Day 102 One Thousand Miles

Today I hit the thousand mile mark. I knew I was close, and due to yesterday’s mileage being higher than anticipated (13.2 miles) I was very close. I reached the thousand miles at the Mucomir Power Station.

The path was truly lovely. Large oak and beech trees, Scots pines, a path soft underfoot and views of Loch Lochy. We saw the Norwegian boat we had seen yesterday making its way along the loch and saw some astounding moss. I know, you’re thinking that the walk has addled my brain. Astounding moss? Well, it looked like a creeping conifer and felt really wiry and tough but it had fruiting bodies. I had to look it up.

The path then took us along the road to Achnacarry, the home of the Clan Cameron (there is a Clan Camerom museum but we didn’t visit it) and also the site where the Commandos practised in World War Two. There is a preserved replica of a landing craft by the road. These land-based replicas were used to prepare the troops for D-day. Oh, and just to make it all feel more real for them, they were fired at with live ammunition whilst training. Thankful that no-one was firing live ammunition at us, we stopped and had elevenses before pushing on along the road

The path took us through forest paths for the rest of the day. Easy to navigate but hard and stony underfoot, and just a tad dull after the first couple of miles.

I have to admit, I was flagging by the time we got to Laggan Locks. There hadn’t been much shade and it was rather hot. However at Laggan there was the Eagle Barge Inn which was open. It is a real barge that is also a pub, just past the locks. We sat outside and had a Coke each. We chatted to a cyclist who was cycling the Caledonia Way from Kintyre via Oban and Fort William to Inverness. She was pleased to meet someone doing LEJOG, adding me to her List Of Interesting Tales about her bike ride-she had walked straight past Princess Anne whilst in Oban (Highland Games) a couple of days before.

Galvanised by a sit down and a drink we made short work of the remaining journey to our B and B which involved a walk through the woods before doubling back along the verge of the A82, a total of 14.6 miles for the day.

At our B and B we met Tim who is walking to John O’Groats as well as part of a walk across Scotland that has so far included the Southern Upland Way, part of the John Muir Way, the WHW and now the GGW. We are staying in the same place on our first night out of Inverness so have made tentative plans to walk together for a few days. I say tentative because he doesn’t yet know quite how slowly I walk so might change his mind once he finds out. I have warned him. We spent a happy evening with maps and guidebook discussing the pitfalls of the John O’Groats Trail. By the way, for those of you expressing concerns about my lack of puddings- I had warm ginger cake with two scoops of ice cream tonight. The B and B provided meals which was great as it was a bit of a schlep to the Eagle and you had to book 24 hour in advance which we hadn’t.