Rannoch Station to Carie
(14 miles/234 metres ascent)
...but here it is, in the interests of brutal honesty and absolute journalistic integrity ;-)
After that I went down for breakfast, where I again chatted with the Dutch couple in the conservatory. Breakfast was lovely - I had bran flakes, poached free range eggs and mushrooms on toast, and delectable fresh coffee. The birds were already up and playing, and a large, pigeon-like bird was playing a game on the telephone wire that involved landing, slipping off backwards, flying up frantically, landing again, slipping off forwards and then starting again. The Dutch couple had asked for a packed lunch, and I heard them being offered home-cured ham on the bone for their sandwiches! At times like that I wish I could still eat ham. Sigh...
In chatting over breakfast it turned out that the proprietors both came from the small town in which I went to school, and in fact the hostess and I had been at different parts of the same school for some time! Her husband had been to the boys's school across the road. Amazing! :-)
After breakfast I went back upstairs to pack, and decided that I really was going to brave shorts today. The weather was hotter than ever, and now that I had no need of a clean T shirt for a hotel or B&B stay I was able to wear my short-sleeved HH, to spread the sunburn a little higher up my arms.
I was soon down at the door and ready to leave, where Little Peewiglet took my photo in the porch mirror. Clever little thing! After that I took a photo of us both :-)
Aaah... 
In fact, there had been a change of plan on the packed lunch front, and I set off with a couple of delicious cheese salad rolls, some home-made shortbread and a piece of home-made cake.
The Moor of Rannoch Hotel really is a fantastic place to stay, and I'd recommend it very highly. Those of you down at the wrong end of the country, just imagine it! Get on the London sleeper in the evening, sleep, get off at Rannoch Station early in the morning, go straight into the Moor of Rannoch Hotel for a warm welcome and your breakfast and then set off for a walk on the moor. Later in the day, soak those aches and blisters away with a G&T in the bath! Who could ask for more?! Not me, that's for sure: I'll certainly be doing it :)
I set off happily, listening to the sounds of the bird and the insects, and soaking up the sun. The first few miles went past very easily, and I saw no sign of ticks on the road. At one stage, though, a military jet of some description flew right over my head from behind, and frightened me half to death. I got such a shock that I stumbled, and a butterfly was so disorientated by the noise that it flew right into my face!
As I walked along the road towards Loch Rannoch I could see a distinctive, pointy shaped mountain on the far horizon, and I wondered whether it was the famous Schiehallion. Ok, so you can't really see much of it in this piccy (!), but can anyone tell me whether it was in the right sort of place? It was a very distinctive, almost conical shape.
The water looked lovely through the tangle of trees, grasses and flowers growing along the edges...
...and before long I saw my first Peacock butterly of the year, feeding on a Dandelion.
As I drew closer to the loch, the river began to look like a flooded meadow!
Not long after that I arrived at Bridge of Gaur, and stopped for the ritual attempt at a reflection photo in a rare, surviving red phone box. Small things, eh? :-) There's been a legendary B&B for Challengers at Bridge of Gaur in the past, and as I passed through I was very sorry to have stumbled across the Challenge too late to stay there.
A sheep with fantastic horns stared down at me from the hillside!
The loch was beautiful when it arrived...
...and I passed a blaze of lovely marsh marigolds in a ditch.
I waited for reception to return to my phone, and when it did I rang in to TGO Control and spoke to John again. I told him where I was, and where I was planning to stop for the night, and it was reassuring to have that contact because it was now almost 4 days since I'd last seen a Challenger, in Fort William. On the other hand, John commented on the beautiful weather during the course of our telephone conversation, and at that precise moment the sun went in and some rain began. Spooky, eh?! Hmmm....
Lovely as the path was, it's fair to say that it did eventually become a bit of a slog. 14 miles is a long way to walk on roads, with a heavy pack in the sun, and by the time I arrived at Carie I was really hoping that the little Forestry Commission campsite would be open. I turned right off the road, and soon came to a parting of tracks and a diagram explaining to walkers which path to take, for various destinations. As far as I could tell I needed the blue path, and so I set off, tired but hoping that I would soon be able to get the pack off and put up the tent. The path seemed to wind round and round, though, and I must have walked for about 20 minutes in a light drizzle before I emerged from woody cover and began to walk down a broad, forest path. I was now beginning to despair of ever finding the campsite, but just as all seemed lost I suddenly saw the tops of a couple of caravans a little further down the hill, to my left. What an enormous relief! Only minutes later I was standing at the entrance to a most inviting looking field sprinkled with daisies, and already planning my camping spot :-)
The drizzle had stopped a little while earlier, and there was no wind. The sun was still warm, and it was perfect weather for erecting a tent. As I walked towards the middle of the field I saw a Nallo pitched not too far away, and immediately wondered whether it held other Challengers. Just as I was looking over someone opened the door from inside, and a man and woman got out. I was tempted to go straight over to chat, but decided it made more sense to get the tent up and the sack unpacked, in case the rain began again. I did that, which didn't take long, and then went over to say hello.
Sure enough, the other campers were Margaret and Willy, and they were first time Challengers too. They were cooking something to eat, and after a chat I went back to my tent to make something of my own.
Although I'd been walking for more than a week, this was actually the first time I'd cooked in the tent. I boiled some water and had two mugs of soup, and after that I cooked Mexican Chile Beanfeast with Smash potato. LPW watched the pot for me, when I nipped outside to check that all was secure. It was absolutely yummy, and I began to look forward to more the following evening!
I retired early to my tent to read. It was such a beautiful evening, but unfortunately all my pockets, and also the two little stuff pockets at the front of the tent, were rapidly filling up with used tissues. I just couldn't get my nose to stop running, and I now had an extra day's sunburn on top of the unfeasibly bad sunburn I'd had on my face and arms the night before. Eeek... Still, I lay down and tried breathing through my mouth instead, while that most unpleasant, gassy sensation associated with a bad cold swirled around the back of my nose and caught at my throat.
Return to Home page -- Previous page -- Next page