Day 84: Laggan Lodge to Fort Augustus (11.7 miles)

Another leisurely start, not least as I could simply walk out the door, so set off with Martin at 10:20. The location of the lodge has been superb with a view down onto the loch, and 5 minutes walk from Laggan locks and the Eagle Barge - a floating pub which Martin has thoroughly enjoyed.

The path quickly enters the cutting for the canal and remains in trees pretty well until you reach the old Laggan train station. Martin turned back around 11:30 to do a bit of work and then make his way to Fort Augustus to meet me for coffee and cake around 15:00.

Heavy rain came through shortly after but I was nicely distracted by the appearance of a family of long-tailed tits and then a shy red squirrel which gradually made its way up the trunk of a silver birch.

I noticed a small path below the disused railway track and dropped down to this at Leitirfearn where there was a small peninsula and permissive camping. This path was a delight, staying close to the water for a mile or so before re-joining the track just before a tunnel. It then continued to a bridge over the river from Glen Buck and headed towards the Bridge of Oichy which I reached at 12:50. Another rain shower came through but this time missed me so for the rest of the day the waterproofs stayed off.

I stopped at the attractive Cullochy lock for some lunch at 13:00 but continued on shortly as I wanted to ensure I got to our meeting place in good time.

This next section was a joy as there was a rich tapestry of flowers on the canal bank: orange hawkbit, red clover, common vetch, yellow hawkbit, birdseye speedwell, oxeye daisy, foxgloves, birdfoot trefoil, tormentil and shuttlecock fern. The trees included alder and silver birch.

I heard a bird call I didn’t recognise which turned out to be a common sandpiper. A large bird of prey soared ahead of me but it was too far away for me to get a proper look and disappeared soon after.

A bright blue cap appeared - Martin walking out to meet me …. that cap can be seen from miles away! We walked to the locks at Fort Augustus and enjoyed coffee and cake a little earlier than planned at 14:40 before doing a short walk out from the town to shorten tomorrow’s walk.

Tomorrow we move from Laggan up to Drumnadrochit as our base, but we remembered to put out an egg for our friendly pine marten and sure enough it came along at 6 and carried it away in its mouth, much to our astonished amusement.

The next couple of days I will be juggling the route and length of the walks in order to shorten the final day on the Great Glen Way - normally 19 but I aim to reduce it to a more acceptable (for me) 17 miles. Fingers crossed!

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