I had a leisurely start today, breakfast was with Richard at 08:00 which I was persuaded to have a full Scottish cooked breakfast, which was very nice indeed. Then at around 09:00 Richard set off as I think he secretly wanted to catch up the Belgian guys who were sleeping outside in a tent last night. I packed up, paid my bill of which £22 was on alcohol!! It was a good job Richard shared half of my room bill with me.
I didn't fill up my camelbak this morning as the water was here was quite brown as I guess it comes from a well nearby
. It's only a shortish walk today so should be able to manage with what I have left from yesterday.
I grab a quick picture of the farewell party of deers outside again this morning.
I set off a leisurely pace, no rush today and end up stopping quite a few times to talk to some of the other walkers out and about today. I even get invited to meet up with them in Fort William for dinner but I tell them I am travelling in a group and we have plans already. There are quite a few people around as many people drive here just to have a walk around Glencoe.
At the end of Glencoe the WHW turns right and up out of the glen via the Devil's Staircase. I am not sure why it is named as such but it's not that hard a climb up, but it is the highest point of the WHW at 550m / 1850ft I guess it's fairly high for some people.
Near the top of the Devil's Staircase I Reach the snow line and can clearly make out the three sets of footprints in the fresh snow of the 2 Belgian Guys and Richard
. I wonder if he has caught them up yet?
Yet again, everywhere you turn there are Amazing views again. I am taking pictures but they just don't do it justice. It's remote, snowy and the whole reason for getting off my butt and going walking in Scotland. I love it up here!
I didn't stop for lunch today as it's only a short day and should be in town for 13:00 ish and I'll grab something to eat there.
Every corner I take is a another view of different snow topped mountains, causing me to stop all the time and take photos. I am still loving the panoramic feature on the iPhone, I hope I am not boring you with all these photos?
Once clear of the moors, there is a 3 mile decent in to Kinlochleven which passes a house very high up in the hill with 3 defenders parked in the driveway. You definitely need to own one of these up here, I am sure it's still quite tough even for these vehicles in the winter
.
The walk down in to Kinlochleven passes by the pipelines brining water down from the Blackwater Reservoir to the hydro electricity powered Aluminium smelter which was once the only reason that this town is here and of this size now. I think it is now a museum.
I walked into town and almost out the other side to get to the McDonald Hotel at around 13:00, only to find that it is closed during the day and only opened at 15:00 for check in. I guess it's back into town for something to eat.
I Walked back in to town and stopped in the 'Tailrace' pub and met up with Richard and the 2 Belgian guys. They set of 45 minutes before Richard and he caught them up just as they arrived into town. He has a fast pace, but he does have long legs. I guess that's why the girls called him the 'Flying Dutchman'
In the pub I had mince and tatties for lunch and a pint of diet coke, followed by a pint of cider
.
At 15:00 we all headed back to McDonalds hotel to check in to their little log cabins, which for their special winter rate of £10 per person plus £2 to hire bedding if you needed it was very good. Especially as they don't put other people in your cabin, so I had one all to myself for £12.
The only downside to the cabins is that the showers and toilets are separate and attached to the main hotel building. That didn't matter too much but they were quite cold. I got showered and changed and headed for the bar to sit and write my blog. Not long after sitting down I get joined by Clive, Rosie and Mike (and Bentley, his dog). I didn't even manage to get 1 day updated on my blog. This is how you can quickly fall behind writing these things, there is always something more exciting to be doing ;-)
We all decided that we should eat back at the Tailrace Inn for some dinner as they were doing 2 meals for £10 if we eat before 7pm. After dinner I left them all there at 20:30 to come back for an early night, popping in the hotel bar and ordered a bacon and egg roll for the morning. Back at the cabin I was planning on finishing at least one days blog but I was so tired, I just fell asleep.
Day 5 - Kingshouse to Kinlochleven (9.25 miles)
Friday, November 02, 2012
Kinlochleven, Scotland, United Kingdom
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