Day 8 - Dalwhinnie to Glen Tromie

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SAMMY!!!

🎉🎂🥳🎈🎊🎁

Although this is probably not the way he intended to spend his 19th birthday, I was happy to be with Sam today as the three of us continued plodding through the Scottish hills.

I think I forgot to mention yesterday that we were officially half way there!!! Seven days done, seven days to go. As with everything on this trip, it is confusing to think about. On one hand we are proud of everything we have accomplished so far, but on the other hand we still have seven more days to go…. That last statement is also confusing in itself - we have seven more days of beautiful scenery, friendly people, and quality time together, but we also have seven more days of sore feet, sore bodies, potential rain, potential bugs, etc…. There’s no sense in trying to make sense of it all, it’s just the nature of being out here and trying to do this.

We woke up around 6:45 to get an early start today. The consensus was that sleeping in a bed with actual covers and pillows was awesome!! As mentioned in yesterday’s blog we had a very pleasant time at the hostel, and made a few new friends. After a quick tea we headed out at 7:45.  

Heading Out From The Dalwhinnie Hostel

We Passed The Distillery On The Way Out Of Town

The first section was to be a road walk for approximately 8 km. This was one of our quietest stretches of the trip so far. No banter, no conversation. I think we were all a little sad at the comforts we were leaving behind again. The boys put earphones in - Ben podcasts, Sam music. I let my mind wander where it wanted to go, and watched the scenery slowly go by. Before we knew it we were through with the road section, and on to a section that Ben and I had been on going the opposite direction during our SNT 2019 trip. It is fun to think of our routes from different trips intersecting on the map, and walking in the same exact spot several years apart.

Same Place, Five Years Later

We were blessed once again today with a low-level RAF flyby right over our heads. These two fighter jets were much closer to us than the ones we saw on day one, and they pumped us up just as much!

With a spring in our step we continued on, getting into a more remote area than where we started the day. We stopped for lunch at about 11:45 when we found a small cabin being built literally in the middle of nowhere with an inviting wooden deck to sit on.  We dropped our packs, cooked some rice, and had a nice little break.

A Place To Sit For Lunch!!

After lunch the next section was to be a few kilometres of the bog that we have become so fond of…🤪. This particular section of bog has history - in 2017 Mandy and I nearly got divorced going through it 🤪, and in 2019 Ben, Zach, and I had good luck going through it in the opposite direction. Today was closer to 2017, but we made as short work of it as we could knowing the rest of the day would be walking on good tracks.

Ben has taken on the role of wildlife spotter on the trip. Today he pointed out a decent-sized snake with diamond pattern on its back (we think it was an adder). It looked very cool for the brief moments we were able to see it, and I was quite happy it was going in the right direction!!

We made it to our planned campsite at around 3:00, and found a nice tick-free sandy beach area beside a river weir to pitch our tents.

Camp Spot With Makeshift Table!!

With so much time left in the day we were able to casually set up. Ben and I went in for a river plunge to soothe aches and refresh bodies. All three of us had mini-naps in the tents (some of us for longer than others!!😁) which was quite nice! We had early dinner (freeze-dried chicken fried rice), early hot beverage and cookies, and have been in our tents since 6:30 🤣. It will be an early nigh tonight, which means a potentially early start tomorrow.

Eight down, six to go!!

Thanks for reading everybody!! Goodnight!

Day 8 Route - 26.1 km, 496 m ascent