Fort Augustus to Invermoriston

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We had a plan, a really good plan. Breakfast at 7:30am and be packed and ready to go from there. We were making a quick stop in the town to hit the post office, then back to our B&B for our packs and hitting the road with our first steps around 8:30am.



We walked out with our packs at 10:30am. Yep, these three girls we not moving so fast this morning. We started the music and off we go! Today we had a 9.5 mile walk ahead of us, but we're expecting the first of our hills. From 0 elevation, we should hit close to 500. Still it should be a relatively easy day. So we weren't worried much.



We started walking along the Loch Ness, it is so cool, so outstandingly beautiful and we even caught a glimpse of Nessie!! Swear! The trail was much harder today, lots of hills, some gradual and some steep. Little did we know we had an expert hiker in our midst. Ginger, a former resident of England, used to be in the Duke of Edinburg hiking club. She taught us if we zig-zag from side to side on the steep climbs, it takes the pressure off your thighs and really relieves your knees. So zig-zaggin we go!



There were many photo opportunities today. The trail really took us away from the Loch though, that was a little disappointing. But every now and then we got glimpses of Loch Ness and sometimes we ran across some stunning views!



One of those presented us with a platform for performing our razor sharp Ninja Karate moves with a stunning background. We all channeled our inner Wang Bo and flew! I would like to hope that he would be proud of our performances, we sure had fun! A wee dram later we found a great waterfall stream and couldn't resist the photo ops. Did I tell you that we failed to find some flasks to fill with whiskey? Every stop we look, every stop we are disappointed. Today's stop has only one store, no flasks available. I know whiskey on the road would help! Some of our friends, the Canadian ones, carry Scotch with them, but they haven't been willing to share with just us yet.



We saw one of the saddest things on this journey today. A couple was walking the trail from the other direction, so they had already done the 20 mile day and the 14 mile day and were on their 9.5 mile day. They had a dog with them, 15 years old named Scotty!! His poor legs were shaking so bad when we saw them, I felt so, so sorry for the sweet thing. As we continue our walk, we realize this hiking thing isn't so bad, I mean you are in the great outdoors, fresh air, really nice people and stunning countryside. We all agreed that hiking and the hiking community is pretty cool. We even decided to go "granola" for the rest of the trip and stop shaving, wearing deodorant and we all purchased Tiva sandals!



We found a hobbit and her hole, Nessie in a stream, a camp site straight out of Blair Witch Project, some breathtaking waterfalls, a Lady holding court, and subsequently jailed for it. We watched Ginger "kissing" a Kuma bear statue and holding the Olympic torch. We drank from waterfalls, climbed in trees, did lots more push ups, cried over cut down trees and eye-spied our Canadian friends Steve, Ann, Ken and Sandy.



Overall it was a great day. We arrived early into town, which is extremely small, I mean really, really small. We went into the only grocery store and met Frank, the owner. He is awesome! At the B&B, Bracarina in Invermoriston we are being hosted by Sunshine Sheila. This was the best greeting we have had to date. She was all smiles, even though we were 15 minutes early and showed us to our suite which had a bathtub!!! She then promptly offered us a piece of homemade cake which we greedily took her up on. We made tea and ate the best vanilla cakes and Scottish squares! Then off to the waterfalls before heading to an early dinner. Now don't be mad! We did not order dessert first, as a matter of fact, we had no dessert at all tonight. We all agreed that Sunshine Sheila's cake and squares couldn't be beat and we didn't want to overdo the dessert thing anyway.



So tomorrow will be a hectic day. 14 miles of mostly hills. Our plan...up at 6:00 out by 8:00. We have to stop at Frank's store and get a packed lunch as there will be nothing, repeat nothing on the way. Not even water!! How much did we pay for this torture? lol, it is worth every penny!



Stats:



Day 1: 14 miles; 30 push ups; 30 squats or sit ups (depended on the terrain).

We left at 11:10am arrived at 6:30pm



Day 2: 17.5 miles; 25 push ups; 25 sit ups, squats or tricep dips (depending on terrain)

We left at 10:05am arrived at 6:00pm



Day 3: 10.5 miles; 40 push ups; 40 sit ups/squats

We left at 10:30am arrived at 5:30pm



Day 4: 9.5 miles; 25 push ups; 25 squats or sit ups

We left at 10:30am and arrived at 3:30pm

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