Today was a shorter day and I was thankful for that because tomorrow is supposed to be the longest and most difficult day. We have some steep climbing to do and that probably means some steep downhill as well, which is not my cuppa. But so far we are planning on doing it (we always keep our options open until we are on the way).

As a side note: I’m having a dreadful time using my image reducer. I keep trying, but so far it’s a pain. I have no clue why … well, or maybe I do: I shoot in RAW and that’s probably the issue. As I type this, in fact, only ONE photo has been reduced. So it goes. I may have to post photos when I get home, but we’ll see.

Update: got more photos up. Not all, but a good amount!

But back to the day …

Breakfast was the usual. Every B&B we’ve stayed at (including where we are now) have the scrambled eggs and salmon option. They might be served differently, but it’s what we always choose (so far, anyway), as the traditional Scottish breakfast doesn’t appeal to us.

We headed out in the rain. It wasn’t a hard rain, but it was enough that we started our walk with both rain jacket and pants.

As we left Fort Augustus we walked over the canal and in a short bit went up a side neighborhood road until we reached the trail.

Then we had a climb through a forested area. It wasn’t a huge ascent, but still, we had a small climb. We continued to walk, reached the notice about the high route being closed, and walked a road.

There were times when the road was pretty muddy. (I certainly understand why the B&B owners for tonight wanted us to take off our shoes in their “boot room”!) We had some nice views of Loch Ness, as well as some little falls. I’d post those falls photos but so far they aren’t showing up in my photos … internet being what it is I’ll probably see them tomorrow! (EDIT: Added!)

EDIT: Added this story!

I spotted a rather large black slug. Now I’ve seen banana slugs here, but this one was new to me. So I got down on the ground to take a photo. Only problem was … I couldn’t get back up! Dan had to help me. Age has a way of taking some things away. The ability to pop up with a pack on your back is one of them.

We also had an ugly view of an area being logged. It hurts my heart a bit to see an entire mountainside cleared of trees.

Close to our destination we were taken off the road and on to a trail which was nice. But it was noisy too, as we were clearly near some road.

We saw the well known Telford bridge. As we were there some guy decided he wanted his photo taken while he stood on top of the wall. He was only using a branch for stability. Insane. Had he fallen I’m certain he would have died!

From the bridge we walked into town. First I saw the hotel where we have dinner reservations. Then I looked up the address of our B&B which I’d read was next door, but it put is another 24 minutes up a hill! Oh dear … that was unexpected. But I was really leery of what the map was saying. I figured I’d deal with that later, as we wanted to get something to eat. When we got to the cafe two women who passed us at the start were seated and invited us to share the table. What fun it was to chat with them! They are best friends and do a different walk each year (I’m guessing they are just a bit younger than us). They’ve already done Rob Roy and West Highland. I’m impressed! While chatting they said they were in the same B&B and yes, it’s just next to the hotel. One of them explained that an address can be for the entire area. Had I plugged in the name of the B&B it probably would have popped right up.

After lunch it was time to get to the B&B. First we go to the detached “Boot Room”, select a pair of crocs and leave our shoes behind. Then we walk to the main house and check in. Our luggage had arrived and they so sweetly already put it in our second floor room. Nice! I made our breakfast and lunch orders for tomorrow, started this blog entry, and then napped a bit.

Dinner was enjoyed at a place next door. Our most expensive meal on the walk, but perhaps it’s my advanced reward for the hardest day on the walk: tomorrow we do 14.5 miles and it’s a very steep couple of climbs on the day. That means steep downhills as well and I hate those! But it is what it is and I’m off to sleep and dream about breezing through the day. Hah!