6/21, to John o’Groats!

This unexpected hut worked out for staying overnight in. The chance to stay inside, safe from midges or rain is usually just too good to pass up, even if it means stopping early. I washed up in the loch and was feeling pretty good.Organizing and rationing my food for the final few days. We got ahead on miles after starting at 5:30 am again, so there was plenty.This last section was beyond the Highlands, in a region new to me, called Flow Country. This is what it mostly looks like! It’s the largest expanse of blanket bog in Europe! Think of shin-deep postholing, but in spongy vegetation rather than snow. Luckily we never had to camp around here because I think that would prove difficult. And there were a lot of ticks. I frequently check myself as best I can, because I’m a bit paranoid about Lyme disease. Really don’t want that.First sight of the North Sea. Getting close to the end!The remains of an old castle at Keiss, near our last campsite on a grassy field.Moving up the coast towards the final peninsula.And we did it! Roughly 1200 miles in 56 days, so maybe ~21 miles per day average, which is something to be proud of considering the frequent stops for coffee!

It really was a tremendous way to see the island with a friend. I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to spend the remaining days I have (about 12, booked the flight with room for error/injury and a chance to see London before flying out). I would like to see some major cities, though the expenses will add up quickly that way. Going to start with a day off tomorrow, doing perhaps nothing! And take it from there. Probably focus on books and museums.

Glad to share the photos and a few stories from the trail with you! Bye for now.

More Cape Wrath Trail

First night in a bothy, where Will and I showed up at 9:30 pm, to the surprise of two other backpackers who probably thought they would have the shelter to themselves! Actually they were very welcoming about it, and one was from the States. It was probably my best night of sleep on the trail – after a long full day – we had started hiking at 5:30 am and combined the mileage of two scheduled days into one. Inside was free from midges and wind, so we were set.Crossing a wire bridge. Our guidebook notes mention high water alternates to take during wet weather patterns, but we just haven’t been subject to many high water issues.We didn’t know we were hiking on the International Appalachain Trail until Will spotted this marker. It’s like I’m connected right back to North Carolina, at least geologically.Venison burger.I’ll try to shorten this story – basically there was a bothy marked on our map but apparently isn’t available anymore. We found this building which probably USED to be the bothy, but now houses a large diesel generator, some electronics equipment, and an array of large, burbling batteries. There was a 92 decimal noise warning sticker on it. There was acoustic foam in a large crate that had yet to be installed – it was all very new looking, and we had seen some signage for new hydroelectric energy projects in the area. Well we decided to sleep inside with it. What a mistake! At 4:00 am sharp, it turned on full blast. We instantly shot up out of our sleeping bags, hearts pounding. I think I mentally understood that, ok, there’s a large generator running in this small space and it’s going to be alright, but the physical experience was so overwhelming that I could barely function. Well, we got our stuff together, went down the road and camped outside a derelict old house. Got a few decent hours of sleep after that point.Another wonderful stay in a bothy the next night!Settling down to bed at 10pm. Look at all the light. I usually sleep with my unworn puffy jacket covering my eyes now.We were holed up in another bothy when a load of cows and sheep came right by the window and down to the loch. There was a Frenchman (who now lives in Scotland) with some border collies moving his animals.

Along the Cape Wrath Trail

The Cape Wrath Trail leaves Fort William two different ways, and we took the option that initially borrows from the Great Glen Way.

This here is the Great Glen fault. Fort William is on the southern end of the purple fault line. The Great Glen Way follows the canal and lochs along the fault line on the way to Inverness on the northwestern side.

Eight locks to gain/lose 64 feet.Pleasant walking along the canal. Even saw some American sailboats making their way from one coast of Scotland to the other. The Cape Wrath Trail does shortly turn north, away from the Great Glen. This provides some more interesting and challenging areas of the Highlands on the way to the Cape.Grouse chick, discovered after the parent flew off.

Remember when I said we had seen the highest waterfall in the UK at High Force a while ago? Not the case. The Wikipedia page of High Force even states “Despite popular belief that it is the highest waterfall in England …” That was only about 71 feet.

This one is 371 feet, still not the highest in the UK by the way, but very impressive.
I really enjoyed this hiking along the steep side of the valley. The photo just doesn’t give you that sense of vertical precipice and space, but I tried.

Feral goats!

Finishing the West Highland Way

Working along the last edges of Loch Lomond, where some parts were rocky and we passed many other West Highland Wayfarers.At the northern edge of the loch is a nice little pub with camping services and a snack shop. We stopped for a rest and even considered staying to meet some other hikers and take it easy, but there was so much time left in the day that we continued on.A tasty pint from Wellpark Brewery – founded in 1740, the makers of Tennent’s Lager which I’ve been seeing more and more of in Scotland.Rainy? Not today!Rain and cars. The middle parts of the West Highland Way that have major roadways in the same valley are kind of a bummer. Just seems odd for a major national trail to have traffic beside it. But the walking is easy and passed quickly.Bridge of Orchy.A lil snack pack of cheddar and pickle, a very tasty quick bite.Next time I go car camping, I’m DEFINITELY bringing a flag of some sort.Up into the clouds!On the descent to the next village, the rain really hit. I enjoyed it! It felt kind of like how hiking in Scotland is supposed to be. Somehow I doubt that attitude will continue as we move north into more remote areas.Serious hikers. Finished the WHW in under 4 days. So serious.And then I spent some time watching other hikers finish their treks! Saw two bottles of champagne popped, and the whole scene was very inspiring. The WHW gets considerably more traffic than the other trails – about 15000 do the whole thing each year according to authorities.

From here we’ll be heading out into some more remote parts, where there isn’t always a trail to follow.

Starting the West Highland Way

Making our way out of Peebles on a nice hot Sunday afternoon. Lots of friendly folks along the river because the weather was so good.I’d been looking forward to seeing some of these shaggy cows!Managed to finish the (second) book I’ve been carrying. We had around 35 peaceful miles on the towpaths beside two canals. It was very easy to read while walking, and I got through the last 200+ pages. I was super sad to finish it because it had been such a good way to pass the time.The stretches along the canals were part of the John Muir Way, a relatively new path that my dear uncle found written up in the Wall Street Journal. Total length is 134 miles and crosses from coast to coast.This sweet tunnel was over 600 meters long and made for epic singing.The Falkirk Wheel, which connects canals by lifting boats back and forth. Because of the water displacement in counterbalanced holding troughs, it requires very little power to operate. And there were lots of tourists here to see it.Delicious organic yogurt. A real perk of short resupplies is that one can more easily carry real food to eat instead of evaluating calories per weight.First glimpses of Loch Lomond after joining the West Highland Way.It had to have been the hottest day of the entire trip so far. Umbrella paid off big time.And we went swimming. Cold, but not tooooo cold!A traditional house that was common in the area until the early 19th century.Held together without nails, just wooden pegs between the supports.Midges! By the boatload in the evenings and mornings. I’m really not sure how Will is managing to keep his mind without a tent, but he’s doing it with just a headnet and sleeping bag. I’ve become a fan of this Smidge™ spray product sold here, it works well and doesn’t give off the absurd toxic feel of DEET, or melt my gear for that matter!

Finishing the Pennine Way, Welcome to Scotland

Cheese. Mushrooms. Omelette.Making our way through part of Kielder Forest.Coming over the hills of the Scottish border area. Somewhere along here we officially crossed, but I dunno where.Finished the Pennine Way on Thursday, June 2nd. Around 268 miles (give or take) in 11 days, so just over 24 miles per day. The man in charge of the Youth Hostel in Kirk Yetholm was very impressed, and kept insisting that we had ran it. It’s probably because we dress like runners in shorts and trainers, not backpackers with leather boots.
Spent our third night indoors on a bed, then continued on!

Moving northwest along St. Cuthbert’s Way. Generally well marked and not particularly difficult. I did get off track for a while, but I texted Will and we used our iPhone functions to see where each other were. He sent me a photo of the GPS tracks he had on his phone and soon enough we were moving again.Some kind of kayaking competition with folks camping out for the weekend. I wanted to watch someone go down it, but no luck with the timing.Crossing into Peebles.Haggis, Lorne sausage, black pudding, mushroom, poached egg (mm!), tomato, bacon, toast. All excellent!

Pennine Way, Part 2

In the town of Bowes, Will’s grandma and grandpa picked us up in their motor home! They had been touring some of Scotland for around 3 weeks, and stopped on their way back south to see Will. They grabbed us, we made a quick stop for vittles, and they had a campground site reserved for the night just outside of town. We enjoyed some chicken and carrot stew, snacks & drinks, and chatted. Will and I even got a shower! Bringing the total up to 4 for the trip. It was a lovely overnight break from the trail, and man do I appreciate their hospitality.Hiking along the River Tees.High Force, a 70 foot waterfall.Had a few hours of this one morning.Then the weather cleared a bit just as we reached High Cup Nick! A very impressive glacially carved valley. We sat for a few minutes to admire it, but the cold wind insisted we keep moving.Intersection with the Coast to Coast path.Afternoon stop for snacking inside Greg’s Hut. Very thankful to get out of the wind for a short spell.

Ramparts of a Roman fort. Some of the best preserved ramparts outside of Rome, according
to the informational sign.Hadrian’s Wall!Lots of ups and downs right along the wall. The Roman’s sought to make good use of the natural escarpment in this area.
Hadrian’s Sheep.So this is Stormin’ Norman. He thruhiked the PCT in 2007 with his wife, Hell on Wheels. We had a wonderful sit down at his farm on the Pennine Way! He offers snacks, coffee, showers, laundry, etc. to hikers on the trail. It was the only kind of place like this we have seen so far. ’07 was a different world on the PCT compared to ’14. His class was only about 70 people, of which 15 or 20 finished. We had well over a thousand permits in 2014.



Pennine Way, Part 1

The start of the Pennine Way!Found a house that gets their milk delivered to the door, how nice is that. Will and I took some water from their outside tap. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind.Climbig Jacob’s Ladder, which is on the first day out of Edale on the Pennine Way. It’s a killer way to start the hike. I’m sure many people have been a bit discouraged by it over the years, because it’s a serious climb that would make just about backpacker question how tough they are.This photo will mess your head a little, but it’s a reservoir with an interesting outlet design.Quick pizza while getting out of the rain, then back out to hike.Roadside burger truck.I was told this was monolithic tower was built to celebrate peace after Napolean was exiled.Descending to Hebden Bridge.This whole downtown area was underwater just back in December – they suffered major flooding.This is a photo of Will, as we slept on the second level of a rather sketchy barn. The floor boards were old and risky with large areas where it had already collapsed, but oh man, it was quiet and peaceful inside. I woke up at one point and was so happy to hear the rain hitting the barn roof overhead. A small forge in the town of Malham. We stopped for breakfast at a cafe, then had a pot of tea at a very nice pub, the Lister Arms, to use their wifi.

Climbing Pen-y-Ghent, all the way to the top and down the other side. Quite steep in a few places.Fellow Pennine Wayfarers, Liz from Australia and a fellow from Germany.All settled down for the night in a stone barn, out of any wind or rain, laying on some straw.

Northeast to Edale to start the Pennine Way

We went through the town of Ironbridge, home of the worlds first iron bridge. Will and I jumped up and down on the apex to test the strength of the bridge. Seemed sturdy. As we got to the other side we found someone in the middle of a formal video recording with the bridge in the background, so we were probably in the the frame!A Ploughman’s lunch. Salad, tomatoes, pickle, beets, pickled onion, apple, cheese, couple bites of pork pie, bread and butter. So tasty!

My first scotch egg of the trip, bought from a local farm shop on our route.

Hiking in a beautiful gorge of Dovedale late one evening. A truly nice area, though the fading light and ample rain put a damper on it for us.

A decorative wall near where we turned off towards Edale. The recommended route in our guidebook doesn’t go to the start of the Pennine Way, but we wanted to actually hike the whole Pennine, so we took the alternate.

We ended up in a very nice pub on a rainy Saturday afternoon, which filled with football fans watching the national tournament championship game. Will knows about as much about pro sports as I do – so not much. But boy, this ‘trio sausage’ dish sure was good with a big heap of cheesy mashed potatoes underneath.

Descending to the town of Castleton which was full of weekenders from the nearby cities of Manchester and Sheffield.A 3000 year old stone head!Having a pint of cider in Edale. The next morning a large group of men started chatting with us at breakfast and were very excited for us starting the Pennine. Letting us know how difficult it would be, etc. One of them had hiked it in the early 80s and gave us grave warnings. Often times it’s more graceful to just let people talk, rather than letting them know our own hiking history, and that we’ve already come about 600 miles to get here!
 

Offa’s Dyke Path

Walking across the Severn Bridge for about an hour, the full span of road is about two miles to get over the River Severn and the River Wye. The cycling lane is separate from the traffic, so it was relatively pleasant. This got us over to Chepstow, the terminus of both the Offa’s Dyke Path and the Wales Coast Path!

I’ve been interested in the Wales Coast Path for a couple years now. Very cool to be standing on it, if only briefly.

Offa’s Dyke was the best part of this hike for me so far, which was a very nice surprise. I’m very glad we chose this route option.

It felt good to be on a continuous trail and into the swing of things since we’d been out more than two weeks at this point.

 I took a photo of this naval temple built sometime around 1800, because I like how the British flag is flying over top of the defeated French, Spanish, and Dutch flags. I think it’s kind of funny from today’s perspective to quite literally call out three countries you defeated in naval battles.


Fields of rapeseed.

This was White Castle in Wales, with stone construction dating back to the 1100s – and there was a guy doing video with a drone while we were there.

I really loved this next section of Offa’s Dyke Path.

Down to quite possibly the nicest town we’ve been to so far! Hay-on-Wye. 

It’s the Book Town! Home of the Hay Festival, a literary event which Bill Clinton went to in 2001 and called “the Woodstock of the mind.” Jimmy Carter went in 2008. Sister cities with Timbuktu, Mali. And we had beautiful weather!
My dear uncle insisted I read Bryson’s latest book on the trip. It goes well with sunshine, a pot of tea, and a Welsh cake (soft, crumbly, raisins, sugar dusted).

So that was about it for Offa’s Dyke Path – the total trail is 177 miles and we did roughly half of it on our route. Left from the town of Knighton to move northeast to the start of the Pennine Way.