2022 - Day 3 - Change of Plan due to Cyclists!!

Today I was supposed to be starting from Drumnadrochit. Denise was supposed to drive me up the A82 and drop me off! However . . . . When we arrived here we discovered that the Etape Loch Ness Cycle Race was today. That meant that the A82 between Fort Augustus and Inverness was closed from 0500 to 1330 hrs. Change of plan!! Today (Day 3) I walked from Fort Augustus to Laggan Locks (Day 5's walk!!)

Hey-ho! Best laid plans and all that! 

I set off from our cottage between the River Oich and The Caledonian Canal looking up Loch Ness. Again the weather was a little misty but only on the high ground. It was still a little cool though so I was glad I'd remembered my gloves this time. 

Denise came with me up the staircase of locks that take the Canal down to Loch level. At least, she came as far as spying a coffee shop on the other side of the lock!! I set off along the pathway that runs alongside the canal. I'd stepped out a little on the flat gravelled surface until I remembered I'd not started my gizmo!! Operator error this time! Only a bit of a mile missed!! 

I must admit to finding the going a tad hard on the soles of my feet today. No soft surface coating of pine needles today to cushion my footfall. Never mind  the weather was almost perfect for walking, what little wind there was was blowing me down the glen; it was dry and not too hot! 

I made good time and was able to stop at Bridge of Oich swing Bridge for my lunch of yesterday's cheese roll!! After lunch & a rest it was time to head off again beside Loch Oich. 

This part of the Great Glen Way uses the old railway line that ran between Fort William and Fort Augustus. It should have continued onward to Inverness but railways in those days were privately owned & the Inverness Company wasn't prepared to spend that much to complete the line. It folded in the early 1950's. The railway line had followed the route used by General Wade in 1725 as a military road to move troops more easily to deal with the 'rebellious' highlanders! It was equally well used by the Jacobites themselves in 1745 to move around more quickly. 

Relics of the old railway still remain including this tunnel and the preceeding 'girder' across the gap. I assumed that this was to channel water from the burns across the line and away to the Loch. 

Partway along General Wades Military Road I came across this lone chimney stack. All that remained of a railway workers wooden shack? The remains of a peasants dwelling? A sentry-post on the Military Road? Who knows?

As it was a less arduous walk today I was also able to spend more time enjoying the flora and fauna of my surroundings. There were bullfinch, goldfinches, ducks, geese, swans & the obligatory robin. Needless to say I caught none of these on camera! 

I was able to take pics of the flora though, they don't move as fast!! I love the heady smell of gorse and it's such a rich golden yellow, much kinder on the eye than rapeseed. 

Then there were the primroses nestling in their sunny cwtches among the tumbling, moss-covered rocks and stricken tree trunks. 

As I headed towards the end of the Loch I could see that the low cloud was still covering the surrounding mountains. 

I arrived at journeys end and my gizmo had behaved itself (except it always knocks some distance off when I go from stopping tracking my movements to saving what it's recorded!! Very annoying!) 

Hot shower, good meal with a glass of something nice followed by another early night. It's Day 3's walk tomorrow on Day 4!!!

If you would like to donate to my two charities, the Women’s Royal Army Corps Association and The National Caribbean Monument Charity, please forward the link:

https://donate.giveasyoulive.com/fundraising/marg-davies-100-mile-walking-challenge