TGOC25 Day 4 - to Arrochar

Sunday 11 May

Distance and ascent: 23km & 900m

Weather: still glorious but with some periods of entirely welcome cloud cover. 

The downside of having gone to bed at 1930 (I was tired!) was being wide awake at 0330, and there was no option of an early start today as I very much needed to visit the shop at Lochgoilhead. I'd based my food supplies on previous backpacking trips, many of which have involved longer days and more ascent than this one. What I'd failed to take into account was that this one involved ascents with far more rough ground than I'm used to whilst carrying a heavy pack. It has become apparent that I didn't have enough food for the energy I was expending. 

Arriving at the shop it was a relief to find it open, but there then ensued a long and nervous wait when it transpired that their till system had fallen over and they couldn't process any transactions. Eventually the cashier asked if anyone was paying with cash, and I turned out to be the only person (of four customers) with any cash (unusual; I almost never carry cash in daily life). The till then locked up again and he couldn't even take cash. 

I was on the verge of suggesting I write down all the items and bar codes and give him an appropriate sum of money to process later, when the till was resurrected. I went outside with my wares and immediately ripped onto the fruit cake like a wild animal. Passers-by stared. I cared not a jot. 

Suitably revived, onwards I went. I'd found at the end of yesterday that the Cowal Way on the ground didn't match the map and the same happened again today. Yesterday's alterations had been a detriment (using tracks rather than paths) this morning's was a good one, following a new coast path rather than the road. 

Out the other side of Lochgoilhead, I was to climb consistently for 760m. The CW only goes up to 500m, but I wasn't going to bypass this morning's hill - the Corbett of Cnoc Coinnich.

What a refreshingly easy hill that was! It got promoted to Corbett status in 2016, and thus has now seen nearly 10 years of relative popularity. As a result, a trodden line has formed. I was up in 30 mins and down in 12, having left my pack just above the track junction. Having eaten half my lunch at 11am, before visiting the summit, I finished it when I got down and decided I ought to have bought two pasties, not just the one. 

I'd not then got far to go. Something like 12k, largely downhill, mainlybon good paths and tracks. 

My timing was perfect. I arrived at the Loch Long Hotel at just gone ten to three, with 3pm being the earliest check-in time. I filled the time by making my Phone-in to Challenge Control.

It would be an understatement to say that the Loch Long Hotel has seen better days. They gave me a room on the fourth floor and the lift was out of order, but I had no complaints. It would be quiet up there (there are only seven rooms and a panoramic view lounge on the top floor), and having paid just £40 for single occupancy of a double room, and having held a parcel for me, they could put me wherever they wanted!

The room wasn't bad, if you can overlook small cleaning issues, the lack of a plug in the sink (or strainer arrangement -anything dropped would go straight down the drain), and the lack of a lever on the shower (despite a clear instruction on the bathroom door telling me to operate the shower by pulling the lever towards me). I found easy solutions to the issues and soon had electronics charging and laundry drying. 

Tea, from the chippy across the road and eaten on a bench overlooking the loch, was disappointing but filling.

So that's what went on from a walking/progress point of view today, but there was also a side issue. 

Two and a half years ago I suffered from cellulitis on the bridge of my nose. Not knowing what it was and hoping it would go away of its own accord, I ignored it for 9 days until I felt like I'd been punched in the face and couldn't take a step without it hurting. I called the doctors' who considered my symptoms to be an emergency and saw me straight away. I left with antibiotics and an instruction that if I got any worse I was to go straight to A&E. A bit dramatic, I thought, but apparently there's a risk of infection spreading to the brain and sepsis occurring. So, when yesterday I'd felt the same first signs, and by the start of today it had progressed to 'this is definitely the same thing happening again' my first reaction was that my Challenge was over. Disappointing, as to have the opportunity to cross Scotland in this weather is incredible.

Then I put some more rational thought into it, decided that I had time on my side and that this was purely a problem that needed solving. 

I was pretty sure, from previous experience, that heading into the hills for four more days, hoping the infection would resolve itself, wasn't the right solution, but by the end of the day I had three possible plans:

1. worst case - train to Montrose, use medical centre there, take advantage of being able to ditch some kit, train back.
2. Most likely - a day-trip by train to Alexandria (as far as I could make out, the nearest pharmacy and surely a doctor nearby).
3. The local GP - worth a try, although I didn't fancy my chances of getting an appointment. 

There was also the hope that it would be improving by morning in which case maybe it wouldn't be too reckless to continue across Loch Lomond and take my FWA, which would see me at another main road within 1.5 days, if needed. 

(I feel a bit bad leaving this on a cliff hanger, so I'll just say that I have drugs and the ferry across Loch Lomond is just about to depart, with me on it, and only half a day has been lost)