The greatest of days

[tomyboy73]

Day 5 on the West Highland Way, and what a day, the sun was splitting the sky and a hangover was splitting my head. I didn`t want to get out of bed. I also had the beer fear. What did I say , what did they hear ? Eventually , dragged myself out of bed had a shower, let me say the Kings House has the best views in the world but probably the worst showers in the world too. The water either trickled out boiling hot or blasted out ice cold , there`s no medium ground , so I stuck the plug in and let the water fill the bath and sat and splashed myself awake. Brian , my room mate again for the night headed down for breakfast. I followed him shortly afterwards, sheepishly creeping by the other residents at their tables. Just waiting for someone to tut or just blatantly berate me for the night before. But it was only my friends who greeted me with a " Woah there he is , you ok pal ?" Was i the only one drunk last night ? Or just the worst ? We all had a laugh and there were a few comments repeated from the night before. But when my breakfast came, I just wanted to boak. I made myself eat through it and was last to leave the table. I kept waiting for a member of staff to say something. But they were great, cleaned up after us with only a smile. As I headed back up to my room, I stopped by the window to admire the Buachaille in all it`s morning glory. Before I left , two RAF Tornadoes flew past at low altitude and away over the Aonach Eagach ridge. Wow, I was feeling better already.

Kings House with Beinn a`Chrulaiste behind

Not that great though that I could complete my drunken boast the night before that i would climb Beinn a`Chrulaiste before heading to Kinlochleven. "I`ll give that a miss" i said. Everyone was in great spirit as we set off. Cass decided she would walk this section barefoot, her feet were sore from wearing shoes ! And Beck was in pain, her foot was sore again after the epic 19 mile walk the day before, but she soldiered on , a sore foot wasn`t going to ruin her experience. Well done. As you can imagine this place on a sunny summer`s day is hard to beat , just beautiful. I remembered a couple we walked with 5 years previously, who were standing , just holding each other, the woman , Jane was crying , we thought something was wrong , but no,it was the beauty of the place had reduced her to tears. That`s what this place does to some people.

Creise & Buachaille Etive Mor

We headed up the Devil`s Staircase occasionally stopping to look back and occasionally stopping to drink from the stream heading down.
I stopped halfway up as the others forged on, to see if Beck was ok. She said although she was sore she would be fine on her own so i continued up the hill at my own pace. Once I reached the top and the others were nowhere to be seen I decided on a detour.

top of Devil`s Staircase

I headed left up to Stob Mhic Mhartuin. At 707 metres it would be the highest point on the walk with great views all around.

stob mhic mhartuin looking over to blackwater resrvoir

bidean nam bian

looking over towards ben nevis

This must be one of the greatest viewpoints in scotland and i was buzzing. I had the choice now to head back down to the path to carry on upwards, I even dared myself to head for the AE ridge, but Jim would have killed me.
I carried on over towards Sron a Choire Odhair-bhig a ridge overlooking the WHW path down below. When I got up here the wind was blowing quite hard but it was still incredibly warm. I got up to about the 750m mark and thought about going higher for a better look over Bidean nam Bian and to the AE ridge but I decided against it. I ran along and down the top of the hill, feeling absolutely brilliant. I looked over at Beinn a Chrulaiste and thought, I could have done you today. I made my way down the hillside back to the path. It was a bit boggy and I stumbled and fell a few times. This is the shortest part of the walk but also, arguably the most beautiful. After walking a while on my own and not seeing any of the others I phoned Jim. He was behind me. He had went for a wee nap in the sun , last night had taken it`s toll on him too. I carried on and as i headed downhill towards Kinlochleven I caught up with Martin & Cass. But as my legs seemed to want to move faster than them i walked awy on my own again , until I crossed a bridge over a ravine and saw someone balancing on a branch of a tree reading a book . It was Louise. She had found the perfect spot in the shade to rest. If you are immune to midges that is ! I joined her for a bit but the little bastards were feasting on my skin , and as they seemed to be leaving her alone so did I. I walked down the path chatting to an old couple who were staying at the campsite in Kinlochleven till we reached the bridge over the river Leven. We went our separate ways and I heard music coming from down below. No not my pants, down below , under the bridge.
It was Tommy and Brian lazing on the rocks by the river. I soon joined them and Martin & Cass followed shortly after. Tommy had been in for a swim and I was desperate to get in. After watching him jump in to the freezing water and quickly climb out again I decided to go for the slow dip in, At first my feet, then my legs before dunking my balls and ass in. It was feckin freezin ! You know that way you think you`ll get used to it ? Well I didn`t , it got colder and colder the longer i was sat in there. By the time I went for a swim I was numb. Martin & Tommy divebombed in and out a few times while me Brian & Cass soaked up the rays.

river leven

martin

Jim and Louise turned up and we told them to get in for a swim, "The water`s fine", we lied. Louise declined but Jim was well up for it. But what a shock he got when he got in. I`ve never heard a grown man emit such girlish screams. Beck soon joined us , and some of us messed about on the rocks, seeing how far we could get jumping from stone to stone up the river.
After a good while spent here we headed into town to our digs.

walking into kinlochleven

We checked in to our rooms at the Highland Getaway which was great , we all had our own wee two bed apartments. Jim& louise`s had a wee back garden, so we got some beers and chips and sat out there for a while going over the days events.

kinlochleven

It was to be a quiet night as we had a sombre time in the pub and played some cards in the room before going to bed early. The previous night`s events had caught up with us but i think the fact that the next day was to be our last also had something to do with it.