Day 23: Kinlochleven – Glencoe – Rannoch Moor – Loch Tulla (almost)

17.3 miles – misty rain or drizzle

I spent the day among the clouds (as the photos show) where the tiny raindrips learn to be full-fledged raindrops, thence to fall upon walkers and make them grumble. It must be fun to be a raindrop.

Rain, like pain, focusses the attention inward. And in my contemplation, I remembered that I had twisted my ankle on the road to Fort William four days earlier. I hadn’t thought much of it at the time: I was walking again within a couple of minutes, and I guess the anticipation of journey’s end and two days’ rest spurred me on. But that clearly explained the pain of yesterday and today. At the first opportunity, I therefore put on the Tubigrip I had brought. It made all the difference; my ankle just needed support.

I had thought I was being pretty original doing this walk, but every body’s at it! I met three Land’s-End-to-John-o’-Graot-ers today alone! I chatted to one, a man in his sixties, who was smiling broadly despite the rain and carrying a ridiculously light rucksack. “How can you manage with such a light pack?” “Because my wife meets me every evening in the camper van.” Imagine! Every day for three months or more; I’d say she was the hero of that expedition.

The afternoon’s walk was entirely along an old drove road (I suppose if they still took cattle to market that way they’d have to call it a ‘drive road’). These days it’s a Landrover track, mainly used by walkers, but the old stonework of the bridges attests to its age and one can see by their width that once upon a time it could have coped with two carriages passing each other.