Iona

I am at the Iona Hostel for four days.  It is wonderful.

Day Two of The Cumbria Way. Caldbeck to Keswick

Hi all.

On the second day of the Cumbria Way we walked 16 miles from Caldbeck to Keswick.  Very hard 16 miles.  We first walked up the 2600 feet of High Pike, a boggish, treeless, trackless hill.  We had lunch in an old bothy(shepherd's cabin)on the way down, then walked through bogs for another 12 miles.  Not a good day for me.  This is where I hurt my toe with the repeated slamming of the toe into the inside of the shoe on the steep descent.  Yes, it hurt like bloody hell.  It rained most of the day, but we ended in sunshine. 

When I got back to the cottage and took my shoes and socks off my right big toe was a lovely deep purple and very sore, so I decided not to chance the third day.

It is a lovely walk through one of the most desolate valleys in England.  Yes, that is a very narrow path along a steep valley.  We were about 300 feet up from the valley floor. 

I was very glad to get home that evening.

This is not a section to attempt if you are not in good shape.  I walk 6 to 9 miles every day at home and add in training on my bike, and I found it hard.  Much of the way is trackless, and once you start in there is no way out other than to finish or retrace your steps.  There may not be phone service along this part.  Take someone with you.  Take lots of water and food because it is difficult.

http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg288/multreda/Cumbrian%20Way/?action=view&current=591529bd.pbw

Walking on Mull

Woke up at 7:30 today and ate a huge breakfast.  Full whatever.  yes, I ate it all.  I'm paying for this, I'm eating it.  Rested a bit then we went for a walk down to the campsite and the ocean.  5 miles.  Little walk.    It is wild but they have showers and toilets.  You camp on the edge of the world.  Hmmmm...single track road after the ferry.....  But the campsites overlook Iona and the sea!

Came back, I posted pics finally, and napped a bit, then we had dinner on the bench in front of the B&B ...a gull stole our bread.  We had enough.

I mentioned the boys we met in the pub-the ones from the Torbermory Hostel, well they were out in front of our B&B trying to find a place closer to town, but...no luck.  We told then we might see them in the pub later.

We did.  My friend was off using the phone and I had my pint there...and they walked in.  Had a lovely hour with them.  My friend came back...they went off to dinner, we walked to the ocean and came home.

I remarked that there was a fire on the far hillside, and there was a very large fire.  My friend had noticed a small boat on the hill earlier, and I remembered that I had seen a sign in the store for "Remember Helga"  A wake for a local person who had died.  Well, it wasn't just a wake, it was a frikkin viking funeral.  Too far to walk, but I have pics.  No, there was no body...just a party to remember.

So, every day we seem to have a new and different experience.

Tomorrow we are going to Staffa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

day one of the Cumbrian Way

Well, you start in Carlisle and walk 16 miles over gently rolling countryside.  A great deal of the first part is around the city, and there are precious places to wee, but then you get into the countryside.  No hard climbs, very easy day.  We ended in a pouring rain in Caldbeck at a warm tea house.  Bathrooms are around back.

http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg288/multreda/Cumbrian%20Way/?action=view&current=cb6d4175.pbw

Torbormory to Fionnphort

Well, we had quite a day.  I thought I'd booked us private rooms at the Torbormory hostel, but we were in a 5 bed dorm.  But then no one came, so we thought we would have it to ourselves.  No.  At midnight three Canadian women in their 40's rolled in from Oban.  They'd missed the ferry and had to take the one at ten.  They were lovely, but it was midnight.  OK, the sun hadn't really set.

They flew over to catch the Paul McCartney concert and were then off for three weeks around Scotland.  The one had been born in Oban.

We talked and laughed till one then all was quiet.

Had a great day looking at the shops, had fish and chips from a stall on the dock and caught the 4:00 bus to Fiannphort.  It is two hours from one wing of Mull to the other.

Well, our bus driver for the first leg was fabulous!  He gave a running commentary all the way down to the ferry port(forget the name).  I of course did not understand half of it because of his thick Scottish accent, but Carol translated. 

We made it just in time to catch the bus to FPt, and were reaqdy to leave when a teacher hopped on with her 28 high school kids who were staying at a converted abbey on the way to Fpt.

They sang all the way out.  Now, on Mull the roads are single lane..yes...narrow, one lane roads witth pullouts, and we were on a large bus.  Fantastic volcanic scenery.  Reminded me of the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico.  Fabulous!  We saw Highland cattle and!!!!!!! a stag!  Yes!  Horns and all.  Cool.

We are in our B&B, ate our dinners we brought from Torb.  Oh!  We walked to the pub(about 100 people live in Fiannphort)for a pint and ran into 3 bike riders we'd met in the hostel the night before.  So.......we were there for more than one pint...in front of a coal fire, overlooking the Atlantic, at the end of the earth.

I will try to post pics tomorrow.

It is past 10 and the sun has not set.

This place is amazing.  Pictures do not do it justice.

Mull

We are here in Torbormory, on the Isle of Mull.  Lovely hostel here.  Very helpful.  You can put your pack in reception until 5, just don't leave anything of value...you know the rules.  Had tea in a little shop and will spend tomorrow here.  We plan to cook dinner soon.  Lovely bus ride from Fort Augustus to Fort William, then down to Oba.  Took the ferry and bus(one lane roads)to here.

Sunny skies, all is well

Fort Augustus

Hi all!  We are in Fort Augustus, Scotland, looking for Nessie.  Have not seen her yet.

Lovely hostel-Stravaigers.  You ask the bus driver to let you off at the health center on the way in, and it is around the corner on your right at the bottom of the road-about a block's walk.  Very clean, very quiet, very nice.  Great kitchen.  The grocery store is about three blocks away, so no need to pack in food.  The store is open during the week till 8.

Off to the Isle of Mull tomorrow for 4 days, then Iona for 4 more.  If you don't hear from me, I will be unable to get wifi.