Day 3 - Glen Pean to Cona Glen

Written by Sam

After yesterday’s slog, today looked promising as the entirety of the day was on-trail walking. The two most difficult parts of the day were to come shortly after leaving camp - mountain pass number one, and shortly after leaving Glen Finnan - mountain pass number two. After getting a late start (around 9am) the trail took us at a reasonable grade up to the first pass.

View To Mountain Pass #1

Compared to yesterday, the trail was packed - we saw somewhere around 30 people, most of whom were doing the Cape Wrath Trail (JM and Ben walked it on SNT 2019). It was refreshing to see people again and finally get some on-trail walking. The scenery was quite different than yesterday, being in the valley however it was still quite beautiful. After coming over the first pass it was a long double track taking us right into Glen Finnan. For those who don’t know Glen Finnan Viaduct is the Viaduct that appears in the Harry Potter movies. It was pretty neat to see it up close - it is a lot bigger than it looks on screen.

Walking Under The Viaduct

At this point our energy seemed to be dwindling even though we still had around 13 km to go. Thankfully the Viaduct tourist centre had a café that was serving up some hot sandwiches. A smoked ham and cheese panini on sour dough be ead and a Pepsi Max later, we were feeling up to the 13km.

Shortly after leaving the viaduct we got our first taste of Scottish rain on the trip. Unfortunately dad forgot to re DWR (durable water repellent) his coat and pants before we left, which I’m sure he regretted as he was pretty much soaked to the bone. The rest of the day brought us through another beautiful mountain pass where we tested the waterproofness of our shoes - the trail was pretty much a creek bed. As we were coming off of the pass down into Cona Glen the skies opened up again and we were soaked once more. Just as we had given up on setting up the tent in dry conditions the rain stopped just as we eyed a perfect place to camp for the night - trail magic at it’s finest!!

Hot Beverage Time

Camp Spot For The Night

Tomorrow is a promising 26 km into Fort William where we will have our first shower in four days, I can’t wait.Health update
Ben: tender feet, still no blisters, still hates ticks
JM: blister on bottom of left foot, lots of ticks, considering name change to tick magnet
Sam: three blisters, foot still cut, sun burnt

Day 3 Route - 26.5 km, 902 m ascent