Day 58 - Bridge of Orchy to Kinlochleven
Well, I definitely would not have wanted to be camping last night as the wind howled and the rain lashed down for most of it. I really felt for the runners in the WHW race as not only did they have to run in the dark across difficult terrain but now against the horrible elements too. I was going to suggest this as a future BJ challenge but not so sure now! However, by the morning the wind had dropped and it wasn't raining as heavily. After filling up with porridge and full Scottish breakfast I ventured out onto the trail. To be honest a boat would've come in handy as all the paths had now turned to streams and all the proper streams to frothing masses of brown bog rivers, some of which came right over the footpath so it wasn't long before my trainers and socks were drenched.
The route initially went uphill through trees before emerging onto the open hill. Low cloud covered the tops of the higher peaks
but I could make out the lochs in the valleys. A cobbled track led down to Inveroran at which point my left knee decided to give me 
a real scare and completely collapsed : I have no idea how I managed to stay upright. Bit of a weird sensation and I walked for a bit in order to give it a chance to improve. The trail then led gradually uphill on an old drovers road built by Telford (bet you thought he only built bridges?) but it was really difficult to run on the slippery cobble-stones : he'd specifically built the route using small stones so that the sheep and cows didn't hurt their little tootsies! I actually saw 2 or 3 red deer (yahoo!) but they were about 1/4 mile away so not really good viewing. Just as I bridged the top of the ridge the heavens opened so waterproofs were then the order of the day. Carefully watching my steps on the very rough track, I could just about make out the chair lifts of the Glencoe ski resort to my left, before I crossed the A82 and ran down to the Kings House Hotel. Thi
s was built in 1750 as a rest stop for the King's troops and is now a popular mountaineering hotel. The 4 people I'd met on the WHW first suddenly turned up, having decided it was too wet and nasty to walk, so they'd caught the bus!
The trail then briefly followed the road before heading up the side of Stob Mhic Mhartuin (have no idea what that is in English but clearly some sort of mountain's name) where I had to negotiate the Devils Staircase : a run of zigzags up to the top. Once over, it was then a case of again watching my feet as I ran back down on the rocky path which was still posing as a stream. A couple of times I turned my ankle on rocks but no damage done luckily - it's just really hard to avoid the stones. The last mile or so was down a sandy road which dropped steeply with sharp switch backs and gave the knees a bit of a beating.
Kinlochleven initially looked like a lovely brightly coloured village. A lot of the houses are wooden and painted in cream and burgandy, but suddenly they're dominated by the huge aluminium smelting factory building (no longer in use), the massive pipes delivering water to the plant and a huge stone building that houses an ice and rock climbing centre.
I was really really tired tonight so after making a DIY pasta meal and watching the first half of the footie match I was tucked up by 8.30!
Mileage 21.21 and time 4.58
Well, I definitely would not have wanted to be camping last night as the wind howled and the rain lashed down for most of it. I really felt for the runners in the WHW race as not only did they have to run in the dark across difficult terrain but now against the horrible elements too. I was going to suggest this as a future BJ challenge but not so sure now! However, by the morning the wind had dropped and it wasn't raining as heavily. After filling up with porridge and full Scottish breakfast I ventured out onto the trail. To be honest a boat would've come in handy as all the paths had now turned to streams and all the proper streams to frothing masses of brown bog rivers, some of which came right over the footpath so it wasn't long before my trainers and socks were drenched.
The route initially went uphill through trees before emerging onto the open hill. Low cloud covered the tops of the higher peaks
but I could make out the lochs in the valleys. A cobbled track led down to Inveroran at which point my left knee decided to give me 
a real scare and completely collapsed : I have no idea how I managed to stay upright. Bit of a weird sensation and I walked for a bit in order to give it a chance to improve. The trail then led gradually uphill on an old drovers road built by Telford (bet you thought he only built bridges?) but it was really difficult to run on the slippery cobble-stones : he'd specifically built the route using small stones so that the sheep and cows didn't hurt their little tootsies! I actually saw 2 or 3 red deer (yahoo!) but they were about 1/4 mile away so not really good viewing. Just as I bridged the top of the ridge the heavens opened so waterproofs were then the order of the day. Carefully watching my steps on the very rough track, I could just about make out the chair lifts of the Glencoe ski resort to my left, before I crossed the A82 and ran down to the Kings House Hotel. Thi
s was built in 1750 as a rest stop for the King's troops and is now a popular mountaineering hotel. The 4 people I'd met on the WHW first suddenly turned up, having decided it was too wet and nasty to walk, so they'd caught the bus!The trail then briefly followed the road before heading up the side of Stob Mhic Mhartuin (have no idea what that is in English but clearly some sort of mountain's name) where I had to negotiate the Devils Staircase : a run of zigzags up to the top. Once over, it was then a case of again watching my feet as I ran back down on the rocky path which was still posing as a stream. A couple of times I turned my ankle on rocks but no damage done luckily - it's just really hard to avoid the stones. The last mile or so was down a sandy road which dropped steeply with sharp switch backs and gave the knees a bit of a beating.
Kinlochleven initially looked like a lovely brightly coloured village. A lot of the houses are wooden and painted in cream and burgandy, but suddenly they're dominated by the huge aluminium smelting factory building (no longer in use), the massive pipes delivering water to the plant and a huge stone building that houses an ice and rock climbing centre.
I was really really tired tonight so after making a DIY pasta meal and watching the first half of the footie match I was tucked up by 8.30!
Mileage 21.21 and time 4.58
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