JOGLE Blog – Part one done

I want to summarise the last few weeks, and then hopefully post an update every week.

The journey so far has been amazing, lots of highs, a few lows, but there’s bound to be some over a long period. It does feel like I’ve been away for absolutely ages, I suppose it’s because I’m doing the complete opposite of my previous day to day routine.

I’m just so glad I made it to Fort William in time to meet my mountaineering crew, was so good to see familiar faces.

At various moments over the last few weeks I’ll be walking along and it’ll suddenly hit me what I’ve been doing, and how far I’ve walked and then I’ll think ‘this is not a normal thing is it?! But this is alright, I’m walking for a few months and my only aim is to get to the end, that’s all I have to do’ basically I’ve shunned all responsibilities for a bit.

I’ll have to start with the first night in John O’Groats, it was a killer for me, I really wanted to jump back on the bus and then the train and head back home, straight away. I was absolutely petrified and questioned what I had done, I guess the main reasons for this is that there was what I can only describe as a full blown storm going on right over my tent, I swear it was just focused on me ‘get out o’er sccotlaand ya weee shite’. I didn’t think my tent would make it through that night, it was shaking violently from side to side, the sound of rain was awful, every drop sounded like it was hitting my face. So the storm combined with thoughts of ‘will I be able to carry that bag to the next stop? (when I left it weighed just under 20kg, which is ridiculous, I have since sent stuff back) were rattling around my head, what the hell have I done?! The song I woke up with the morning after was – One Day by The Verve ‘TIE YOURSELF TO THE MAST MY FRIEND AND THE STORM WILL END’ this is the lyric that kept spinning around, and has done every time i face a storm or any level of wind and rain.

One of my favourite walks was a stretch from Kinbrace along to Crask. It took me two days to complete, a third of it was on a narrow road, the rest was on private tracks and paths that disappeared into nothing, first time I’ve actually had to use the compass! The scenery was unspoilt, real wilderness, mountains, lochs, blue skies, big views. I did feel really isolated camping out there, but so glad I done it. I saw about five people in those two days of walking. I remember on the road stretch, a guy pulled over, I thought he was gonna warn me about the road ahead or say something like ‘whatcha doing out here boy?!’ but turned out to be a friendly chap just curious to what I was doing, had a nice chat and he wished me well and luck with the journey ahead, little moments like that have helped push me on, it’s so uplifting, I guess that’s part of what I am after on this journey. Towards the end of the walk I was massively relieved when I could see the Crask Inn on the horizon (it’s now officially my second favourite Inn) that place was a sanctuary, I love looking back at the two or three nights in a row around that time, the first two were spent alone eating stove cooked food while wild camping, and the third was spent in a cosy Inn with plenty of company, sharing a roast dinner around a table with drunken strangers.

There have also been days where I’ve just wanted to call in the helicopter or let off a flare, maybe even crawl into a survival bag and wait for help, GET ME OUTTA HERE.

I think the walk from Kinlochleven to Bridge of Orchy has been one of the toughest so far, I woke up with McManflu and just thought am I dying? Is this it? Then pulled myself together and focused, I concluded that I needed an actual bed for the night in the warm, but could not find anything near, I contemplated staying at the campsite for one more night but it was just too god damn damp. Luckily Bridge of Orchy(my next target, 21 miles away)had a room, of course they did, walkers don’t wanna pay out, its bloody expensive. Anyway the walk, out of Kinlochleven is all up hill for the first hour, I stopped every 15 mins because it was just too much. I had a thirst I couldn’t quench and eventually had to change tops as my first was drenched, this was from about 8:30 in the morning and it wasn’t a particularly hot morning, definitely had a fever, sweats, a passing Canadian commented ‘hey you’re brave in short sleeves!’. I was just hating the whole day, hating the path, hating passing other people, hating my cold. I did say ‘hi’ to a lot of the other walkers but also cursed my polite British manners. I wanted to just crawl up and be really miserable. On this stage of the walk some of these 7 day ‘west highland way’ hikers started making comments about the carrier bag I was holding, ‘long way for a shop mate’ yeah laugh it up mate, I’ve walked from John O’Groats mate, have fun on your stroll. I did actually laugh with most of them through gritted teeth, but I was at the stage of just saying ‘oh f*** off’ like Partridge when he gets asked about his book being pulped, too ill. I’ve realised that I can now look down on these pathetic 96 mile walkers… don’t mean that really, it’s a massive achievement to do those miles. The day did end with my first bath in three weeks, a real comfy bed and the best dinner of the trip. Second time at the Bridge of Orchy and I’ve decided that the pub side is awful, you can never get a seat but the restaurant is amazing, especially if you have a room at the hotel.

So far I’ve been very lucky with the weather, I’ve had about 4 or 5 days when I’ve had to deal with rain and wind, I know they’ll be more days to face but it’ll be outweighed by the perfect days I’ve been having.

At my last count I’m on about 250 miles, but have paused at Tyndrum. I’ve now been in Oban for a few days before I head over to my first farm stay on the Isle of Mull.

I’ve definitely failed at summarising the last few weeks, I’ve seen too much. Waffle!

I now have a rational fear of woolly highland calves!

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-display/showROFundraiserPage?pageId=920963