The Road goes ever on and on; Down from the door where it began;
Now far ahead the Road has gone; And I must follow, if I can;
Pursuing it with eager feet; Until it joins some larger way;
Where many paths and errands met; And whither then? I cannot say.

[JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings]

Thursday 26 June 2008

Day 72 - Cannich to Half Way Along Loch Monar

25 June
Distance: About 20 miles
Number of people seen out walking since Saturday afternoon: 0

It's been a long hard day; ten hours long with breaks only amounting to about one hour. I'm even inclined to believe that Anquet mapping wasn't too far off in saying that it involved 4000 feet of ascent. It certainly felt like a lot. By the time we made camp I was desperate for a bit of a rest.

The day started easily enough with the walk along the minor road in Glen Cannich. I'm not sure whether it's a dreary glen or whether it was just the rain and low cloud that made it seem that way.

Things got more interesting but a lot more hard-going when we struck out to head over to Glen Strathfarrar. It was a 3.75 mile walk that took us 3 hours. Fortunately the rain stopped for most of those three hours, but it was still a wet experience.

After all the rain of the last few days, overnight and this morning the burns were full and water was positively running off the hillsides. Added to that we had substantial quantities of bogs and hags to deal with and on a drier note the odd land-slip - one of which forced us into a couple of balancing-precariously-on-rocks river crossings.

Once down in Glen Strathfarrar and once we'd hunted down the well concealed bridge, we found that the track along the glen is actually a tarmacked road. It made for less squelchiness in the boots, but as if on cue, as we left the wet ground behind the rain started again.

Having taken so long in the crossing between glens, it looked unlikely that we would make it to our intended destination today. However, despite good camping spots two miles short, we pressed on - being pleased at the end of the day that we had done so in spite of the tiredness.

We've found ourselves a good pitch here, next to a very noisy stream, with superb views that we got a glimpse of earlier when the cloud lifted a while (it's lashing it down again now). Fingers crossed that we have a fine early morning tomorrow to appreciate them more over breakfast.

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