informed us of this while bringing us our 'light breakfast' which consisted of a cup of tea and a small piece of shortbread. As the train pulled in we clambered out of our cabin - a challenging task with such confined space - and made our way directly to the bus station. We actually had plenty of time in which to make the transfer as the bus rolled up a little late. A nice little discount later (20% off Scottish CityLink for SYHA members) and we were waiting, only to discover that the X99 was a Stagecoach bus. One lesson we have learned is that the two seem to be interchangeable. Before long we were leaving Inverness and heading up the A9.

Now at the beginning of this walk we knew that there would be little, if no, walking on trails, and the majority of our time would be spent walking on the A9, so this entire journey was to be a rather daunting preview of what was to come. The weather however was marvellous and the sun reflecting off the sea was delightfully warm, like the summer was fighting back. I won't go into much detail on many places as we have and will pass through many of them, but the architecture in some of the coastal towns such as Dornoch is lovely.

Three long hours later and we arrived in Wick. Here we stopped off to pick up some supplies at the supermarket - just a few things for lunch for the next few days. We then had to find the next bus to take us to John o' Groats which we knew left from Wick railway station. There was no bus stop... This did not seem to be important as the bus turned up and pulled in next to an arbitrary section of pavement. We jumped on. The journey was fairly short and before long we alighted outside the Seaview Hotel in John o' Groats.

Having checked into our room and had some lunch (and more lemsip), we decided to head down to the tourist area before partaking of a warm-up stroll about Duncansby Head. Sadly it is currently the end of the season and the signpost had been taken down, most probably to prevent theft. We still took a number of pictures. We also met a couple who were waiting for their son to arrive with some others. They were to have completed the trail in nine days by bicycle. Very impressive. We walked up to the head and round towards the lighthouse. There we received our first rain showers, but this was not unwelcome as we were also able to see some beautifully vivid rainbows out over the sea. We also wandered around the corner to catch a glimpse of the Duncansby stacks which were a magnificent sight. We then headed back to the hotel to make final preparations - signing the end-to-end book, getting dinner and having a drink (a wee dram for Charlie, and yes, a lemsip for me!)

So, day one. John o' Groats to Watten. The day was long but went fairly well. I think it worked out at approximately 17 miles. We had to wander through a couple of the villages to the west of John o' Groats and one thing that we really noticed was the presence of memorials to those who died in the two world wars. It seems that even every village in this area of Scotland has one, even if they are only a few houses. Another thing that becomes apparent is the stillness and tranquility. Life is not hurried in this part of the world. We made our way through Huna, Canisbay (where the school kids seemed to be permanently in the playground) to Upper Gills. Here we would begin taking the long road down to Watten. Many of the little roads in this corner of Caithness are long, narrow and straight. It was six long, straight miles before we reached Lyth. In this time we encountered a tractor which we would run into a further six times in the day, and a lady looking for her runaway black dog. We stopped for lunch at Lyth before continuing on. The skies, although not bringing rain, had been quite overcast but became more sunny. After a stretch on a more major B road we began on the last long minor road towards Watten. By this time our wildlife count was 1 stoat, 1 deer, 1 pheasant and many furry orange caterpillars. On approaching Loch Watten and disturbing a particularly quarrelsome murder of crows, we were beginning to feel the strain of the first day. It was then that we found out that our B&B was on the far side of the village. Tragedy for day one, bonus for day two. We made it to Loch Watten House B&B and were greeted with tea and cake which were well received by our weary bodies. Refreshing showers were soon followed by sleep.

The following morning we woke up fairly refreshed, although aching and consumed a large full Scottish breakfast. Day two was due to be a long slog from Watten to Dunbeath, a perhaps over-ambitious second day of 20 miles. The morning started out well and we made good time for the first seven miles, arriving at Camster Cairns. Restored by Historic Scotland, these huge mounds of stones with doorways were burial mounds that date back perhaps 5,000 years. It is actually possible to go inside them. The next section down to the A9 just east of Lybster was very tiring and sadly I didn't fare too well as I was exhausted due to being rather ill and was not a happy bunny. We limped into Lybster and grabbed some Orkney smoked cheese and cauliflower soup before taking the school bus to Toremore Farm near Dunbeath where we were staying. I went straight to bed in an attempt to recover from my cold and shakes.

The following day we were headed to Helmsdale where we would have our first rest day. We woke up to have breakfast and from the window we could see the sheep enjoying their breakfast too. There was the occasional moment of charging and headbutting in an attempt to get a better position at the trough. We were much more civilised and consumption of breakfast inside proceeded with more decorum! Our host was very kind - she made us egg sandwiches with the crusts trimmed. We were expecting the day to be a difficult one as we would be walking on the A9 all day having only walked smaller roads before. It was also to be the first day with any significant height change. To round it off we had to contend with the first round of blisters and other problems such as Achilles strain. Coming into Dunbeath from Toremore, we had to drop down and cross the valley over the A9 bridge which climbed up the opposite side. We decided to briefly leave the main road to head past Dunbeath castle on the old road. It is now a nice forested path where the old road has slowly become overgrown. We rejoined the A9 by stepping over a crash barrier, and walked on for a long time before we reached our next significant descent into Berridale. This is a lovely village which has some wonderful bridges over which the old road used to run. The have now grassed over. On a nearby hill the are two stone crenellated towers. We began ascending on the other side of the village and were greeted with lovely grass verges which were a delight to walk on. The problem with road walking is that you very quickly begin to suffer the effects of impact damage in your feet and joints. Roads are designed to withstand the multitude of heavy vehicles that drive on them, and thus they are rather unyielding. When you have been walking on the road for a long time, switching to grass can perceptibly reduce the stresses on your joints almost immediately. While walking along the A9, we mainly saw farmyard animals and for the rest it was largely road kill. We arrived in Helmsdale at a reasonable time, found somewhere to stay and went in search of dinner. We found a fish and chip restaurant where their reasonably priced special was two large pieces of haddock. Quite unexpected and unmanageable. On returning to the B&B, we met a councillor from Orkney and had a nice chat.

On our rest day, we booked our accommodation for the next stretch to Inverness, and bought food for the next few days. We sat by the harbour to enjoy some of the good weather, and a man came out of his house to talk with us. He told us how he was interested in panning for gold and that there was gold in the area. He told us about his grandfather panning for gold in Canada and showed us various photos. It was lovely to hear someone so passionate about the place they were born and had lived in for most of their life. We moved on and visited the Timespan museum which gave us an insight into the history of Helmsdale, including the gold rush of 1869, the crofts, the castle that has been torn down, and much more. I just want to mention here that I had some problems with email up to this day, so if you sent anything between 7th and 10th October, I may not have received it.

After our first rest day, we were headed for Golspie. At breakfast our host gave us some dried meals which had been left by a previous group heading up to John o' Groats. These were three packets of scrambled egg and one of apple pancakes. We were once again walking along the A9. The weather remained reasonable for most of the day, although there were a few showers. We saw more pheasants, but little else special. Just before reaching Brora, we took a footpath that was meant to run through the golf course. It was a little interesting as we needed to cross a small river, and had to head down onto the beach. Eventually we found some sort of a footpath and carried on into Brora, passing cattle which seemed to be allowed to roam about on the golf course. After Brora, we came to Dunrobin castle. It has its own tiny train station which is only serviced during the summer months. Inside the wooden station building were many items of train memorabilia displayed through the windows. A very strange place to display it. On arriving in Golspie, we saw a milestone showing John o' Groats and Lands End erected on 1806. We then had to cross to the far west side of town to find our place to stay for the night.

Next day we set off for Tain. This was to be a bit of a tedious day as we had two bodies of water to cross which meant walking further inland to points where the bridges had been built. Before reaching the first one, called 'The Mound' we disturbed a couple of hundred geese that had been taking a break from their migration. They all took off and separated into their smaller formations. As we went past Dornoch, we stopped off at a service station at Evelix to have our lunch. We also popped into the cafe for a cup of tea. The next stretch took us to the second bridge where I spotted a seal swimming and then diving from sight. Over the other side we pressed on hard to reach the next designated (desired) rest stop - Glenmorangie distillery. We were kindly given a free dram each which was gratefully received and also had a chat with some of the staff and other visitors. We then left for the B&B we were staying in, only a little over a mile away. When we got there it started to rain and we were about to got outside to cook our dinner when our hosts at Morangie B&B very kindly offered us the use of their kitchen.

The following morning we met two of the other guests at breakfast. They had come up from Wales on holiday and had been to watch the world porridge championships the previous day. The prize, which was a golden spurtle (a wooden stick for stirring), was won by an American from Oregon! The day started off with some rain which fizzled out before long. We walked through part of Tain to get to a straighter minor road towards Alness. Part way along there was a field filled with pheasants. We also came across many road signs pointing to Ardross. We began to notice something rather vexing. At all junctions along the road Ardross seemed to be 4.5 miles away. Two miles out from Alness this seemed to be the same and then in Alness the sign said 8.5 miles. We'd also noticed other less severe discrepancies in mileages on road signs, but the difference is that in a car a sign a mile or two out is not demoralising... Heading to Evanton from Alness, we were assaulted by some showers but made it to the bunkhouse before getting too wet.

The next stage was the last section of walking on the A9 to Inverness. As we left Evanton we passed a junction on the road to a small track. Either side of the track were two fields and at the gate of one was a herd of cows; behind the gate to the other, a rather frustrated bull. If anything the mooing became more frenzied as we ambled past without coming to the poor chap's aid. We also encountered a stowaway slug that had decided to hitch a ride on Charlie's trekking pole. I think she was not too impressed by it adding additional weight! We crossed Cromarty Firth avoiding the extra distance via Dingwall and headed over the hill towards Tore. Progress seemed to slow a bit as Charlie had picked up a hip injury earlier in trek that seemed to be aggravated a little more by the hill. Just beyond Tore we caught a bus for a short distance into Inverness to avoid the dual carriageway and the need for crawling through the industrial estates of Inverness which would have just been tiring.

In Inverness we took our second rest day staying in the tourist hostel. Again most of the time on the rest day was spent preparing for the next stretch - we would be doing the Great Glen Way in one go. We walked up to the castle and took some photographs at the start so that we could just press on the following morning. A trip was also made to an outdoor store to buy some replacement trekking poles. Some of the ones that we were using were rather cheap, and as a results we had managed to wear through rubber and metal on our way down the A9.

The next day we began walking the Great Glen Way. The problem with trails sometimes is that they tend to take a more 'scenic route' than the most direct route, which meant walking the first stretch out of Inverness was longer than it could have been. That said, it was also rather picturesque walking by the River Ness and then across the bridges to the tree covered islands. Once on the other side of the river, we heard a person playing bagpipes on one of the islands. It seemed appropriate for the start of this section of the route. We knew that this section of the route would have the first real height gain and would also be the first proper footpath we would encounter, although much of the Great Glen Way makes use of forestry commission tracks. After a little over four miles, we reached a long flat path heading west through a forest which was long and straight. This used to be an old path use by drovers taking their animals to market. A little further down the path I saw what must have been a pine marten run across in front of us. At lunchtime we stopped and I changed back to my walking trainers from my boots. Unfortunately my boots were causing me a lot of pain and were probably also contributing to the start of an infection in the large blister on the ball of my right foot. After the change I was a little happier. Much of the woodland in this area is managed by the Abriachan Forest Trust and we eventually reached a lodge near to which was a playground and some lovely pit toilets. After a break here where we continued, carefully taking the section of the trail which was not sign posted as the 'scenic route'. (Fellwanderers will understand all about scenic routes and why we were reluctant to take it!) Not long after some ascent we were greeted by a sign with the words "Highest Point on Trail". After a descent through some forest in which someone was wild camping, we eventually reached Drumnadrochit. Before the light dropped entirely we also had a nice view out over Loch Ness where we also caught a glimpse of Urquhart Castle. Unfortunately our day ended up being long because we had to walk through to Lewiston to the hostel. Charlie was tired and despite my blister feeling really unpleasant we got there.

The following day we made use of a taxi to carry our baggage over the next hilly section of the route as the previous day had been a bit of a shock to the system as we hadn't encountered any significant height change until this trail. We reached Invermoriston at a reasonable time without the weight and stayed at Georgeston B&B. On arrival our host joked with us that our bags had not arrived but then his wife told him off for winding us up! It turned out that they had actually closed for the winter but had specially opened for us because we were walking. I spent time in agony because of the blister and lancing it was anything but fun. We cooked cous cous for dinner and were invited to sit in the dining room where cake was brought out to us for desert. There is a myth in England that all Scots are grumpy and unfriendly, and I must say that by this point I was seeing that this was anything but true. I have come to the judgement that Scottish hospitality is wonderful and it is just the odd bad egg that you meet from some of the urban areas who really fit the stereotype, but then I feel that this is the same in any country. In the room there was a foot spa. Normally this would have been welcome, but with the blisters I avoided using it.

We left Invermoriston the next day. The first half of the day to Fort Augustus was slightly hilly, and the remainder of the way to Laggan would be flat. As we approached Fort Augustus we were able to see the only island in Loch Ness as we came to the western end of it. It is called Cherry Island and is actually a man made island called a 'Crannog'. These islands were often built as strongholds and this one originally has a causeway to it. In Fort Augustus we stopped in a cafe for some soup and tea for lunch. After passing the locks we walked along the Caledonian Canal to Loch Oich. Along the side of the loch is a dismantled railway. It was built to be a mainline route but in the end was never used. At the other end of the loch, we reached Laggan. We were staying in the Great Glen Hostel which was very nice and modern - a highly recommended place to stay. We were feeling a bit worse for wear - Charlie's hip was very tender and my blister was oozing pus. Sorry to those who are not fans of the details

The last day of the Great Glen Way was long. We walked 20 miles to Banavie, just outside of Fort William. Beyond Laggan Locks the canal opened out into the imaginitively named Loch Lochy. The day was the coldest we'd had, but the temperature warmed up as the clouds and rain closed in later in the day. As we were passing through the little village of Clunes a car pulled up alongside us and the couple within offered to take some of our weight to the lock keeper's shed at Gairlochy locks four miles down the road. This helped us to walk a little quicker for a while which was much appreciated. Along the Caledonian canal, there were some interesting bits of architecture, including aqueducts and a bridge that is still manually opened by turning capstans. The bridge keeper needs to row across the canal to open the southern end after opening the northern end. As we reached Banavie, we saw Neptune's Staircase which is a series of eight locks. We stayed at Chase the Wild Goose Hostel where we ate the dehydrated apple pancakes which came complete with flaked lard to fry the batter in.

On our rest day, we walked into Fort William to a hostel near the start of the West Highland Way, our next trail. The first stop was to Belford Hospital A&E. Charlie had her hip checked out. She was told that she had nerve inflammation which wouldn't stop her walking, but would be painful. The only way to get over this common problem for walkers is ibuprofen and rest. Meanwhile I had my infected blister washed out with sterile fluid. It was rather smelly, but felt much better afterwards. The new skin underneath was in good condition anyway. We then did our usual rest day routine of preparing the next stretch of the walk. A friend from our university walking club, Chris, was due to join us in the evening, but had to change to his train to arrive the following morning.

We are currently in Edinburgh, and I still have to tell you about the West Highland Way, but I thought I would get something out for you all to read and hopefully I'll be a little better at keeping more up to date in the future. Time spent dealing with footcare, etc, has taken some time out of blog writing. We have spent a few days recovering a little, and hopefully Charlie's hip problem will have been healed up a bit with the rest. We are taking the opportunity to ditch some weight here in Edinburgh - my boots that caused me grief, and our sleeping bags. Hopefully this will make life a little easier for us. We begin heading down towards the Pennine Way tomorrow.

We also would like to thank those who have donated so far - thank you for your help. Please keep telling people you know about the causes we are supporting.

Twelve months ago we came up with the idea to hike the length of the UK and since then we have spent numerous hours planning the route, writing our website, researching accommodation and buying equipment. But most importantly we have been washing our feet in surgical spirit to toughen ourselves up Now the date of our departure is imminent – we are leaving today – and as with all long haul trips there is still plenty that should and probably won’t get done before the off...

Over this last year both Nick and I have spent far too many hours in front of a computer screen, as most of our friends and family are well aware. But we have been working knowing that we are about to enjoy some beautiful (and horrendous) days in the country. I am looking forward to waking up and not having to think about my PhD for the next three months! I do think that Nick might start to get a little computer-sick, however, as he won’t be able to do any software development for a while. Having said that, I am well aware that he has got himself a new phone with all the gadgets and will most probably manage to do some coding along the way… Joking aside, Nick is the brains behind our website and he will be keeping you all up to date with our progress.

Finally – thanks to everyone for wishing us luck on our mad trip and we hope you enjoy keeping up to date with us… Also thanks in advance for any donations that you make to us on behalf of Watoto and A21. With your help we will be able to support the excellent work that they do and change lives for the better.