Shona and Mike Take a Hike

  Week 12 With the Great Glen Way completed on Saturday last week, we were looking forward to our rest day on Sunday and, as is our custom where possible, it was our intention to attend a local church. On this occasion we had made arrangements to attend Culloden and Balloch Baptist Church. The reason for going to this church was to meet a lovely lady and her husband, who had contacted us through the article about our challenge that had been in the Caravan and Motorhome Club magazine. Oh, what a welcome we received from everyone and, the more we think about our visit, we are very much reminded of the words found in Psalm 133:  "It is good and pleasant when God's people live together in peace, and unity! It is like perfumed oil poured out on the priest's head and running down his beard. As it ran down Aaron's beard and on the collar of his robes. It is like the dew of Mount Hermon falling on the hills of Jerusalem." (Youth Bible) We would also like to say a huge tha...

  Week 11  Monday On Monday we completed the last leg of the West Highland Way from Kinlochleven to Fort William and w e were, without doubt,  thankful it was now behind us.  This  photo was taken at the original finishing post, which is just before the turning that would take us towards Inverness, Banavie and the Great Glen Way.  As this is a Lands End to John O'Groats challenge there was no need for us to walk another mile to the new finishing post, or to the official start of the Great Glen Way, which we have also previously completed. Tuesday It was an early start, on a glorious morning, as we faced a 24 mile walk from the Glen Nevis Caravan site to Laggan Locks. The photo on the right was taken from the top of Neptunes staircase. Neptune's staircase is an amazing feat of engineering, built by Thomas Telford between 1803 and 1822, it is the longest staircase lock in Scotland.  It raises the Caledonian canal by 19 meters over a quarter of a mile and...

  As we begin our blog this week it would be remiss of us to be anything other than thankful to God  for the promise of "His Angel being sent ahead of us to guard us along the way". As we have mentioned previously, on the day we were to leave Larbert, Shona's daily scripture reading was taken from Exodus Chapter 23 verse 20,  it is a promise we have been aware of many times over the last 10 weeks however, this week it has been more relevant than ever and there are two specific reasons. We knew this week would be a tough one for we had previously walked the West Highland Way (WHW) on four occasions. It wasn't helped by the weather, which was atrocious, especially the day we walked the toughest section, almost the full length of Loch Lomond, from Balmaha to Inverarnan. Logistically, this route was also going to be the hardest to arrange public transport to / from our motorhome. We worked out that it was possible to catch a Citylink bus from Tyndrum to  Balloch, then th...

  Week 9 With a spring in their step....! Having crossed the border before our last blog, this week, as we write another, we have finally after walking over 700 miles reached the "Falkirk Council welcomes you" sign. This photo was taken on Friday as we made our way from Armadale to Polmont Station. Although, we had actually driven into Larbert on Wednesday evening having walked from Abington to Lanark. We had worked out it was possible to return to Lanark by public transport and walk to Armadale before returning home from there and back on Friday to walk to Polmont. You might consider this a bit of a trek, oh what one will do to enjoy a BATH FOR THE FIRST TIME IN NINE WEEKS. Looking back over our previous week, (week 8) it is, I think, fair to say, we both felt a bit jaded and found the going slow and laborious.  This week however there seemed to be a renewed spring in our step  and on Saturday we were met at Polmont Station by Jack Watson who walked with us from there to...

  Week 8 Week 8 and we've made it over the border into Scotland. It's strange the weird things that go through my mind every time I cross the Scottish-English border. This time I was thinking about a song the "Corries" used to sing, now for those who don't know, Roy Williamson and Ronnie Brown, were the "Corries" and, in my opinion anyway, the best Scottish Folk duo ever. Sadly in 1990 Roy Williamson, passed away at the age of 54, due to a brain tumour. You may not know who he was, but you will certainly recognise, at least one of the songs he wrote, sung at all Scottish International events which is: "Flower of Scotland".  However, as we crossed the border, I wasn't singing this song, oh no, no, no., no.... I was thinking about another song they used to sing about "The Portree Kid" or as some might know it: "The Teuchter that cam fae Skye". The last verse of the song, although the song refers to the border on the east c...

Walking week 7 On Sunday we spent some time with Shona's Aunty Ann, as is usual, when we visit, we were amply fed and watered. It was lovely to see her and cousin Derek popped in to say hello. Our walking between Monday and Thursday was generally easy, mostly urban with pleasant weather.  Friday on the other hand was wet, and the hills were steep. The photo on the right is Shona walking towards the Ribblehead Viaduct, in the distance the hills are shrouded in mist. The Ribblehead Viaduct was built during the Victorian era just over the border from Cumbria into North Yorkshire and is undoubtedly the most impressive structure on the Settle-Carlisle Railway. Sadly, hundreds of railway builders (“navvies”) lost their lives building the line, this was due to a combination of accidents, fights, and smallpox outbreaks. In particular, building the Ribblehead (then Batty Moss) viaduct, with its 24 massive stone arches 104 feet (32 metres) above the moor, caused such loss of life that the ra...