158.21 kms: Kinlocleven-Lairigmor-Bla a Chaorainn-Blarmachfoldach-Glengour-Fort William

Oh boy. After a hundred and forty kilometres of walking over loose, moving rocks, I cracked it. Loose, moving rocks mean ankles that twist at odd angles, which makes knees jerk off to sides they don't normally visit, which makes hips feel like they belong to grandmothers. Loose, moving rocks mean the impact of foot to ground is not a flat, even surfaced thing but rather a pointed impact onto an arch, or a heel, or a toe pad. So out came the map and we deviated out onto the road for the last ten or so kilometers of the walk into Fort William. Purism is for the walkers of the West Highland Way; we' re walking to John O'Groats.

I am available for hire to re-spin anything you don't want to do into a justifiable and perfectly logical explanation rather than an excuse not to do it.

Top Left: The beginning of the day—it all went downhill from there by going uphill at a rather alarming rate! Top Right: The way Bottom Left: And more way, a red patch of it which is unusual to see Bottom Right: The Official End of the West highland Way!

The Way was a little like the High Street today. People passed us in droves. It was so busy that even the law of averages came into play, and we were able to pass someone for a change (a sixty-something year old man who walked like a duck). He eventually righted the books by passing us again at one of our many lunch stops.

Footsore and weary, we found our home for the next few days (a mini break in Fort William). Balcarres B&B commands amazing views over the loch (for which we had to climb a rather steep road—clouds, silver linings, that sort of thing) and is a fifteen minute walk into town. The hosts are lovely, and we manage to engage Mike in an extended conversation every morning. We are planning the next stage of the hike—the Great Glen Way (guaranteed to see Nessie)—and I have a surprise to tell you about that. A very exciting social experiment, but I'll tell you more in a little interlude blog soon, with some of the other things we have been doing on our break. In the mean time we have done a one hundred and fifty-six kilometre long distance walk in only one hundred and fifty-eight, and a break has me all eager to start the next leg very soon! Talk to you then.

Good night to Fort William, good night to you.