Day 60

A short day today, just 14 miles, saw us arriving at the Novar Arms, where we are stayng in Evanton, at 3.00 pm. and in time to catch up on a few emails and reports. Evanton is on the northern side of the Cromerty Firth - which is one of the dents on Scotland's east coast.
I popped down the road to buy a few essential supplies - fruit, flapjack and cereal bars - but was unable to buy the chocolate cereal bar I had chosen because it wasn't on the store's computer. Sheer lunacy!
Some problems still from the blister on my right little toe but only 107 miles, and 6 days, to go now.

Day 59

7 miles of the Great Glen Way before we cut north, then 13 miles to Muir of Ord. A couple of showers in the morning but a fine afternoon.
I have another blister - still only the second of the journey. This one is under the little toe on my right foot and is a bit more painful than my first blister but not a big problem I hope.
I've mentioned how awful Breakfast TV is on a previous blog. I only switch it on for the local weather forecast. It's possibly my imagination but I'm sure today someone said somthing like 'Coming up on Breakfast TV.....why poking your pet with a sharp stick can make it more aggressive'. Fascinating.

Day 58

The townsfolk of Drumnadrochit have done a very clever thing. They've managed to isolate the more garish parts of the local tourism industry to the northern end of town, separated from the normal side of life by a big river. Thus on one side of our hotel we have the Loch Ness Monster Visitor Centre and the Loch Ness Monster Exhibition. On the other side we have the Loch Ness Visitor Centre (complete with images of something that looks like a pidgeon without wings) and beneath the hotel in the Nessie Shop. No - I'm not making this up.
Last night's b&b (Riverbank Lodge) was so tranquil......and set on a road where the next town is 52 miles to the north west.
We have now done very nealy 900 miles with just over 140 to go.
Thank you, Alison, from the Prince's Trust for your continuing support and for phoning today.

Day 57

A straightforward day following the Great Glen Way from South Laggan to Invermoriston - 18 miles. The Great Glen Way is very pleasent walking even with the occasional rain showers of the past two days.
For the past two or three weeks I've been getting increasingly hungry. I think it's because I've now burnt off any excess weight I might of had and my body is demanding more calories. So
I'm now having to supplement my diet with cereal bars, biscuits and chocolate bars. It's a hard life.
Met another walker sevearl times doing the Great Glen Way - Andrew a physician specialising in kidney desease - and he joined us for dinner.

Day 56

Beware the dangers of complacency! In the course of this walk we haven't until now made any significant navigational errors. There have been three or four times that we've made errors which resulted in walking an extra half mile or so but that's all. We made up for it today. We left Fort William without looking at the map and went North East up the A82 instead of North West up the A830. By the time we realised our error we had walked 1.5 miles. So today's walk turned into 25 miles instead of the planned 22! But it was a nice walk along the Caledonion Canal and then on the north side to Loch Lochy to Laggan with occasional views of the snow covered summits of the Ben Nevis range. Yesterday was a rest day in Fort William (our last rest day) which, for me, was a chance to catch up on work. From now on it's heads down (apart from looking at maps occasionally!) until we get to John O'Groats.

Day 54

After the rain of the last 2 days we had good weather today and were treated to fine views of Ben Nevis as we approached the end of today's walk - Fort William.
The West Highland Way has proved to be quite enjoyable even though it appears to have had a few more hills added to it since we last walked it 4 years ago.
Last night we met John and Doug again as well as WHW walkers Kevin and John who we have now seen every day for the last 4 days. Amazingly Kevin appears to have the same taste in music as me - best described as an eclectic mix but with an orientation to folk and folk rock that takes in bands like Pink Floyd on the way. No doubt we will be meeting them for a beer later this evening.
Tomorrow is a rest day which, for me, means finding a computer with internet access and working most of the day