Scotland 2019, West Highland Way and Great Glen Way, Round Trip

Day 21 Walking, Wednesday, June 26. 14.5 miles, 6.5 long hours, Steps 37785 Guisachan House, Fort William to Edencoille Guest House, Kinlochleven.  Lavish breakfast buffet with a view across Loch Linnhe towards where the GGW came through yesterday at Banavie and Neptune’s Staircase.   Hi-tech hosts at the breakfast went from table to table with iPads taking orders for eggs.  Please, NO eggs for me today.   The buffet was crazy abundant with choices.  Croissants, bagels, breads for toasting, trays of hot bacon/ham, haggis, mushrooms, tomatoes, baked beans, potato scones, cold Scottish ham, Scottish pork salami, pork sausages, cheese: Highland Brie, Scottish cheddar, Scottish crowdie a cream cheese hand rolled in pinhead oats and crushed peppercorns, smoked salmon, dry cereals, fresh fruit salad, porridge.   Too bad this person couldn’t go crazy and stuff it all in 😁 Last night instead of an en-suite room at the Guisachan House, I had a suite of rooms. Tiny ...

Day 20 Walking, Tuesday, June 25. Distant Hills, Spean Bridge to Guisachan House, Fort William.   10.5 Miles, 4 hours, Steps 31337.  Breakfast was the scrambled eggs with salmon and Scottish oatcakes.  The oatcakes were not very good.  But there was lots of fresh fruit, nuts, and yogurt.   Peter drove me back to Gairlochy Bottom Loch.  I mentioned my interest in the Commandos who trained in the area and how I had found that room in the hotel last night.  I tried to take a photo of the monument from the car. Then Peter pulled into the parking lot and I ran up to take a couple closeups.   Set off walking in the cold wind, which fortunately was behind me.  Hardly any foot traffic on the tow path that is also the Great Glen Way and a long distance bike path.   On approaching the Moy Swing Bridge a couple of large boats were waiting to come through.  The bridge keeper can only open half the bridge at a time, so once one side is swung ope...

Day 19 Walking, Monday, June 24.   Invergarry Hotel, Invergarry to Distant Hills, Spean Bridge.  12 Miles, 4.5 Hours, Steps 31136.  Breakfast was the thinnest Belgian waffle ever seen.   Two couples eating at the same time were hard to ignore when their conversation was only about 4 feet from my table and we were the only patrons chewing at that time.  They were traveling on to Spain and Portugal after Scotland.  They have known each other for over 25 years and talked of people mutually known.  I  miss having a companion to chat with - GARY!! They must have been physicians as the stories soon began to be about weird patients.  I listened to everything they said, with my head turned towards the window and studied the rain falling.  Last night’s bed was at the historic Invergarry Hotel which has a bit of story.  The seat of the ancient Clan MacDonald and records date back from the late 1600’s when it was a drovers inn and later a stag...

Day 18 Walking, Sunday, June 23. Abbey Cottage, Fort Augustus to Invergarry Hotel, Invergarry.  10.75 Miles, 5 Hours, Plus another 2 Miles to visit Invergarry Castle.  Steps 34706 Omelette for breakfast with ham, mushrooms and cheese.  The other two couples each ate a full bowl of cereal followed by the Full Scottish.   Hiker in post office/grocery with his crocs dangling and his cell phone open for solar charging.  Phoned from my room on the landline attached to the wall to arrange for my pickup at the end of today’s walk.  In the morning will be taken back to that location to continue WALKING!  I WALKED!  There was no long distance phone charge as all calls in the UK are considered local. Flat path today.  The morning was along side the Caledonian Canal and then Loch Oich.  That loch is the smallest of the 3 connected by the canal.  It is 4 miles long and 0.3 wide.  The afternoon was also along the edge of the water, but wate...

Day 17 Walking, Saturday, June 22. Craik Na Dav, Invermoriston to Abbey Cottage, Fort Augustus.  8 Miles on the High Level route, 4 hours, Not Bad for a gimpy foot 😃. Steps 25762 Breakfast table had a couple from Switzerland and a pair of women from Italy, and an American from Wisconsin.  The other four were headed towards Inverness.   Kipper.  Not the person from Wisconsin’s food.   There were two servings of Kippers at the table and it was fun to watch the Swiss woman dissect hers.  Got the foot wrapped up properly according to ‘doctor’ Lois.  Ankle brace, then a wad of cotton batting under the arch, Ibuprofen, and gell medication. The heel performed quite well.  Lois was happy.  Climbed up to the high level route through the forest of switchbacks.  Wonderful views once the heights were reached.  So thankful to be able to enjoy the day!  I was the only one going south but met probably 30 headed north.  Hello and goodbye...