Great Glen Way Summary

The Great Glen Way
By Mark Walford Homeward bound Date: Saturday September 10th 2011 Prev

You gotta go there to come back ....

We had arranged a taxi back to Fort William and enjoyed our last full Scottish breakfast with as much indulgent delight as our hangovers would permit. I had slept well and woke feeling surprisingly functional — not the shuffling ninety-year-old gait that has characterised the morning after previous long walks, but something closer to ordinary human movement. I would like to attribute this entirely to improved fitness, and there may be something in that — I had walked fairly consistently throughout the year — but I also have to acknowledge, in the spirit of honest accounting, that the Great Glen Way had been gentler with us than previous routes. Moderate gradients, manageable distances, the serious terrain arriving only at the end. The walk treated its walkers kindly, and the body noticed. That is not, in any sense, a complaint. The Great Glen Way is a superb route — unforgettable walking, more stop-and-stare moments than any week has a right to contain, the best of Scotland delivered at a pace that allows you to actually look at it. If the West Highland Way offers wilder and more demanding scenery — which it does, and makes you work considerably harder to earn it — the Great Glen Way offers the same essential experience with rather more mercy. A fair trade, and not a lesser one.
Our driver, John, was Inverness-born and had the local knowledge that comes from a lifetime spent watching the same landscape from different angles. He talked us back through the week's geography — Invermoriston, Fort Augustus, Spean Bridge — pointing out buildings and landmarks with a story attached to each, the kind of narration that a guidebook never quite manages. The journey reversed the walk in an hour. Six days of miles, undone in sixty minutes, which is always a slightly vertiginous experience.
Fort William received us in the rain, which seemed appropriate. We had a little time before the long drive home and stretched our legs briefly — the town that had been our starting point now simply a place to pass through, already receding into the category of last week. I arrived home at eight in the evening, tired, bearing gifts of wine and chocolate for those who had managed without me, and entirely ready to occupy my armchair and explore the outer limits of inactivity for as long as the body would allow.
So that is another route completed, and another piece of Scotland walked across. I can now claim, with the modest satisfaction of someone who knows that only fellow walkers will appreciate the statement, to have walked from Glasgow to Inverness via Fort William — a thin diagonal line scored across the map of Scotland, from west coast to east, from the end of one famous long-distance path to the start of this one. It doesn't amount to much in the grand scheme of things. It amounts to quite a lot in mine.
We have not finished, of course. There are other Scottish routes waiting — a southward journey, perhaps, from Inverness down the eastern side of the country, eventually reaching the borders — and we will get to them in time, legs and finances permitting. When we do there will be a repaired rucksack, new boots, a fresh roll of duct tape, and an improved and revised version of the Patent Pending Rating System ready for deployment.
The Great Glen Way, for the record, scored 9.1.
It earned every point.

 

In memory of Mia ('Little Me') and all our walks together

Daily Tweets

Twitter from @Corriepaw (Colin)
Went out last night for a few celebratory ales & ended up necking several pints. I therefore felt a bit various, first thing. There was loud, live music & the Friday night peacocks & hens came out to flirt & get messily arseholed. There was even a kilted laird.

Twitter from @Corriepaw (Colin)
I'm back in Brummie land. Took us about eight & a half hours travel, since we set out from Inverness this morning.

Twitter from @Corriepaw (Colin)
Now it is over for another year. Bod is back in Southport, @darkfarmowl is in Sheldon & I'm spending the night at mom & dad's.

Twitter from @Darkfarmowl (Mark)
Home again. Adventure over. Lots of photos and videos to sort out and a journal to write. Brilliant week.
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