Hiya again
The group walk scheduled for today with the "girls" from énergie fitness in Oban had to be cancelled due to illness. But the training plan calls for a 20 mile walk this weekend. Circumstances were good last night, and I had always wanted to test myself in night-time conditions, so I decided to top our success at the Oban Mod (we came 2nd in the second of the contests -- ok, out of four, but still) by venturing out into the back country between Kilmore and Connel.
It was an excellent decision: perfectly full moon lighting the land almost all the way; the northern horizon never quite dark as the sun now only dips below the horizon; almost no traffic; virtually no wind. It was cold, which meant no midgies (gnats to non-Scots). Over the past year or so I have acquired sufficient local knowledge to know my way even in the dark and I had a wee torch just in case. I wore light-weigh walking trousers and very light-weight trainers, a t-shirt and a parka. Plenty of fluids, two apples (fantastic energy source), some bread (not a good idea, it makes me very sluggish) made sure I did not dehydrate or starve. I also brought a rain hat and a spare pair of socks as well as plasters in case of blisters, and some ibuprofen if my knee should begin to act up.
The hat and spare socks came in very useful as the night air was extremely cold (I wore the socks for gloves, later I draped them around my neck). Even though I walked really hard, I could have used a warm, long-sleeved top, gloves and even a scarf. And a hot drink would have been welcome. Mind you, my own mix of tap water with a shot of pineapple juice and a spoonful of Molkosan makes for an extremely good, thirst-quenching drink that restores the loss of minerals.
Well, with a bit of luck it will be warmer in two weeks' time, and we will be walking in less exposed territory.
I set off at 10:35pm, walked up Glencruitten past Glencruitten House and down to the intersection with the back road from Kilmore to Connel at Barranrioch (approx 2.25 miles). Turned south toward Kilmore, about 3.25m away, catching some spectacular views of the full moon reflected in Loch Nell, coming across a camper van at the top of the hill overlooking the Loch, answering a very rough-looking man's question, "Can you tell me where this road goes?", and disturbing some kind of fairly big bird in dense shrubbery along the River Nell (or Feochan Mhor). Reached Kilmore at 12:05am and turned back and up the hill again, this time pushing past the intersection and straight on to Connel Bridge (total distance approx. 7 miles).
No traffic at all between Loch Nell and Connel. A dog or three went berserk as I passed their barn; otherwise it was a perfectly peaceful walk, with the full moon at my back and my long shadow in front of me, and my ears picking up the first birds over the swishing of my arms against my parka.
Reached Connel Bridge at 02:15am, enjoyed the moonlit view and almost perfectly still water, the cry of an owl, and was startled by the wingbeat of a bird I must have disturbed when I did some stretching exercises against the railing. Traffic was very slight but noisy as I walked along the A85 from Connel to Oban.
Because I absolutely wanted to make sure I would reach at least 20 miles, if not the full marathon length of 26.2 miles, I decided to walk along the Old Shore Road in Connel. That was a good decision as it took me away from the main road for a wee while. Mind you, it only added maybe a quarter mile to the total.
Walking or cycling, the stretch between Connel and Dunbeg remains the worst bit along that route: there is no pavement; motorists use the fairly straight stretch of good road to hit their own speed records and most of them won't dip their headlights, so it's virtually impossible for the night-time walker to see where they tread.
At Dunbeg I was glad to turn into the settlement in search for the north end of the new cycle path to Ganavan. It was opened just a year ago, and is fully tarmacked (or metalled) but so far I have yet to see a single sign pointing cyclists the right way. If I hadn't explored in the daytime, the gate that keeps the cattle out of Dunbeg that roam alongside and on the cycle path would have remained elusive.
I climbed over that gate at 3:15am, 4 hours and 40 minutes into my walk. It's 1.5 miles along the cycle path Ganavan but, having explored a foot or cattle track the previous Sunday, I decided to cut across the field just before the cycle path veers east and dips down steeply onto the Ganavan car park.
The horizon to the north-north-east was already aglow with gold and orange; many birds were calling but the air was quite still. The rough track goes over and down towards the shinty pitch above Ganavan car park. It rewards the intrepid early-morning rambler with wet feet from the dew-dripping grass and some spectacular views of Lismore, the Firth of Lorn and Mull.
On the home stretch now, I gave it one final push for the beautiful and varied route along what in southern France they would call a corniche. I passed Glencruitten Church at 04:25am, and unlocked my door exactly six hours after setting out.
By my reckoning, using a one-mile gauge on the 1 : 25,000 OS map, I covered about 16 miles. My average speed is about 2.66 miles/hour. I was hoping to go faster but was a bit hampered by very sore blisters on my heels.
I came home to a perfectly quiet house and, after a shower, looking after my feet and popping some ibuprofen, had a very good sleep from about 5:30 until about 11:30. Today I feel absolutely fine, except for the rather bad blisters on my heels and big toe where the rough top edge of the sole in the trainers has cut into very tender skin. Must do something about those sole-edges.
Maybe one day I will figure out how to transfer photos from my phone to the computer and then I can share some of the blurry snaps I took along the way.
And maybe some day someone will come along with me and do this beautiful night walk in silence, or with only minimal talking.
