Day 5. 1st August, 2024
Day 5 1st August, 2024
King’s House → Kinlochleven 13.7Km
Cool with morning showers. 18ºC
Today was meant to be a rest day. I had a great sleep and woke up a bit before 7am. The midgies were also up and in force but I was getting the routine down pat by now. When I get out of the tent, I have to have everything I want ready, and just bolt away from the tent before they notice I’ve escaped.
I went into King’s House Hotel at 7 for a Scottish breakfast. Toast, bacon, eggs, sausage, haggis, beans, mushroom and a weird bread thing that I’m fairly sure was just there to soak up the grease. I also tried to charge my spare phone battery (again) but it seems the power supply is weak here. My phone said it would take an hour and sixteen minutes to charge. After two hours, it come down to one hour and fourteen minutes to go!?!
Anyway, I stayed in the bar area for about an hour or more this morning just delaying going back out into the midgies. Finally at about 10:30, I went back to my tent. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to stay and relax, which meant I’d be stuck in my tent all day because of the midgies, or just get up and go. While um-ing and ah-ing I started cleaning up the mess in my tent. Before I knew it, I had packed everything except the actual tent.
So I came up with a plan for de-camping. Yesterday packing up the tent was a nightmare because I believe all the midgies were hiding under the tent to get away from the rain / wet. As soon as I picked it up, they attacked. So this time, I got my backpack out and closed, ready to go, then pulled the tent pegs as quickly as possible (while continuously moving), grabbed the collapsed tent, my pack and poles, and ran 200 meters up to the road, leaving the worst of the swarm behind. Here, I quickly packed my very wet tent (it was drizzling), strapped it to the outside of my pack and just started hiking.
I had no plan for how far I was going today. I was just bored and felt like moving. After about 45 minutes, a breeze blew up and despite the light rain, it was very pleasant hiking.
I was very apprehensive about this part of the hike, because today was the “Devil’s Staircase”, a very steep switchback that lead up and out of Glen Coe. I just hiked steadily, stopping often to look back at the beauty of the valley and moved at my own pace, not trying to keep up with anyone else. This was against my usual way of hiking, as in the past, I’ve always set a fairly fast pace and usually overtook everyone else. I’m learning my body doesn’t quite work as well as it use to 25 years ago, and I need to accept that and change my expectations. Now I’m trying to slow the place and be more present in my landscape, enjoying the beauty around me.
As I climbed, the sun started to come out in patches, casting dramatic shadows and highlights over Glen Coe and the Etive Mor. As I climbed, the cloud lifted, revealing more and more of the beautiful mountain. It was breathtaking. It felt like a parting gift as I caught a last view of my favourite mountain, heading up out of the valley.
At last I reached the top of the stair, with many rest stops along the way, and was greeted with the incredible vista of the trail leading away for miles into the next valley ahead. I honestly couldn’t remember seeing that the last time I did the hike, but as I said to a passing hiker, I very possibly didn’t see it last time. It was probably raining!
As I got down to a lower part, I crossed a beautiful stream. The breeze was gently blowing and there was a great view off to the side, so I stopped and refilled my water from the stream. I also took out my tent to dry it off and made a cuppa while I was at it.
I seriously thought about pitching my tent right there, but my leg was feeling so well, I thought I should cover some miles while I could.
I hiked on for an hour or so more, marveling at the deep valley and massive hills behind, before it dawned on me that those MASSIVE hills I was looking at across (and very much UP) at are the very same ones I’ll be climbing when I leave Kinlochleven. I was starting to think it was a good idea not having a rest day in Glen Coe because I reckon I’ll need that extra day to complete the last stretch of my hike.
Taking a photo of the beautiful hills.
So, I finally came down the steep hill, out of the mountain pass and into Kinlochleven. I was toying with the idea of just grabbing a meal and continuing on but after the long downhill almost killing my knees, and the thought of the very long, steep climb back up out of town, I broke down and paid the £15 for a spot at the camp site.
I went to the pub and had a meal and beer (£17) and a great conversation with a fellow hiker I’d leapfrogged past a couple of times over the past two days. He even paid for my desert.
All in all, a great
day on the Way.
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