Day 4. 31st July 2024
Day 4. 31st July 2024
Inveroran → King’s House 14.7km
Hot, Sunny, NO BREEZE! 25º
Day four was the Day of Midgies!
Sunrise on Day 2 of the hike.
Last night was quite cold, so I stayed in the sleeping bag quite late, waiting for the sun to come up and warm me up. I also needed to wait for the heavy dew to dry from my tent. After a video call home to HaYoung and the girls, I noticed the midgies were starting to attack, so I decided I would pack up the tent wet, and just stop down the track a bit to dry it out while I had a cuppa. I don’t know if the midgies were hiding under my tent (I think they were) but by the time I was stuffing my tent into the sack, they were swarming in clouds around me, biting my arms, neck, face and flying into my eyes and ears. It was crazy! I’ve never experienced a swarm of biting, stinging insects like it. Unfortunately, I soon found out this would be the theme for the day.
I tried to stop a couple of kilometres down the track for my cuppa. I stood there for a good 2 minutes, beside a derelict house, in a beautiful clearing, just waiting to see if they would come. Nothing. So I pulled out my gas burner and coffee pouches and just as I was about to heat the water, a swarm attacked me again.
Built in the 1800's this road was used by farmers to drive their sheep and cattle to market. The original track was bogy and you had to cross many fords, so a chap was given charge to improve the road. He laid a proper base and put down rock all along it, following a path that was less direct, but had fewer hills. Where they had to cross the streams, they built cut block bridges.
Three kilometres further along, I found a spot with a bit of a breeze and finally managed to lay out my tent to dry, and heat up my coffee. But just as I had my last mouthful of coffee… you guessed it! They attacked again, but this time, with a vengeance. Honestly, it takes me about two minutes to pack away my tent, and in that time, I had to literally run away from it three times just to get away from the swarm! I slammed the lid of my pack on so many of them, that the next time I stopped and tried to get something out, a swarm came flying out of my pack!
The worst part about this was the fact that you just COULD NOT STOP. For over 10 kilometres I had to just keep trudging through the hot sun, with no shade, without being able to stop for even a minute. I’ve never prayed for a breeze more in my life!
Finally by about 11am and I’d been walking non stop for about 3 hours, I found a little hill with a breeze, where I could stop, put some analgesic gel on my Achilles, and have a drink and snack. Some little birds decided to come join me. I have the feeling I'm not the first one to share lunch with these little ones.
From then, the breeze became intermittent and allowed for more stops.
It was a fairly difficult hike today too. I think the hike was close to 15 kilometres in total and ten of that was just a long, constant climb. Once or twice, I honestly thought my Achilles was about to give out. I even felt a twang and sharp pain but each time I would find a rock and use that to help stretch out the tendon. At one point, I stopped at a stream and soaked my feet in the very cold water. I actually think that helped a lot. Unfortunately, once again, the midgies came out and drove me off.
The one thing that really kept me going though, was the view. Nothing short of spectacular! The wide green, empty valleys embraced on all sides by these ancient, majestic hills. There’s just nowhere else like it.
If you zoom in on the top photo (click on it) you might be able to see the original ford underneath. The rocks are bigger and packed together to make a shallower path across.
This is where I soaked my feet.
And then you finally come over a ridge and around a small bend, and there, off to your left, you catch the first glimpse of Buchaille Etive Mor, the rocky outcrop that just dominates the whole Glen Coe valley, standing like an ancient sentinel over all you can see.
My first peak of Buchaille Etive Mor.
Unfortunately they were renovating. There's a van parked just out of frame to the left, so I couldn't get the full picture.
And from here, it’s a fairly straight forward hike down hill (except for the detour into the ski resort for an ice-cream) into King’s House Hotel for a beer or three. I may have overdone it a little.
And now I have my camp set up right beside the stream, behind the hotel, and I’m listening to the trickle of water and quiet hubbub of other campers settling down after a long day hiking.
The sun is almost set and it’s time for sleep and a chance for my body to try to heal a bit before tomorrow’s onslaught.
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