Walking Lands End to John O'Groats 2025 for Alzheimer's Society

Another indulgent slow start knowing I had a long day (18 miles) tomorrow. We arrived back at Alltsigh and I set off at 10:40 leaving Martin to decide what he would do for the day but potentially walking out to me from Drumnadrochit. The path gradually climbed up through the forest, with occasional glimpses of the loch. There was however enough variation in the vegetation to keep me content along with the song of chaffinches, siskins, robins and wrens. I was surprised how quickly, at 11:30, I reached the point where the high and low routes join, and for a while the path went through Heather and gorse.  A bird call I didn’t recognise turned out to be a great spotted woodpecker. The path suddenly opened up into meadows and a scattering of houses and farms. A pottery was advertising teas but no one was around so I continued on along what was now a minor road. The views across to the hills south of the great glen appeared across boggy moorland and I stopped for some lunch on the grass ...

It was a damp day today. Setting off from where I had finished yesterday, a mile or so outside of Fort Augustus, the path was immediately fascinating, plunging into the depths of the moss-floored forest and following beautiful cascades as it zigzagged up the slopes. I noticed bluebells still flowering on the edge of the forest. Heavy rain continued until I emerged from the forest and started to cross rough grassland and then moors. The path continued to steadily climb and the views over Loch Ness became more and more extensive. I arrived at a viewpoint looking north-east up the fault line - the views up the loch were simply magnificent. This high level path was superb. I had expected the walk along Loch Ness to be somewhat tedious - how wrong I was. It gently undulated at this high level for much of the way towards Invermoriston and I continually scanned for any deer grazing on the slopes. While I didn’t see deer, I did see a Scottish crossbill fly across the path in front of me, and s...

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 ...

Knowing this should be a shorter day, I elected to have a slow start and let Martin settle down to some work before we set off back to Gairlochy. I left Martin at 10:40 to explore the locks while I got going. The logistics would be a lot easier today as I would simply walk back to our lodge at Laggan, and Martin got a day’s work done. There was a good deal of sunshine today, but enough small showers - or the threat of them - that I felt like I was continually stopping to put on or take off my waterproofs. In reality it was probably half a dozen times and not really a bother when I only had a small knapsack. The walk was much nicer than I had expected - rather than be stuck in pine forest all day, the whole way to Clunes was close to the shore, with constant gorgeous views across the loch, and every so often the Nevis range would emerge from the persistent low cloud and rain which seemed to cling to it for most of the day.   I felt very fortunate that I had had - at least compa...