Ive finished! Ive walked 1200 miles in 7 weeks and 4 days! Ive walked along roads, through fields, along rivers, over moors and over mountains. Ive had all sorts of weather from scortching hot to bitterly cold, gale winds, fog, thunder and lightening, but on the whole I think Ive been very lucky with the weather! Its been very hard mentally and physically at times but also very enjoyable and life enhancing. The wildlife and scenery have been amazing and I was even lucky enough to see an otter and just yesterday a seal. I will continue with the blog during my recovery time in Orkney as I know some people are interested to see the amazing sights of these islands. My thanks to everyone that has followed my blog for your encouragement and your generous donations to Naomis House Childrens Hopsice. It gives me great pleasure to know my efforts will help to support such a worthy cause.


LEJOG - Lands End John O Groats

Thanks for visiting my blog... This expedition has been two months in the planning and training and will hopefully be two months in the execution. I will endeavour to entertain you with a few tales and interesting pictures of my trip as I travel the length of Great Britain in my Lejog challenge... so please call back and send me messages of support to boost my tired legs!

I am collecting sponsorship for Naomi's House childrens hospice. Naomis house provides support and respite care to people under the age of 18 who are unlikely to live in to adulthood. They have two facilities in Hampshire costing 45 million per year to run, serving sick children in seven counties. They are 93% funded by charitable donations.

You can sponsor my trek at http://www.justgiving.com/Malcolm-Woodford

Friday 25 June 2010

There was no phone signal at Drumnadrochit camp site last night so I
am posting for two days again today. Yesterdays route followed Loch
Ness climbing up in to the forests on the northern shore. There were a
couple of sustained climbs but in all it was a comparatively easy days
walking on forest track, footpath and road. I was interested to learn
that Foyers on the south side of Loch Ness was chosen as the site of
the first ever aluminium smelting plant in UK in 1896, a fact that led
it to be one of the few places in the highlands to be bombed during
WWII. The smelter used hydroelectricity to power the furnace. Today
the smelter has closed down but there is still a hydroelectric plant
in operation that generates power for the national grid by day and
uses energy from the grid at periods of low demand to pump water back
up to the top reservoir. Drumnadrochit itself was a pleasant small
town with plenty of Nessy tourist attractions and boat rides,
unfortunately I was too tired to make the mile walk out to see
Urquhart castle on the shore of Loch Ness but having visited it before
decided to let that one go.

This evening I have arrived in Dingwall about 21 miles to the north of
Drumnadrochit after a very tough day of road walking. In the last week
I have walked 170 miles and half way through today my energy levels
hit a low, so much so that I sat down on a grass verge and fell asleep
for half an hour. I realise I hadn't been taking in fluids in the
morning and that can't have helped. So, as you see from the picture, I
decided to treat myself to a dinner in the pub; steak and ale pie
followed by sticky toffee pudding and ice cream. I feel much better now!

There are 140 miles remaining of my trek. As I am only doing this once
I will try to complete this as quickly as I can and make the shortest
time for the overall trip. In the toughest moments I just need to
remember that it's all for a good cause!