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!
