On Monday and Tuesday I hiked a section of the West Highland Trail. 35kms in total. It was a great hike. The weather was beautiful and the scenery was spectacular. I especially enjoyed hiking through the Rannoch Moor on the first day. John dropped me off at the Bridge of Orchy and after finding the entry point of the trail there I headed off. 
The fields that always look so velvety are really quite rough, full of peat and heather and mosses and grasses that are constantly changing in the wind. I kept imagining I might see a kilted Scot romping through the moor but alas, it was not so. I met very few people. All in all, the first day I met 8 people and on the second day only 5. It was good and solitary just enough. 
I stayed overnight at the only hotel on that part of the trail. The King's House Hotel. Some people camped in the back. This hotel has been there since the 1700s hosting to travellers and drovers (people who 'drove' cattle about the countryside). It was a very comfortable place. A clean and simple one star hotel. The opposite of the dive of a three star 
overpriced hotel that Helen and I stayed in in London. The view of Glen Coe from my bedroom window was spectacular. Watching the sunset was glorious. Then I promptly fell asleep as I was exhausted and had sore feet. Continuing the next day I headed in to that beautiful valley. The trail was much rougher here than the day before. For a time it followed
along close to the road before it headed up in to the hills. The Devil's Staircase was not so much fun but still a great experience. I really became aware of my body. I was very aware of my breathing, my heart beating, my muscles working, sweat dripping, blisters blisting. It reminded me actaully of Jesus's analogy of the Narrow Way. Instead of taking the easy wide way
of the tour buses my way was much more difficult but I experienced the land in a much more real way. John picked me up in Linlochleven at the Visitor's Centre. I actually made it there on time. I had had my doubts some times since I really had no idea how far I was from the place at any given time and I had graduated to a slow walking pace since the terrain was a bit rough and my feet were sore. The blisters I have are quite impressive. Completely worth it though. It's a great adventure story, I think.
2 comments:
Hi Karin,
die Fotos, die du von Schottland gemacht hast sind einfach wunderbar. Genauso habe ich es in erinnerung und mir scheint, dass es kein anderes Land auf der Welt gibt, das so eine schöne Landschaft hat. Ich beneide dich gerade und wir warten hier auf dich!
LG Anke & Co
Hey Karin, glad you were able to do that. Michelle and i never actually made it that far. Michelle pulled something in her hip way down by Drymen (south of Loch Lomond). So we ended up changing our plans and taking a bus up to Fort William and then off to the Isle of Skye for 2 days. unfortunately it rained most of the time, so I'm glad to see you got some nice weather. I remember that stretch of the walk all too well. My friend and i went from Tyndrum (just south of Bridge of Orchy) to Kinlochleven in one day. The Devil's staircase actually became a bit of respite as the descent to King's House hotel is something like 3 miles of gradual descent. Our knees were killing us. We stopped for a quick bite at the hotel and continued, muscles aching as they had cooled down. Reaching the staircase however, our bodies quickly warmed up and the uphill didn't affect our joints as much so the pain in our knees went away as long as we kept going up...until that awful descent into Kinlochleven...eesh. Hope your trip is going well! Peace, G
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