Category Archives: Diary

LETJOG – Day 56: Monday 12 July – HELMSDALE to DUNBEATH (16 miles) The word ‘antepenultimate’ doesn’t get nearly enough use, but today it has its moment. If all goes to plan, then after today I will have but two more days to go on my LETJOG challenge before I arrive in John O’Groats! TheContinue reading “Other Side Of The World”

LETJOG – Day 55: Sunday 11 July – BRORA to HELMSDALE (14 miles) It seems that there is to be a sting in the tail as I enter the final stages of my LETJOG walk along the so-called John O’Goats Trail. I’ve heard a lot of stories now, and to say the path is aContinue reading “This Is The Life”

LETJOG – Day 54: Saturday 10 July – DORNOCH to BRORA (19 miles) A super breakfast to start the day, provided by my super hosts Marelle and Edward: porridge and a ‘Full Scottish’ (grilled, not fried), including haggis. Maybe it’s two weeks of walking the moors, lochs and firths, or perhaps it’s the sea air,Continue reading “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”

LETJOG – Day 53: Friday 9 July – ALNESS to DORNOCH (21 miles) Whether it was hill-fog, drifting down from the wooded slopes above Alness, or a sea fret, the locals could not agree. Either way, the mizzle that had set in whilst I was having dinner last night, and that dampened my stroll backContinue reading “Kathy’s Song”

LETJOG – Day 52: Thursday 8 July – MUIR OF ORD to ALNESS (18 miles) The climate and the light soils of this area provide great country for growing barley, essential of course for making whisky as well as for beer, and these quivering fields have graced my walk today, particularly this afternoon along theContinue reading “Fields Of Gold”

LETJOG – Day 51: Wednesday 7 July – DRUMNADROCHIT to MUIR OF ORD (17 miles) Lots of road walking today, and indeed in prospect tomorrow, as the route that I have scheduled turns unerringly, and reassuringly, northwards, linking the parts of the Great Glen Way I have walked with those of the John O’Groats TrailContinue reading “Bright Side Of The Road”

LETJOG – Day 50: Tuesday 6 July – FORT AUGUSTUS to DRUMNADROCHIT (20 miles) Today has been a day of forest tracks, low white cloud, conifers, and lots of water. The Great Glen Way out of Fort Augustus quickly gains height above Loch Ness on a well-made forestry track through dense evergreen forest, the waysidesContinue reading “Many Rivers To Cross”

LETJOG – Day 49: Monday 5 July – CLUNES to FORT AUGUSTUS (18 miles) After breakfast in my room, I left Bank Street Lodge, my home for two consecutive nights(!), and took a taxi back the 14 miles to the remote hamlet of Clunes where my walk ended yesterday. From this minor road the GreatContinue reading “Have You Ever Seen The Rain?”

LETJOG – Day 48: Sunday 4 July – FORT WILLIAM to CLUNES (14 miles) How best to spend a scheduled ‘Rest Day’? Well, having booked into my B&B in Fort William for two nights, my plan was not to rest, but to rise early and to walk the two miles to Achintee House, the startingContinue reading “Castle On The Hill”

LETJOG – Day 47: Saturday 3 July – KINLOCHLEVEN to FORT WILLIAM (17 miles) After a later-than-usual breakfast today, of porridge followed by kippers and scrambled eggs, an easier walking day was in prospect for me in terms of distance. Nevertheless the steep climb out of Kinlochleven provided a reminder, should one be needed, thatContinue reading “Rocky Mountain Way”