Argyll and Bute

Today was my easy day. Previous days had been 14 miles but today was only a 7 miler. The majority of people were doing the hike over 7 days requiring them to do 20 miles today. I am sure that Grant aka the tin man will have even more tape on him by the end of the day. Here is hoping that he has a good day. I was fortunate to have caught Carol and her daughter Kaili just as they were leaving this morning for a photo for the blog. I didn't end up leaving Tydrem until 10 as to avoid the light rain. There was a store called the Green Welly where I stopped and wrote some cards for the boys. It's trade mark was a green Wellington Boot which the end had opened up to form a mouth. I should have got a photo but got caught up trying to find the smallest hidden mailbox in the village. No one seemed to know where it was. How can you hide a mailbox in a small village. Afterwards I just wanted to leave. As my father use to say in such situations: It's no wonder they lost the empire. Fairly gentle trail with only a very intermittent rain. I really feel that I am in the highlands now. Not as remote as previous days as one could still see the road and the railway line in the distance. I walked and chatted with two German women who were doing residencies in Orthopaedic surgery and Family. The one was doing her orthopaedic residency in Switzerland. Their programs did not seem as structured as our programs. You were hospital based and would move from hospital to hospital and city to city acquiring the required skills but it was your responsibility to co-ordinate the rotations and obtain the documentation. No academic half days. After only 2 hours and 20 minutes I reached the Bridge of Orchy. I ate a leisurely bagged lunch at the train station on the platform. It had been turned into a self serve train station and the buildings into a hostel. No one was around so I ate my bagged lunch on the platform looking at the mountains and watched the barn swallows. It was very peaceful. After an hour I wandered into town and checked into my Bnb. There wasn't much to the village, only a large hotel and a church and a few houses. No shops. I met a hiker in flip-flops carrying his hiking boots. On closer inspection his feet were a mess of blisters and bandaids. My worse nightmare. He had had to take the train up from Tydrem as he was unable to do anymore hiking. I guess his boots and socks had become wet and had started to rub and with camping things had never dried. His mates would meet him in Bridge of Orchy where they were planning to stop anyways. I was still a little tired so I had a nap, did the blog and then headed out to supperRead more