Day 4 - to Tyndrum

Today's hike ended up being a bit over 15 miles and our start time was dictated by the ferry schedule. The earliest ferry was at 9:00 so we were there in time to get a seat. The ferry only holds about 14 people. However, at "rush hour", he will make a second trip. Easy enough since it's only 5 minutes across the lake.

A word to describe today's trek: water. Dozens of waterfalls, both up close and visible in mountains across the way. Rushing streams, small and large. We crossed a number of smaller streams trying to find stones above water. About 1/2 to 3/4 of the trail had water, a mixture of puddles and running water. And, lastly, rain - light at times, fairly heavy at others. The sun did peel through for a few minutes throughout the day but the appearances were brief.

The first half was a fairly gradual uphill, followed by a descent that was a bit steep to begin with but leveled out. The last couple miles was the easiest to travel, which was good since we were tired.

These last few days have been physically challenging for us given the terrain and walking on very rocky surfaces. We are watching where we put our feet most of the time (although we manage to look up and take in the beautiful scenery). There have been places it is difficult to squeeze through, a tunnel today that Jeff could barely get through with his pack on, fallen trees that Eileen needed help lifting her legs over as she rolled herself over top.

We met two ladies from New York, Joy and Amber, who had hiked this 10 years ago. We were amazed when they said they were 50, would have guessed 10 years younger.

After dinner, we popped in the bar and our Aussie acquaintances, James and Simon, were there. We sat and talked to them for a while and James bought us a drink. During our conversation, we realized this was likely the last we would see if them given our respective walking itineraries.Read more