Last push to the end

Well here we are, North, North Scotland finally! Guess what we saw today? ...Our first signpost to John O'Groats since Cornwall on the first day!!! What an amazing feeling it was to see it too. We are now less than 100 miles from the finishing post. I really am very happy indeed, currently we are sat at John's house just outside Tain. John is a good friend of Ian's from University who has very kindly agreed to look after us for a couple of nights, and what an amazing day to come here. The sun is shining so strong that if I'd spent any more time outside I would have got very burnt. It's odd to think that having been walking throughout the summer today has been the first time I've actually seen a combine working! A sign of the bad weather of the summer that it's taken till mid September to see that.

So here we are only days away from the end (yes Dad we were days from the end at the start - only a few less now!) I estimate that we'll be finished by the 18th. Which is just as well, as those of you who have read Carlie's blog yesterday will have seen that she starts her PhD on 22nd September, so we've needed to get a shake on to get back in time. We've managed to rearrange our flights, and by averaging about 24 miles in the last 5 days we will make it. But of course we are VERY far North, so getting back to Cardiff will take us 3 days! A bus to Wick, then train to Inverness, then to Edinburgh (thank you Lissie in advance!!) before a flight back to Cardiff and a bus from Cardiff airport to ours! Thank goodness we've got time in hand to make it back.

So what have we been up to since our last update? Well the West Highland Way as I wrote previously, was amazing. Such spectacular scenary. It really was the highlight of the trip. I'd recommend anyone doing it. It's not a hard walk, with not many possibilities to get lost, but the rewards are spectacular. So unfortunately for the Great Glen Way, it's been a hard act to follow. The Great Glen Way was, well...a little tame in comparison. Following forest paths and canalside tracks wasn't quite the same as the grand vistas and amazing scenes of the Highland Way. Having said that, it was a whole lot better than the A9 which is our route to our end point! Loch Ness was exciting to walk past, but due to the heavily forested slopes, was hard to actually see anything - let alone spot Nessie! We met, and kept meeting (the daily stops are the same for most walkers) a very friendly couple who were also walkinig the Great Glen Way, thank you for your company and your pledged donation.

All in all though spirits are high and we can at last see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are so nearly there...thank goodness!