Day 4 - Tyndrum to Pubil

We walked further than intended today. That we reached our intended overnight stop at just 12.30 wasn't a significant factor in that, as the spot I'd earmarked from the map turned out to be as suitable as they come - idyllic in fact.

With legs still weary from yesterday we could happily have lazed the sunny afternoon there. What made us continue was the comment that our route vetter made about tomorrow's plan: 'this is a really hard day.' It made getting a 4 mile headstart on ourselves look like a good idea - particularly as today's walking was easy.

The afternoon was somewhat marred however by a blister. It first formed on day 1 and despite efforts to get rid of it, it has been sticking around. It is under my little toe and is now a blister on a blister. OUCH!

This afternoon, it became so painful that I could stand walking in my boots no more and adding their wet weight (we had earlier forded a rather deep river) to my already heavy pack (lots of days food in there) I walked the final 3 miles in my cheapo mock-crocs. That proved to alleviate the problem but doesn't strike me as a long term solution.

Having foregone a number of lovely camping spots along Loch Lyon it wasn't until the houses beyond the dam came into sight that we thought that we ought to stop. It was only 3.30 but aside from my poorly toe, if we carried on further we would have had a distance further to go to find somewhere even semi-suitable.

Weather news is good today; we didn't see a cloud in the sky until late morning and it has been hot. I'm feeling quite aglow. Fingers crossed that it persists for our high route tomorrow.

News of other challengers is that we met another last night. Of all of the walkers in Tyndrum the one to whom Mick said 'are you walking the WHW' replied 'I'm doing something called the TGO Challenge - you've probably not heard of it'. He was Kim from Yorkshire and although he was heading in a different direction to us today our paths may cross again in a few days.