Thistle Dubh Fort Augustus

... is that our tour guide Ross didn't wear his kilt today I was going to get a shot with him in front of this castle but he wouldn't put his kilt back on.. I think its because I called it a skirt at one stage of the first day!! Woops..

We stopped at Fort Augustus for lunch, one of the cities on Loch Ness. Unfortunately Nessie didn't show himself when we were there.. ah well thats twice I've missed ...

... made it up the steps I had my first view of Loch Achray behind me (left), and further up the track I finally saw over the other side to Loch Katrine (right)... The final bit of the track was pretty easy. Before I knew it I was at the top. It took 45-50 mins, ~1500ft. There were two peaks, one on the Loch Achray side, one on the Loch ...

... phones through to the AA and books a transporter to take me back to take me back to Nottingham (East Leake).

Tow truck 1, turns up at 11:50 to take me on the first leg of the journey home from Fort William to Stirling. This takes approx 3 hours and I get dropped at Stirling service station where I am supposed to be met by the next tow truck. It takes about an hour for the next truck to turn up. Which was arranged for 14:30

... home town and one of whom lives in our village! Another "small world" moment... I also meet two women from California, Lia and Laura, and Lia tells me about "Trail Angels". This is an American term for people who help walkers out on the long-distance trails e.g. The Appalachian Trail. I like this term as I've definitely met several so far and it's always heartwarming to know that there are people out there ...

... from the American and Canadian embassies in South-East of England. He very kindly shares his bottle of wine with me and we have a lovely supper. He's off to join his wife in the US until January when he gets back and I'm very envious that he will be in glorious sunshine soon!

What makes me smile today:

The thought that whatever the weather I have a bag of warm, dry clothes
Hugh's generous sponsorship and sharing of red wine. Thank you Hugh!

... dry out a little! Heading over the hill towards Bridge of Orchy I turn around and am rewarded with stunning views of Loch Tulla and the hills behind it.

By Bridge of Orchy I'm pretty tired but there are a still a few miles to go. It's 3pm but I pop into the hotel bar, grab a sandwich to fuel me to Tyndrum and meet three walkers heading the other way who'd had the same idea. They're wild camping and at least one of them isn't looking forward to a ...

... castle where they filmed Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Another day another castle and yet this one was another on the great castle list and was well presented and had brilliant little nooks, crannies and hidden passageways. It was another castle that lived up to your expectations of a British ruined medieval castle.

We arrived in the outskirts of Edinburgh and found the caravan park where we would spend the next couple of nights. Our Scottish fling nearly ...

... drove along the length of Loch Ness and then stopped at Fort Augustus which would be were we were staying for the next few nights.

In the evening we went to Ken’s place who explained about how kilts are worn and a bit about the traditional life of the Scottish people as well as their weapon, cooking, livestock and living in general. It was pretty interesting and it is amazing to see how they lived in such harsh conditions and enjoyed being there.

... finding that the decent was actually too steep to make use of all that painful climbing.  The climb itself was pure mind over matter stuff...every time I do it I remember Iain telling me about the guy in the Tour D'France who managed to take all the enamel off his teeth by gritting them so much.   We waited in Drumnadrochit for the others to catch up.  This wasn't so bad as the café had free internet so we were able to get the ...

... couples that we don't need to concern ourselves with for the sake of brevity (we'll take it where we can). Most important was our exceptional tour guide, Ped -- as in Peter MacKenzie Marshall. Ped not only had the completely off-the-wall essential for any memorable tour guide, but he also had a curious resemblance to Edward Norton with long hair. For three days, Ped didn't shut up, good for the fact that he was entertaining and informative, but bad because I have an uncanny ...