But let’s start from the beginning of the day, yes?

We started with packing (although I’d done my suitcase packing last night: Dan gets some of what I can’t fit in the smaller case, and we add the final stuff after changing into our walking clothes and brushing teeth and all). I have decided (and feel the need to be helpful for others planning trips) that suitcases “grow” things … as we go along it gets harder and harder to fit things into them!

Then we had yet another lovely breakfast at Woodlands. (I need to go back and make sure I link to the other places we stayed, but maybe not tonight.) We said our goodbyes, and got in the van. It turned out to be full van, but with only two that we had met before.

Some people were dropped off where we were dropped off yesterday. This included one of “our” people … she wanted to walk on the road up to where the trail began to get to Inverness. This meant two miles of tarmac. No thank you! We’ve added enough to our walk already due to various things (and stay tuned: we’ll add more!) and didn’t feel the need to do those two extra miles.

I thought today would be about 7.5 miles. Not bad. And I’d read it was all easy.

So we got out at our starting spot (Blackfold) and headed out on the trail. It was just fine. Cloudy and cold, but okay. Better cloudy than too much sun!

We walked up on the moor (or is it moors) for a bit, and then reached some trees. Going through a gate there were smaller trees … maybe reforesting? I’m not sure.

Some spots were a bit muddy, but we are used to that, of course. Another walker, from a few years back, wrote about the stone wall that went on for some time, and we did reach that. What a chore to build those walls. (Or should I call it a fence? Hm.)

We again ran into the sisters we’ve chatted with a few times. They had stopped at a perfect spot for coffee (yes, they had a thermos with them). They said it seemed a good place to stop since it wasn’t yet raining. Smart people! They were already dressed in rain gear.

We plodded on. I knew they’d catch up with us, and of course they did. Dan and I aren’t speedy walkers. Especially now. He still has hip and back issues, and my left hip and my toes are a bit pesky. So it goes. Eventually you don’t notice the hurt so much.

And then … well … drip drip drip … little sprinkles began. Dan was behind me at that point, having stopped to do some photography, and he texted that he might be packing things up if the rain continued.

And it did.

So he packed up, as did I.

The rain, though, started to get a bit heavier. We were then walking together when we decided that we needed to add our rain pants to the mix (we wore rain jackets from the start). Reaching a spot that had tree cover we got the pants on (they have side zippers both at the top and bottom so you don’t have to deal with taking off shoes) … I first put mine on backwards. Argh! It’s hard enough to stand and get the darn things on, but then I had to take them off and start over. But I managed and on we went.

And then glimpses of Inverness!

The rain was quite persistent. It rained as we descended into Inverness. The first place we left the nice trail we were in an area with a lot of buildings — maybe apartments or something. I couldn’t really tell. We walked a sidewalk, we walked past a playground. We managed to lose the GGW signs, but found them again, and on we went.

We reached a tunnel and went through (yes the GGW sign said to do that).

After that things got weird. Somewhere we missed a sign. We ended up walking and walking and not finding signs. I finally put our destination (Inverness Castle) in to Google and in a roundabout way we were taken there, but we definitely went at least a mile further than we should and perhaps longer.

This bridge, before reaching the castle (crossing the River Ness) is one strange and very bouncy bridge!

The castle itself is disappointing, but I’d read about it already so I expected that. It’s being fixed up, and it’s surrounded by scaffolding and the like. There IS a big monument or whatever it’s called for the walkers, so we did the obligatory photo. First we did one for the two runners who did the GGW in two days! That’s 40 miles a day. Yikes!

And then it was to the Castle Tavern for our beers and lunch. I’d been told we could get certificates there, but I didn’t ask and they didn’t offer (although I thought it was pretty clear we looked like drenched GGW walkers!).

After our late lunch we headed to our B&B.

We showered, changed into to normal clothes, and went to dinner at a nice place. Crossing another bouncy bridge.

And now it’s over. Mission accomplished.

Tomorrow we go back to normal travel mode: a train to the next village we are visiting (stay tuned), and I hope less eating, since we won’t be burning nearly as many calories.

I’m so glad we did the walk. Yes, it could be challenging, but I think challenging one’s self is a good thing, and at our age maybe even better than good. We met some lovely people.

And now we rest!