Saturday, 24.01.04
Hardcore hiking... 2 days after I will have come back from my New Zealand trip I will board the plane for 7 days of hiking in the Scottish Highlands with a good friend of mine..
Just booked the flights with Ryanair from Frankfurt to Glasgow. Guess I will hate myself for doing this when I come home from New Zealand after 2 months of hiking and 30 hours of flight... But that's just the way it is, I suppose. You have to pay the price if you can't get your mouth full enough. ;-)

... looking forward to seeing my bonnie Scotia again!

Friday, 13.02.04
The ordered maps from Ordnance Survey have arrived. After some talking with Lunatic and my friend whom I will be doing this tour, we decided to start in Glenfinnan (west of Fort William) and walk up to Loch Afric.
Some more detail might follow, all depending on how much energy I will have left when I come back from New Zealand.

Monday, 12.04.04
Safely arrived in Glasgow Prestwick where we took the train to Glasgow Central. And there the problems started. Half past five on Easter Monday is not the best time to be shopping for methylated spirits. Tiso was closed and the supermarkets don’t sell meths.
Change of plan. Instead of taking the train to Glenfinnan we only went to Fort William. Can’t go hiking without fuel for the cooker. After a long time looking for a spot to sleep we just settled in front of the train station entrance. A bit daft, but we didn’t want to pitch up the tent in the city and it started to rain.

Tuesday 13.04.04
Strange people running around here at night. The guy from the train station didn’t really like it when he saw us sleeping in front of the door.
Went to Safeways and bought some additional supplies. We only managed to buy meths at the Regatta Outdoor Store in the town center which opened at 9:00 am meaning that we missed the morning train to Glenfinnan. There goes the planning.
Walked out of town and tried to hitchhike. Not much luck and the rain started to get stronger. Not wanting to waste anymore time we stopped a taxi and paid for the last 15 miles to Glenfinnan.
Got dropped at the visitor center where we had a hot drink, repacked our packs and hit the track shortly after 12:30 pm.
The part up to the pass was straight-foreward, although we had to cross a rather large pond in the middle of the track, not being aware of the bridge just 20 m upstream (you can even see it on the picture!!).
From there on the rain steadily increased to a bothering strength and didn’t stop until we arrived at the bothy.
Going down the pass was tricky walking and Sebastian slipped and went down about 5 m on his back, bending one of his poles.
Walking was strenuous and very unpleasant because of the constant rain had turned the valley in one big swamp and the strong had risen to strong currents.
Met 2 Dutch guys who were already pretty wasted from their way today. We came to the bottom of the valley where we would have needed to ford the river to get to the true right side. There has been a bridge 30 mins upstream which we didn’t take because we missed to check with the map. Unwilling to go back we decided to ford the river which was by then a strong river and pretty deep.
I told the Dutch that we should make a group and ford in formation but the first one was already an his way. He managed to cross three quarters and then, when the really deep part came, was caught by the current and washed down the river until he managed to catch the other bank. The other Dutch fell in the middle of the river and did not seem to be too sure whether or not it would be worth getting up again…
Sebastian and me got into formation and managed to safely cross the river, although the water was up to our bellies and almost washing us away.
Had to go back in to help the other Dutch who by now had obviously decided not to die in this river and was approaching the deep section.
That was probably one of the most dangerous situations I’ve been in since I started hiking. But… it was kind of cool. Sebastian and me were nevertheless more than happy to getting through that unharmed.
About an hour later we reached the 4WD track that would lead us to the bothy. And there was the next problem.
4 highland cows and one huge bull were standing in the middle of the road and staring at us.
Making a circle around them through the forest downhill did not work out, so we tried uphill and after about 45 minutes we had managed to get back to the toad. Later in the bothy people told us that they are Highland Cattle and safe to pass if you go slowly. Great! Arrived at the bothy at 8 pm after 7,5h of tough walking in constant rain, after risking our lives by fording a swollen river and after fighting through the thick forest in order to avoid harmless cattle. To put it short: We were wasted when we arrived and physically at the edge (and psychologically one step further!)
Had an early night after good food and a couple of smokes with whiskey while talking about this crazy day.

Wednesday 14.04.04
Rain, rain, rain.
Decided to stay here for the day, sooth our sore bodies and get our gear dry.
Spent the day collecting wood and getting blisters on our hands from cutting dead trees.
Fishing in the river didn’t bring any success, but it was fun anyway.
The Belgium couple who left this morning and wet the way we planned to go came back after a couple of hours, completely soaked and a bit frustrated. Rivers impassable.
We decided to see what the weather will be like tomorrow and chose then whether or not we will carry on as planned or if we abandon the plan.

Thursday 15.04.04
Still raining. We took it easy and left late for Strathan. Decided to abandon the plans and go back to Fort William and look for another track to walk with less river-fording.
What a walk! Loch Arkaig is bloody long. Had some bad showers and hail in between. But at least the sun started to come out occasionally. My feet are swollen and the skin is cracking open. Decided to do something cruel to my socks for doing this to me, once we were at Clunes.
Arrived at Clunes late and totally wasted from walking 8,5h most of the time on paved street. No Campsite here. Wonderful!
Luckily we found a nice Scotsman who offered to drive us in to Fort William. Finally some luck.
Bought supplies and took a taxi to Glen Nevis Campsite. Just as we started to pitch up our tent it started to rain. What a cruel world. But the 10 beers we bought earlier helped us to raise our spirits ;-)

Friday 16.04.04
Took the 12:00 train to Spean Bridge. Great weather!
Nice walking to the bothy, although Sebastian had some trouble with his pack. Changed gabs, but I did not do much better with his. Felt like breaking my back. Guess the weight was not distributed well. The bothy is small but has a nice sleeping compartment under the roof which is easily reached by a ladder through a small gap in the ceiling.
Had some good Spätzle, wrapped ourselves up in our sleeping bags and had a truly great time, lying under the roof with candle light, self-rolled cigarettes and some good Scottish whisky. That’s how it is supposed to be, I dare-say.

Saturday 17.04.04
Pouring rain. 3 hikers who came in shortly before we left told us that there will be cold gales with temperatures below the freezing point.
And bloody cold they were. Made our way over the hills and in 2h time reached Meannanach bothy. A fairly new one but very nice. Crossing the river here would have meant getting water into our shoes, so we did not go over to Luibeilt, which I thought to be a bothy as well, but was told later on that it is actually not.
The way from here to Staoineag bothy was tiring and boggy at its best parts. Did some fancy slipping which at least gave Sebastian a good laugh. Crossing the river over the stepping stones was a bit tricky bit with gaiters on we managed to keep the water out of our shoes.
Staoineag bothy is what you could call a five-star-bothy. 2 rooms with a fireplace in each, a small stone table, 2 armchairs and a large sleeping space on the second floor under the roof. Lovely. Although there was a lot of firewood we did not manage to keep the fire going because it was all wet. Using a coal lighting gel which we found on the shelves did not bring the desired effect. Just ended up with the two of us having a strange taste in our mouths and seeing strange colours…. Well… not that bad, but still not a healthy thing.
Sebastian’s shoes are soaked and my right Achilles tendon hurts badly.
A look at our whisky bottle told us that it will be safe to stay put here for another day. The plan is to leave the day after tomorrow to Corrour Station, a 2,5h walk, and take the train to Glasgow for some relaxing.
This is crazy! Went down the stepping stones again and now, only 2 hours after we crossed over them they are entirely under water. Some you can’t even see anymore. Incredible how fast the rivers can rise.

Sunday 18.04.04
Relaxing, sleeping, reading, smoking, chatting….

Monday 19.04.04
The way to Corrour Station is straight-forward, although the last 30 minutes to the station are more then treacherous. Remembered that one from my Scotland 2003 trip. The planking is not a lot of help there, because it is either not visible or will just sink into the ground with your weight on it.
We arrived in Glasgow and checked in at Eurohostels. Bloody expensive! But not much choice.
Went out into a nice pub… had some Irish lager and Scottish whisky… which ended up with Sebastian loosing his ability to communicate once out of the pub in the fresh air. I did a lot better… I think I stopped puking some point between 1 and 2 o’clock in the morning.