Tuesday 13 June 2017

West Highland Way - day 9

Monday 12 June - day 9 - Inveronen to Kingshouse

When we awoke we were greeted by more rain. It looked as if the forecast for further rain was correct. Oh well, at least we could rug up and put on our wet weather gear (again).

The breakfast at the Inveroran Hotel was good. Once gain porridge was an option which we both took. Coffee and toast appeared almost as soon as we sat down. As scrambled eggs were an option we both elected to have them ... and they were good.

Given that it was going to be a long day today, 16km, with no where to stop until the 13km mark, we opted to take a thermos of coffee with us. This proved to be a good decision as it allowed us to have two coffee stops along the track even if the cups were small and the coffee luke warm ... a welcome pick me up.


Jen enjoying a coffee break


The initial section today took us along the road. This was a single lane section servicing the few residences beyond Inveroran. There was not much in the way of traffic to be concerned about.

Shortly after setting out we came to the first of many bridges we were to see and cross during the day. There was a flat area next to the stream and four tents were occupying the soggy looking ground. To get down to the tent area was a stile albeit a little different to other ones we have seen.


Due to the persistent rain there was quite a volume of water coming down the sides of the mountains and feeding the streams.



Once we left the single lane road we picked up a military road. The military roads have existed to centuries. By the end of the 18th century some were in poor condition and were no longer suitble to be used by traders. In the early 1800s it was decided that the military roads should be repaired and they were. The surface was made all weather by covering it with stones and rocks. This made walking much easier for us when compared with sloshy surfaces that we had encountered on some of the earlier days.








The weather was quite variable. At times we were surprised by patches of sunshine. There was no relationship between sunhine and rain as it was sometimes raining, blown by a strong wind, when we in a bright patch of light.


Until today I had only seen isolated plants of heather. Today it was much more prevalent although not as concentrated as we saw on the Yorkshire Moors when doing the coast to coast. Along the tracks there has been quite a bit of heather. The new, young plants have began to flower while the older, woodier ones are a way off yet. I doubt that we will see extensive areas of flowering heather.


Low cloud persisted throughout the day. It sometimes blew away to reveal the top of a peak here or there only to be replaced shortly after by another bank of cloud. Between the cloud and rain it was difficult to see furhter than the nearest peaks.

We made good time today due to the good, firm surface that we were walking on. We stopped for a quick drink a little after we had completed 4kms. This stop was on a bridge which allowed us to take the weight off our feet for a short time.

We stopped for the first of our coffee breaks a little after 8kms. We came across a spot with some rocks that we could sit on and took advantage of them. We had no sooner sat down when a small bird appeared obviously hoping for crumbs. Jen thought that it might be encouraged to stay if she gave it a hunk of her museli bar. The cheeky little thing just grabbed the offering and flew away. Fortunately it did not go far and I did manage to get a photo of it.


We have come across some odd people over the past nine days however the lady we saw today takes the cake. I didn't get a photo even though we saw her a number of times. She was wearing shorts/skirt. Interesting in the cold conditions. She did not appear to have a waterprrof jacket instead she was walking along with an umbrella in one hand and a walking pole in the other. Considering that high winds (with gusts up to 50mph) were forcast for the area I'm not sure how she intended to manage the rain in the predicted windy condistionsand it was windy at times.

Just after the 12km mark we stopped for our second lot of coffee. By that time we had seen Kingshouse off in the distance so knew that we were almost there. It still took a further hour to reach, though.


There is a hotel at Kingshouse however it is being refurbished and is not open. Next door to the hotel is a bunkhouse which is where we are staying for the night.This is a second bunk house experience and  the Kingshouse Bunkhouse is certinly supaerior to our earlier one. The bunk house is adjacent to a cafe which operates from 7:30am through to 11:00pm. We took advantage of the cafe offerings to warm up and dry off until we could get into the bunkhouse at 2:00pm.

The rain persisted for the rest of the day. The bunkhouse drying room was quickly filled with wet gear. We contributed our stuff, too.

A couple of observations. We have seen a heap of people walking with dogs. Some appear to be locals taking advantage of the tracks to exercise their canine friends. Others appeared to be people walking the West Highland Way with their doggy companion. Many hotels and cafes cater for the 4 legged walkers along with the 2 legged ones. Quite often there will be signs near the entrance door stating that walkers and/or dogs are welcome. At Tyndrum we saw a notice in a bar "Please leave your socks and boots on while in the bar". A bit novel.

Statistics for day 9: distance walked 15.53 km; elevation gain: 411m

Don't ask about the temperature or the amount of rain!

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