Never trust a Scotsman! I know, I know – I can already hear the uproar from my Scottish relatives – but it’s true! All week we’ve been told “Och, Aye! It’s just a wee flat walk, an easy 7 mile! No bother a tall!” A wee flat walk my arse! The first day was 19 km – not too bad but really hot and long – it would have been bad enough on its own but add in the full pack and yeah it was a struggle. And then yesterday’s “wee walk” from Drymen to Balmaha was 12 kms but included Conic Hill – with an incline of 361 m and lots of up up up – but beautiful views. Today, as we started off from our B&B in Balmaha – we were told “Och, it’s nae bother – fairly flat with a few wee ups and downs but easier than Conic Hill”. Right. Okay, another 12 km relatively flat no steep ups – we got this. We did the 12 km yesterday in 4 hours – a bit slow – we could probably do today’s 12 km a bit faster given that there’s no Conic Hill. Right? Definitely not right! It took us 5 1/2 hours and was definitely not flat! There was so much up and up and then down and down and then up and up with stairs and so on! Thankfully it was not a hot day and we even had a bit of rain and a nice steady breeze. It didn’t help that Mum got a bit nauseous and ill and ad to stop to be sick but I have to say that I am super impressed with and so very proud! She is doing incredibly well – despite the upset tummy – and, as predicted, I am bringing up the rear! But having said that, we both realize that we’re too slow. Tomorrow our walk is double the length of today’s, as is the following day’s walk! The only problem is that neither Mum not I can walk any faster if there are hills! Mum’s lungs can’t accommodate the incline and I can’t seem to lift my darn left leg high even for the steps! Not only that but we’ve been told that the last quarter of tomorrow’s walk is the “hardest part with lots of scrambling over logs and rocks and if you can do that you can do all of it”. So, given how tough we found today and how slow we walked the 12km – mum and I have decided to send our packs ahead and not carry anything but the most important for weather changes! Even Hubby is going to lighten his pack and take only the essentials! Hopefully we can make it to our next B&B in under 1o hours!
I did have an ah-ha moment today. The two young women we met yesterday at our B&B walked the same path we did today but without packs. We left well before them but they quickly caught up to us and one of the gals asked to try out packs to see if she could do it – she picked up mine and said “yeah that’s nae too bad, I could carry that” and then she lifted Mum’s and said “oh, this one’s a bit heavier!” And then picked up hubby’s and said “oh right that’s a good bit heavier yeah? But still not bad”. The other gal picked up Mum’s pack and said “oh my that’s heavy! I couldn’t do that! I’m just so impressed with you! You’re amazing!” Which all made me feel like a real moaner and complainer especially when I picked up Mum’s pack and realized it was, in deed, heavier than mine! I’m not going to complain anymore….honest. Really. Well, I’ll try anyway…
Back to the lying Scots….you simply can’t believe a word they say! About anything. Ever. The weather, the midgies, the distances (one map says one thing and another says something else altogether), the degree of difficulty for the stages of the walk and I’m certain there are other things but it may take too long and I’m pretty tired so g’night all and stay tuned about how fast or slow we manage things tomorrow. Cheers.
Words Along My Way 