New Company

For our journey today down to Dromnadrochit we were joined by Jeremy, Mehdi, Stef and Tom – we really do appreciate folks making the effort to take time out to join us for this walk.

The weather forecast was no rain today so the rain as we left Dingwall was no surprise – it didn’t last long though but would make a few reappearances during the day. Dingwall (Gaelic Inbhir Pheofharain meaning “mouth of the Peffery” or alternatively Baile Chail meaning “Cabbage Town”) was created as a Royal Burgh by King Alexander II in 1226.

We walked past the war memorial and a beautiful church and crossed the River Conon which eventually flows to the North Sea via the Cromarty and Moray Firths.

Walking toward Beauly we passed a lodge house , beautifully kept as usual, that was possibly part of ConOn House grounds originally. Then past a farm with this wonderful Highland Cow and a few Alpacas to keep him company.

Beauly is named so because, as local tradition has it, Mary, Queen of Scots once visited Beauly and had exclaimed: “Ç’est un beau lieu”, whereby came the name Beauly. The town is also known for the Beauly Shinty Club, its shinty  team, who have won the Camanachd Cup  three times and have been World Champions once. The memorial commemorates the members of the Lovat Scouts who gave their lives in the Anglo-Boer War (or South African War) (1899-1902). Anyway enough of history – it was also time for an ice-cream and a very short rest. As we crossed the Beauly River we could see fly fisherman hard at work.

As we closed in on Ardendrain, passing by yet another well kept gate lodge, we passed another milestone of 200km done so far. After this there is nothing of any historical significance to report just some more fabulous scenery to admire.

Keeping going, into some often quite strong headwinds, we continued to enjoy the scenery as we neared the end of todays journey.

The lake is called Loch na Ba Ruidhe, meaning the Reddest Lake, and looked very calm as we approached the descent down into Drumnadrochit – we had been warned it was steep! The long 15% gradient was really tough, especially at the end of a long day.

Finally we reached Drumnadrochit after 37.3km and some 44,500 steps. Tomorrow sees us join the Great Glen Way. A huge sense of achievement at having done 5 back-to-back days, it feels as each day gets harder and the aches and pains don’t subside. Two more days and we get a day off in Fort William which will provide some much needed rest and recuperation.

Total donations continue to rise, £33,808 at the time of writing. Please donate if you haven’t yet done so (or donate again – it is allowed) and encourage friends and family to do the same.

Thank you to The Media People for kindly sponsoring today’s leg