Based in Aberdeen, Scotland.
Reached 200 within 72hrs
CLOSED at 2,017
APRES CLOSE: 2,021
“Northern Pies” highlighted this charity walk in aid of Guide Dogs for the Blind. Scott and his guide dog, Travis, will be walking the length of the West Highland Way in Spring. Details of training, support and how to make a donation can be found at legendstrek.co.uk
Good luck, and I hope you get good weather, and few midges.
It has been a funny old day.
The US presidential race ends at Manassas, where the British journalist noted that there was an American Civil War battle – actually, there was two battles fought on the site, which is sometimes referred to as Bull Run. Both pre-dated the emancipation proclamation made after Antietam/Sharpsburg later in 1862.
Speaking of American conflicts, Donald Trump got handed the keys to a nearby site of special scientific interest so that he can build homes and a golf course. There seems to be a very slight chance (i.e. one politician interviewed) that he will not destroy the dunes and the wildlife. BBC news link. Photos.
No doubt a certain zoo … oops, heelan’ safari … is planning to unleash the hounds sooner.
Mick and Gayle posted a video clip of the bad weather at The Kingshouse, and Glen Nevis campsite.
I collected my BackpackingLight.com goodie box from the local corner shop – good for Parcel Force to save me a cross-town journey (especially as the car battery is dead).
That book “Fixing your feet” by John Vonhof is massive! Sections on feet, footwear (hmm, why is it not feetwear?), prevention and treatment. Two wee tubs of BodyGlide, and a pair of possum fur gloves. I tried the gloves on and they were toasty. But I was in the house at the time, as I didn’t want to get them manky as I worked on the car.
And there was an email at work, asking if anyone wanted to visit the local landfill site. Like I said, it has been a funny old day.
47 miles of holiday walking, and some after words and clips of the weather.
And the promised photo of Mr McNeish from a 1995 TGO magazine.
Or should that be “after in-action report”? I know it wasn’t the Yukon, and only 47.5 miles (which should make it half-way up a 95 mile track). I also spent money in the locality for the extra days instead of in Canada, or giving up and bugging out to paint figures and watch tv. What I used to do, was spend a few days tidying the flat and some days planning the rest of the teaching block. A relaxing time. But I wasn’t achieving much.
I was asked if I was giving up, seeing as I don’t have the time for major Canadian-style expeditions, I was emphatic that I was merely seeing the last few days as throwing up problems to be solved. Some were gear-related, but many were me-related, physical and mental.
Starting from the ground up:
Feet - Problems
Feet were wet and I had problems caused by that. My feet end up like prunes, and I get more blisters as there are more edges rubbing against socks. Other parts of the feet developed red sores. I treated them at night, drying them off, puncturing large blisters and letting them breath after applying germolene, sometimes applying second skin. In the morning I would tape up blisters and some of the bigger sores. I had foot-talc in a small bottle and put on dry socks.
Feet - Solutions
Try and get used to Sealskinz socks, maybe with liner. I found they gave me blisters, so didn’t use them.
Get feet toughened up and acclimatised.
Learn more about foot-care. I’ll be ordering “Fixing your feet”
Footwear – Problems
Water got into socks. I’m not sure how. The Scarpa ZG65’s are lined with XCR, and I clean and waterproof them before setting out.
Possibilities – Water gets in through proofing or failed lining. Water gets in via the cuff of the boot as streams in spate or walking through mud. Water getting under Paramo trousers (which didn’t fail).
Footwear – Solutions
Test how water got into boot and solve problem.
Purchase short ankle gaiters. I noticed that Paramo advertise a pair that will “protect against water drainage from trouser hems.” (source) I will order a pair.
Baselayer – Problems
Chafing at the upper leg. Every time I stepped out it was painful. Every time me foot hit the ground, it was painful. Repeat with other leg. At 1 mile an hour, that was a lot of pain.
Baselayer – Solutions
Get new pair of merino shreddies.
Get some BodyGlide or similar.
Phone Charger – Problem
When battery got low on Nokia 6220c phone, it needed a mains charge across it. Before that, the Tekkeon charger worked, and then it didn’t. I noticed coming back on the train, that the input charge kept dropping, and reckon that the long, slender “Nokia Slim” connector is too wobbly.
Phone Charger – Solution
I’m looking at chargers. I saw a pull-cord one in Blacks in Fort William, and thought that the similar charger for the “one laptop per child” and thought something like that would be more efficient, so will go and hunt one down.
SleepMat – Problem
The sleepmat lives against the back of my pack. It got wet.
SleepMat – Solution
Does anyone make a suitable dry-sack? I’ll just use a rubble-sack from the supermarket, I think.
Trek rate – Problem
I was down to 1 mph. This was when road walking on day 2, as well as later. Although down to pains as mentioned above, I need to get used to walking along. Last time, it was all novel to me. This was my second Way, and third Long Distance Trek. I found a lot of it dull (loch on the left, woods on the right). This doesn’t bode well for morale.
Trek rate – Solution
Get the stepping machine out of the airing cupboard and get some exercise. I lost 4kg. 8 pounds, in a few days. Stop comfort eating, especially at lunchtime.
Well, that’s Mick and Gayle off on the West Highland Way now. They are looking at taking some detours so that I might meet them on Tuesday or Wednesday. Or to be truthful, I overtake them on Tuesday as I push on through the night, and they catch me up as I bimble along on Wednesday towards the Kingshouse bar.
As for my plans, well, the gas canister I bought at lunchtime is too big to fit inside my SnowPeak pot, so I’ll go looking for other ones on Friday. Actually, the canister fits fine, but not with windshield wrapped around it. It was quite strange to have a gas stove on, hearing the “clack clack” of the ignition system and roar of flame. But, if the temperature drops, I may have problems, and I cannot see how much fuel I have left, nor can I top up the fuel reservoir. All of which are advantages of the meths stove.
My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart's in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer;
Well, I've the taxi ordered for Saturday morning, some fresh new batteries and a new gas canister. I did think long and hard, and changed my mind a couple of times, but decided on using gas instead of meths (i.e. alcohol stove).
I notice online that "Pocket Mountains" has a new book out covering the WHW. I like the series, but I'll be taking the informative Trailblazer's book, though mine is the older edition. And obviously the Harvey's map.
I'll do a post-walk gear review when I get back.
This time last year (Wednesday of my October break), was my 5th day of walking the West Highland Way. I was on the stretch from Bridge of Orchy to Kingshouse. The blog allows me to jump back in space/time to remember the sights and sounds, the flies and the stillness. I love technology - enhancing humanity in new and exciting ways. Let's do the TimeWarp, again.
Mind wandering from paperwork...I must stay focused on what I came in to do and not get sidetracked! Once it is all done, then I can get outside and continue my break.
For a start, it was nothing like this. I was questioned, poked, stretched and tickled by Laura and Heather at Woolmanhill today. And all on the NHS too!
Nothing muscular or skeletal there now, and been off the painkillers for a couple of weeks now. It might be medical. Woo-hoo.
Reason for woo-hoo-ing? First chance I get, I'm hauling my sorry *rse up the nearest hill.
Found another use for blogging - when asked to describe the history, I pulled some printouts from my jacket:
They were more descriptive than the Doctor's report, or from me trying to remember what it was like at the time.
Some of the physio students are planning on walking the West Highland Way next year. Good luck.
Read the guidebook? Now see the movie at tvwalks.com.
Is this the future? With the ability to download movies to your portable player, you can see the next day's trail on your iPod and read about it in the guidebook.
I note that Anthony Burton wrote and co-wrote guide books on the West Highland Way and the Southern Upland Way.
Of much lower quality, and minor interest to serious outdoors folk: my video can be freely viewed (heck, download it if you wish) on YouTube.
Darren (of the clan McWeird) started his 'weekly roundup' slots on OM yesterday. Podcasts and blogs. Poor WD forgets that it was his good self who found the link to the US Army's review in the first place.
If you are short of something to read, Aktoman has reviewed the April issue of Trail here. There's also a fantastic link to a very in depth look at dry bags, and a link to a US Army review of commercial water purifiers.
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Got as far as Bruce Miller's before starting to feel like a zombie. Stopped in at work and did some simple marking before going home. Played with camera from work. The daffs were too dark, but I wanted to see the quality of the shots. Phone camera takes them as 2048x1536pixels, saving to 640kb. Shrunk down for posting to 580x435pixels, at 132kb.
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Hillwalk Scotland found a good YouTube video mimicking the "Mountains of Scotland" helicopter shots by using pan/tilt (as found in MS PhotoStory, amongst others), and set to music. I'll not raise the issue of copyright if you don't. The shot of the loch did look like the water was rippling. (Links: YouTube, Rewind Studio).
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Demo of video blogging (last post) straight from phone seems to work in IE, but not FireFox. So I had to dust off the old MS browser to view (AMR/3gp format). Sorry for the inconvenience. I also note that the O2 media hosting is short-term.
Also noticed that the title = text, that should read "indigenous people's music". Opening sequence from one of Michael Kickingbear's video podcasts, giving a glimpse of the work of Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida. The full clip is from the Nammys 2006, with the Soul Splitting Band playing. (link to full clip).
Hey, Kickingbear's on Youtube too. Good show.
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Summertime soon. Dates to remember. Mother's Day too. Plus birthdays.
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I'm So Dave is on the WHW section of his Land's End to John O' Groats adventure. No he's not, his blog has reached there, but his body has reached Inverness. Well done, Dave.
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Hmm, randomly chosen album, and the Green Day/Dookie song titles just seem to be stirring things up.
Nipped out at lunchtime to the shops (a rare occasion), and bought Neil Griffiths' "Gurkha Reiver: Walking the Southern Upland Way" and the Pocket Mountains book "Southern Uplands" [pdf]. Many thanks to the young lady in Waterstones who went and got the Reiver book for me, as I couldn't find it.
Fopp were selling Macross Plus boxed set for 7 quid. Movie plus the 4 episodes of the TV series. It came 8th in the SFX Anime Top 25.
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Call from Rose to make sure I'd received the package from BPL okay. I haven't eaten the jelly babies yet. Think I'll stow them somewhere secure for a trek.
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Clare Balding rambled on the West Highland Way for her 100th programme of "Ramblings" on Radio 4. Section hiking from Bridge of Orchy to Forest Lodge, with Jimmie MacGregor discussing the history and environment. There is a 'listen again' feature. [Thanks for pointing that out, Simon]
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TV on Saturday: "Born Survivor: Bear Grylls" 7:20pm - 8:20pm Channel 4.
Grylls parachutes into the French Alps and shows us how to survive.
TV on Sunday: "Countryfile" 10:45am - 11:30am BBC1 Scotland, includes:
Juliet Morris reports on the complexities of animal reintroduction, asking what the British countryside would be like if it was once again home to wolves, beavers, brown bears and even walruses.
source: Radio Times
Oh, and "Castaway" starts on the BBC, but I really can't be @rsed. As if to annoy me even more, a trailer for it bleeps out at 9.02pm on BBC2 to tell me that the program starts at 9.00pm on BBC1. I wish they'd get their clocks sorted. Radio stations can do it, but not the TV stations. Hey ho.
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Watching the docu-drama about the "Gunfight at the OK Corral" on BBC2. I like old photos. Some of them have the 'ghosts' in them. It is people who were moving across a photo as it is being taken.
I think it is because it reminds me of the ghosts that we are in other peoples' lives as we walk by them in the street. The npcs, the extras, if you will.
Harkens back to a "Sapphire and Steel" episode I saw as a kid.
Oh, Liam Cunningham, who's playing Wyatt Earp in the BBC2 prog, is in the new "Dog Soldiers" movie.
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Throat getting worse, coughing, and eyes streaming.
Being a sad git, me and a mate, Mike, had a "Firefly" day. We got through 10 hours of the series, finishing at "Ariel". That leaves 6 more episodes and the "Serenity" movie. At one point the dvd player had to be switched off to let it cool down. Honest.
Then we caught the end of "Star Trek: First Contact" on tv - no contest.
If you've ever played "Traveller", you'll love "Firefly". ST had "Row, row, row your boat", "Firefly" has this!
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Started the day trying to getting the USB-to-Serial connector working, but Memory Maps does not pick up the Geko gps unit and times out. I've asked on OM if anyone's able to help.
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Letter came today from Cancer Research UK.
West Highland Way 06
Thank you very much for raising donations ... giving us a total of £203.08 raised through your event...
The money will go a long way towards helping us cure cancer faster through world-class research. Our doctors and scientists are working to find new and effective treatments for cancer and to prevent more people from developing the disease.
To everyone who made donations, Cancer Research UK says "Thank you once again for your wonderful support".
Put in the last of the charity money from work. That takes the final total up to £203.08 (including gift-aid). Thank you all folks.
Gear fixes. Sew reflec tape onto peg-cord so easier to find in heather (or investigate reflec cord). First aid kit: more blister pads, plasters and tape that actually stick to the skin. Maybe an insulated camelbak as heat from my back was being transferred to the uninsulated sack. Retaining system for solaruno. Replace batteries in headtorch.
As the train departs from Glasgow northwards, my goal on returning to work on Monday is that my blisters will have healed enough so that I can climb 5 flights of stairs without taking the lift.
Music from yesterday: Status Quo "you're in the army now" [*] as the pacerpoles developed a life of their own and frogmarched me into Kinlochleven. Out on the moors, with no-one around, it was G&S time. With half-remembered songs from The Mikado [*] and Pirates [1, 2, 3]. On the way into FW, The Doors classic "The End" [*]. Exit Glasgow to the Willy Fogg theme [*] (there's a historical reason for that, which I won't go into here). In case anyone has any doubts, of course I will be making a compilation album.
Loch Lomond is mirror flat. I look out for the bothy where I spent Sunday night, but trees on both sides prevent the chance of a re-acquaintance. The clouds are rolling back and sun turns the loch silver and gold.
Upper Tyndrum. The announcer pronounced it tine-drum. No-one was able to give me a definitive answer on the Way.
I didn't see anyone on the trail. If I had, I would have waved. You won't get far escaping justice on the WHW [*], the police have helicopters and thermal imaging these days.
Rannoch. The sun breaks through the clouds, catching a hill with its light. A pallete of glowing browns, reds, yellows and greens. There isn't enough of a gap in the clouds to light the whole hill, so the borderline moves along with the thermals. There's a person on the train who looks like Fyfe Robertson. I doubt it's the real one, though. [*]
The train heads south at seeming-breakneck speed, eating up the miles it took me days to walk over. Bridge of Orchy in 80 minutes. It took me 2 days, including yesterday's 22 mile slog. The train is an old 1972 tf model. I made that up. All I know is that it is an older model, from days when the customers were considered as people, not numbers. There's even a warm air vent by my feet!
My Roclites are tanning themselves. One of the train crew congratulated me on completing the Way. I've changed into fresh clothing, but I'm detecting an aroma. Eau de fiadh?[*]
I'll summarise things later. I took too much food. I took too little notice of the guidebooks and how the conditions underfoot would affect my feet.
