Prologue

Well, here we go again. Another long distance walk ahead of me. This time a complete circuit of Loch Ness, covering 77 miles in six days, firstly heading from Inverness to Fort Augustus along the South shore, then swapping to the North shore to join the Great Glen Way back to the capital of the highlands.
 

Grey day in the capital of the highlands

No Gibbo, Webbo or Jubbo this time, just me-o! Whilst I have no issues traveling on my own, I do fear for this blog. Without the rich vein of material I had at my disposal the last time - the fashion faux pas, the outrageous political discourse, the unnatural sounds and odours - the worth of this whole exercise could suffer. Being the sensible, clean living (some may say dull) "mr average" that I am, there is a grave danger that this could result in an endless repetition of descriptions of glorious views, atrocious weather and coronary inducing breakfasts, perhaps only occasionally punctuated with an unsubstantiated sighting of a bunny rabbit.

Time will tell! You can't say you haven't been warned.

Going by previous experience however, I am not anticipating any issues with accommodation, logistics or the chosen route thanks to my friends at Macs Adventure who have always looked after me magnificently in the past.

New boots for this trip too, which I truly regard as things of beauty - perhaps I need to get out more!

Fit like gloves

 

I've also packed for every eventuality. In some cases more in hope than expectation......
 

Ever the optimist

 

A first night in the Acorn Guest House, Inverness (where landlady Fiona was kind enough to let me check in early), sees me then easing myself into the trip tomorrow with a relatively straightforward 10 mile hike from Inverness to Dores, where the delightful looking Pottery House B&B awaits. The weather forecast is overcast with afternoon showers, and given recent conditions, I'm quite happy with that.