Rat Race Run Britannia - Week 5, day 2 - Kiltarlity to Lubfearn
A distillery and the NC500
Distance: 51.2km (total so far 1292.51km)
Total climb: 847m (total so far 23,794m)
Steps: 57,378 (total so far 1,538,189)
Also:
Number of distilleries passed: 1
Number of drams drunk: 0
Today was on paper one of the shorter days this week - the only shorter one was the final one. However, it was still a solid 50km to get through.
We'd definitely left the tourist regions behind by now, with one exception of which more later. Our path was through managed estates, forestry tracks and a fair amount of road, heading generally north.
The first landmark we approached was Beaufort Castle - and I don't have a photo, as we were shouted at as we went past and told to get off the private ground. I thought nipping through the gate to get a photo might collect me a more robust Scottish welcome, so I passed and kept going.
This part of the day was paths through managed estates, with a little road. Once across the river Beauly we were climbing steadily, but the height was a fraction of what we'd done in the previous few days, and it looked as if we'd finally passed the bigger hill days on the route. It was still hard work, and made harder by a new version of Scottish style, designed to get you over a fence high enough to stop the deer jumping it. It was high enough that I was glad there were no thunderstorms forecast!
We'd been promised a double treat at the first feedstation - a proper coffee, and then a distillery. We therefore diverted off our route, following our usual orange arrows, and headed for the middle of Muir Of Ord, where the feedstation had set up in the car park, to the amusement of the locals (and some admiration when it was pointed out that just over 4 weeks ago we'd been in Lands End). The coffee was provided by the local shop, and very nice it was too.
Once we were back on the route, the distillery was just on the outskirts of the town - we were told we were welcome to visit or tour, but (whisper it quietly) I don't have the taste for whisky, so I used its bins for my coffee cup but otherwise went past. I'm not sure where I'd have stored a bottle anyway, apart from in my hydration flasks - and I'm not sure that would have been the best way of getting to lunch!
The next part of the route was mostly road, but fairly empty road - winding through woods and across rivers. It wasn't unpleasant, with some good views into the distance, and the going made it easy to eat up some distance.
However, the nice quiet roads ended completely 4km before lunch, when we turned onto a A road that was the route of the NC500. The NC500 is a tourist drive around the north of Scotland, and has become vastly more popular due to exposure on the motoring programmes over the last few years. At best, that means it is a busy road to have to walk along the side of - there's no Gaelic word for "pavement", as far as I am aware. At worst, you get the occasional driver who tries to turn it into a speed test in a hired car, and who is even less interested in giving you any space. The best were actually the truck drivers, who where possible were very happy to go over to the other side of the road to give you a wide berth - that was much appreciated. The verge was there if you needed an emergency refuge, but wasn't anything you could walk or run along. All in all, I was very happy to complete those 4km and make it into lunch in Contin.
After lunch was much better - we left the NC500 behind us, and headed off on some woodland paths. Unusually, nothing had been cut down, and it did look rather better that way. We followed a new loch on our left - Loch Garve - and crossed several rivers. For some, the condition of the bridge could have been improved upon!
(yes, that's the footbridge on the left. I decided that stepping stones would be a lot safer!). However, sometimes the bridges were rather older and rather more solid.
We'd been warned that the final feedstation of the day was in a particularly midgey area. We hadn't had too many problems with midges since the shores of Loch Lomond, but they started to be a factor again as we worked through the Highlands. I admit I made this feedstation visit very quick - but was very grateful to the crew who were manning it and had to stay there for several hours. In this last week, we were more spread out than ever, and there was anything up to three hours or more between the first finishers and those at the back.
The last part of the day was a steady climb up through the Longart Forest, until we finally popped out on our last road of the day. This one was at least slightly less busy, and we only had 2km or so to do.
We had a whole range of different places that our days ended during Run Britannia - sometimes a town, a village hall or a landmark. This one wasn't any of that - anyone who reads this and remembers that on week 1 day 5 we ended up in the middle of Exmoor will remember I described it as the middle of nowhere. I knew nothing - that was a thriving community compared with the finish of today, on the loneliest layby on the loneliest road in the Highlands. But it had an orange arrow pointing at it, so that was OK.
Song of the day - it probably needs to be "Whiskey in the Jar" by Thin Lizzy. I'm aware that the spelling (whiskey rather than whisky) means it was written about Irish spirits (or possibly US ones, but I'm guessing Irish) rather than Scotch, but its the best I've got - any other suggestions welcome!
Next: The lonely glen
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