Distance: 28.79km
Duration: 12 hours 38 minutes
Camp: Sroin Uaidh, Invernsaid
Weather: hot, sunny, partially cloudy
Today we got up a little late due to get a little carried away with our conversation the night before.
We quickly packed up our tent, had a small snack and pushed on deciding to have breakfast later.
The start of the day was heading over the top of conic hill and down into the next town. The climb was steeper than what we have had so far but we powered through and were making our way through the tourist hikers on the other side in no time.
once in town we had a quick break and resupply, such as a replacement for the gas canister I was told was ‘full’.
We didn’t hang around long as we knew we had a big day ahead of us. Leaving just before the camp management zone began, and aiming for the other side.
We kept heading along the loch side, maintaining good pace, only stopping now and again for food and water in the heat.
Eventually, though, we came across a nice small stone beach by the side of path, and now feeling very uncomfortable from hiking several days in the heat, decided to go for a swim.
This is perhaps the highlights of today- we had a great time in the water for a moment and came back to the hike feeling refreshed and clean.
keeping in mind we still had not quite made it to the end of the zone we pushed on, but started to realise we were much closer than initially thought.
Once we passed the zone and opted for the high road in the split of the path that just seem to keep climbing, we decided to push on further than initially planned.
In the end, we had a long hard hike through rough terrain towards the end of the day. It was challenging to get through the up and downs with poor rocky ground. At this point both of us were feeling tired, hungry and simply ready to pack it in for the night.
We managed to push through however; only stopping for a brief but important snack break, we made it Inversnaid hotel.
We were going to stop and make dinner here before heading to the next suitable spot for a tent along the path. However, in the end Harry simply slept for an hour as I enjoyed the view and some light pondering.
Eventually I forced Harry back to the land of the awake and we carried on. We stopped at the hotel finished for the day struggling to go, but now we both much better and a second wave of energy hit.
We carried on finding each good camping location already claimed, until we found a decent spot in the middle of the rough terrain.
The day was long and as such had a variety of different feelings. We started out still getting into the groove of the trip, turned to high efficiency quick walking with big moments of fun and relaxing dotted in, and then ending with a long hard push to the end.
We both agreed that the big push to keep going further was worth the effort. Now we only sit beyond the no camping zone, but also within touching distance of the end of the loch.
There was moments I thought it interesting that I wished so badly to push through the hard sections that I remembered being so horrible. In the end I actually quite enjoyed these sections, and found the journey along far better than memory suggested.
We will review how we feel tomorrow before aiming for anywhere in particular, but I am hoping this big day doesn’t reduce our ability too much. The hike is starting to get good.