Start to the day

 

As already mentioned, the night was rather rough. Both Anne and I had slept badly and were really tired. Nevertheless, we had to leave at some point for better or worse. Life in the wilderness had taught us a few tricks, which is why we had packed the tent pretty tightly in the meanwhile routine. The midges really bothered us that morning, too. But well, this problem will be dealt with while hiking and so we started the new day again happily.

 

Hiking time

 

The Old Military Road first led us down to Kinlochleven, where we met an old woman. In Scotland - unlike in Germany - people constantly greet each other with "How are you?" Since it was my first time in Great Britain, I never really knew how to classify it. I had been wondering the whole time what answer the Scots expect here. I very much doubt that they would like to talk to me about morning sickness, coal tablets and my battered feet. Even the aging lady greeted us like that. This time, I didn’t just answer with a friendly and mild smile of the finest kind, but said: "Good and you?" In any case, I now know that that is not the answer that is usually given and that it might be better to stick with the smile mentioned above. The lady smiled briefly and then added with a mixture of thoughtfulness, melancholy and great sadness: "Have had better days". Heartbreaking. We watched her shuffling her way to the supermarket, which we also wanted to go to, and I wondered what she had been through and experienced and how she now apparently clung to everyday shopping and the walk, which was probably the only thing she had left. I quickly tried to banish the thoughts and concentrate on what we would buy in the supermarket.

 

Shopping

 

In the meantime it had started to rain and we were finally happy to be able to enter the supermarket. He received us with happy music by the Beatles: "From me to you". Cool. They definitely have a better taste in music here than in Germany or German supermarkets. Looking at the price tags, we noticed how cheap the groceries were here compared to Glencoe Mountain Resort, where we had last shopped. We paid 13 pounds here for three to four times the amount of food and were thus still well below the exorbitant price of the resort café. Immediately we laboriously stowed away our purchases and once again had to feel the increased load on our delicate back.

Anne now had to go to the toilet and I was already a bit inedible because we hadn't had breakfast. We were graciously allowed to pee in a bouldering hall and then we went back to the hiking trail in the rain and had breakfast in the shelter of a bus stop. Finally the hungry stomachs were satisfied and the mood rose exponentially with every bite.

 

Walking on Sunshine?

 

When the rain subsided, we were ready to go. And we had to be, too, because soon a steeper ascent should follow. Until then we walked a little bit through the village (or is it called a city here - looking back at Inversnaid?) And I thought the street signs, which were in Gaelic and English, were pretty cool. The motivation then sank when climbing the next mountain. I think I found it more strenuous than the Devil's Staircase ... Maybe because the air was saturated from the rain shower that had just passed and accordingly humid and 80% of the climb we racked our brains about which clothes would be appropriate now.

The view at the top was nice and gave us a great look back at the way so far and parts of yesterday's stage. And then it started to rain again. Still, I was incredibly warm. I decided to choose the rain jacket and long-sleeved shirt in combination with ZIP trousers and rain trousers as an evergreen OOTD and was therefore well armed against the - admittedly - quite fresh wind here.

 

Loneliness

 

The following route led us in wonderful solitude through the lush green of the Highlands. Certainly one of the most beautiful sections of the whole WHW. After a while we also reached the ruin, which is a popular and well-known photo opportunity. We visited it briefly and already thought about pitching our tent here, but then decided to continue hiking because we didn't know how much we had already walked today. We could not query this information over the Internet either, because we had no access. When we continued walking, we kept crossing small streams. Very idyllic!

Only a little later, we reached a second ruin with wonderful tent opportunities. Initially held back by uncertainty, two hikers finally confirmed that we had walked enough today. They gave us the information that it was about 12 km to Fort William. Easy to do for tomorrow! Today was the last day of the wild camp and the place was really more than perfect. As a gray wall full of rain was approaching again, we had to hurry to set up the tent. And: it was done in 5 minutes, the things were stowed in the tent and we got into the dry just in time before the rain pelted the tent. We stayed in the little room for about 20 minutes until the clouds had cleared and the sun had given way.

 

Golden hour

 

Then I started boiling water outside, but the rain was approaching again. So we cooked in the awning and ate inside. When the rain had cleared again and the food had disappeared in our stomachs, we left the tent and admired the silence and the unbelievable idyll of our place. The mountains rose to the left and right, a stream rushed by near the tent and the shy sheep bleated, sending each other their locations over and over again and then collecting them so that none would get lost.

The sun was setting slowly and the green of the Highlands mixed with the glistening gold of the setting sun. I really couldn't stop being amazed. And here we would wake up tomorrow morning ... a cozy warmth ran through me at this thought and for the first time on the entire tour a feeling was expressed in me, which is composed of calm, contentment, freedom and happiness. Despite the cold wind, I couldn't help but look out into the vastness of the Highlands and enjoy.

I stood like that for half an eternity, until I finally got too cold. Then I crumbled into the tent with Anne and enjoyed the view from there through the open tent.

When the Midges slowly appeared, we decided to close the tent and go to sleep. The best day of the tour - in my opinion - had come to an end. You could endure it really well in this free 1000 * hotel ...