It’s time for part 3 of my trip to Scotland! However, before I get started I’m going to have to start pitching to you I’m afraid. This weekend myself and a few other friends are walking the entirety of the South Downs Way. That’s all 100 Miles in 4-5 days. We are raising money for Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders  and all donations are much appreciated. Our donation page can be found here. Help us raise our target!

Obligatory moody highland coo

Geocache

This may seem slightly out of place, but in actual fact, I used my last trip up to Scotland as a chance to do some preparation for this walk. On the second day of the trip we woke up to a grey and drizzly morning, with fairly poor visibility. Because of this we decided to stick around close to my parent’s house and go on a walk from the front door. The walk passes through the bottom end of Glen More, starting on a farm track, through a large thicket of trees before emerging into a clearing that contains an old abandoned inn which has fallen into a state of disrepair.

The inn is situated in the center of the large clearing, with a ravine and waterfall up behind it, and a view out across the lower end of Glen More and of the mountain Ben More itself. On the way we found two different Geocache sites, one in the woods and the other in the clearing (X marks the spot).

After clambering up the side of the waterfall (which feels like you’re near the top, until you look back from a distance and realise you’re the tiniest fraction of the way up), we headed down on a footpath that went along the edge of the river, stopping for lunch part way, with the intention of crossing the river further up and joining the road part way along Glen More and following it home. The map told us this was possible, the map lied. Alas when we reached the point where there was a marked path over the river on the map, we couldn’t cross. We had prepared ourselves to ford the river, but realised that it was too wide and deep to do.

Yes I look a mess.

This lead to us unfortunately having to turn around an retrace our steps. It was a shame, but combined a good walk. This was a slow paced walk due to being a large group with mixed ability. I personally pushed on ahead on the way back to get home and get the oven on for the wonderful beef rib we were having that night. I was home about 60 minutes before the others. The below data is from my Father’s phone.

Sister’s Husband & My Mother

Father failing at fording

Walk Distance:7.87 miles
Walk Time: 2:36:16
Stopped Time: 3:17:16
Challenge rating (out of 10): 3 (apart from the fording, which if you wanted to do would up this
to about 8).
Scenic rating (out of 10): 8