Day 45 - Bridge of Oich to Drumnadrochi

The pics from the top: View of Loch Ness; Walter Baker and his son Geoff; Canoeist on rapids at Invermoriston

Day 45 - Tue May 19th. We set off after breakfast by car back to Bridge of Oich on a bright morning and were walking before 9:30. We had anticipated a day rather like Monday but our B&B host, Alistair, told us that the walk from Invermoriston, involved a lot of climb and was longer than advertised. The first part of the day to Fort Augustus was along the next section of the Caledonian Canal where the channel seemed to link up a series of small lochs as it was often very wide, and marked with buoys. There were a lot of pleasure craft coming through the series of big locks which was quite an operation as the height climb from Loch Ness is about 80 feet and the lock gates are huge.
For most of the remainder of the day, we would be walking through pine forest on the north side of Loch Ness where you are hemmed in by the thickly planted trees, and get occasional views out across the loch. The hill on this side rises straight up to nearly 1,000 feet and the forest road generally holds a level, it rises and falls, sometimes quite steeply. We encountered quite lot of foreigners walking the Great Glen Way, and I felt that all these pine trees were not a great introduction to Scotland. However there are also long sections of the trail in more interesting and scenic terrain, so it probably works out ok. The W.Highland Way is far more interesting and characteristic however.
Loch Ness is very big and long and doesn't alter much during its length, but in the sunshine it was pleasant enough walking and quite easy when it wasn't climbing. During the morning we came across two men taking a break and got chatting to them. This was Walter Baker and his son Geoff. Walter is 79 years old and doing LEJOG in honour of his deceased wife and in aid of a cancer charity. He left on March 23rd and is looking to finish by the end of May and Geoff has joined him for a week for company. Amazing what people can do if they try!

We met Yo at Invermoriston, where there are some big rapids, and I watched a couple of young men in little canoes going down them. Not easy, and one turned turtle but amazingly righted himself in the midst of the swirling water. We had a very civilised lunch, without rain this time, although there was a big black cloud to the east.
The afternoon involved a great deal of climb, eventually rising to the top of the ridge 1,000 feet above the loch. My computer map system says that it was about 12 miles with 1,300m (4,500 ft) of climb but John's GPS says we did far more. Suffice to say that it was a long and tiring afternoon, but the weather was lovely so we got great views when they were available.
I finished a bit ahead of John, choosing to finish the day on the road which ran steeply down into Drumnadrochit, but he stayed on the Great Glen Way. There was a bridge marked on the map to cross the little river into the village which was no longer on the ground, necessitating a 1.5 mile hike back along the river to the main road. This is a horrible thing to happen after a long and tiring day. Alistair told us that the reason was a neighbour dispute. A London QC bought the land on one side, and that on the other was owned by a property developer. The owner of the bridge objected to the other using it for access so bulldozed it, and since then, the maps have not been updated even though it was several years ago. How stupid people can be!
We finished the day with a little barbeque provided by Yo once more, by the river in Alistair's delightful garden.