2016 TGO Challenge Day 3

2016 TGO Challenge Day 3

Campsite to Fort Augustus (12 miles)
Total Trip Miles:  40.75

Sunday, May 15th, 2016

Day 3

We woke up to overcast skies, but we were excited nonetheless as it was a town day!  Most of the day we would be following Land Rover Tracks (LRT) next to, or under, power lines.  Easy navigation...or so we thought.

The road and power lines, looking back the way we had come.

 We came across an old bothy that had either been trashed or taken out of service.  It was a tiny little building with four built-in bunks, but the actual platforms to sleep on had been destroyed, leaving only the frames.  We closed the door as it looked like rain.

Old bothy

The view from the road

It was cold and windy and there was really no shelter on the road we were following.  We needed a snack break so we jumped down into a drainage ditch to get out of the wind.  It blocked the wind pretty well and we were able to warm up a bit.

The road would take us over the hill just beyond the power lines, drop down into the valley and then back up the other side

The hike down to the bridge in the valley was pretty uneventful.  Once we got down to the main road leading to the bridge we saw this, sort of in the middle of nowhere...

It worked!

Once over the bridge we ran into our navigation error for the day.  We weren't totally sure where we needed to go as the map wasn't too clear about it.  We knew we needed to follow the power lines, so we decided (incorrectly) to just go straight up the hill under the power lines.  There was no trail, and the power company was doing some work on the area and the terrain was all torn up.  It was boggy and tough going working our way through the brush and debris.  It took us over an hour to do a mile up the hill until we finally hit a dirt road (the one we should have been on initially).

Not so clear

The dirt road is the double dotted line on the map above under the big 'T'.  We should have gone west after the bridge until we found that road and followed that up the hill.  Once on the road it was much quicker walking.  Around lunchtime, and in a pretty exposed place, we sought shelter behind a giant construction truck that was parked out there to hide from the wind.  (I was sure I had taken a picture of this, but seems to have disappeared).


After lunch we continued following the road, which we would do most of the day into Fort Augustus.  There was lots of construction going on along the road, although not actively when we walked through as it was a sunday, and we came along a little trailer with a canteen and a bathroom.  The bathroom was unlocked so we helped ourselves to the facilities.

Don't mind if I do!!

The walk into Fort Augustus was pretty monotonous, other than the balls of my feet burning from walking downhill most of the afternoon.  I kept taking my shoes off to check for signs of blisters but they were fine (foreshadowing??)

We arrived in Fort Augustus, which is the town on the southern tip of Loch Ness, late in the afternoon.  There was an ice cream truck along the street so of course we stopped and got some.  All three of us were booked into the same B&B. which we quickly found and enjoyed showers and got some laundry done.  I had a resupply box waiting for me to get me through the next 5 days of hiking.

The Bank House B&B.  It was an actual branch of the Bank of Scotland before being converted into a B&B.

After getting cleaned up and settled in we went to dinner.  We each got a huge plate of fish and chips  as well as a couple beers.  After dinner we explored town a bit as I was excited to see Loch Ness and the locks on the Caledonian Canal.

Me and Loch Ness

Some locals, and some interesting fashion choices.

The bridge over the Caledonia Canal.  It swung open instead of raising up.

The other side of the bridge, you can see the mechanism that swings the bridge around.

Wire Nessie

Fort Augustus, looking over the locks leading to Loch Ness

Standing on one of the locks.  You can see Loch Ness in the distance.

It may not look like it, but it was getting pretty late (9pm or so, which is late for hikers) but the sun stays out until 10:30ish this time of year in Scotland.  We headed back to the B&B for the night.  Kenny and Ava would be taking a different route than me, but we both had pretty long days the next day.  We all had plans to arrive in the the town of Braemar on Friday, with a day off on Saturday, so I would be seeing them again.