Day 91 of the End to End began at Kinlochleven. We left Tyndrum about 10am, each for their own adventures. Hannah took the train from Upper Tyndrum to Corrour to spend a large part of the day there and then get the next train to Fort William. This is because our very small car was too full up to take all three of us and the luggage.
Bob took me to Kinlochleven. It was already quite hot. The route started up hill steeply through some woodland. It was beautiful. There’s some work on the path to make a small community hydroelectric scheme.
The path came to the Old Military Road and then went along that for the rest of the day. These military roads were built in Scotland in the 18th century in response to the Jacobite risings. This one goes through a valley called Lairigmor, which means The Big Pass. It is said to have been the route taken from Fort William by the MacGregors escaping the Campbells in 1645.
It was very dramatic with steep high mountains with green and grey slopes on each side. I lost count of the number of streams I had to cross or the number of orchids alongside the track.
It was a hot day so rest and water stops were essential. I had lunch on a handy rock of which there were several available. Once the Lairigmor had been negotiated, it was more of less downhill, through a section of felled pines, to the small information shelter at Blar a Chaorainn that I remembered from Hannah’s walk. However, as she reminded me later, that had been in the rain.
At Fort William ice cream was eaten. Hannah arrived on one train, and Bob left on another. Hannah and I drove to the campsite at Roy Bridge, another we had used on her End to End. Bob arrived on the next train. Everyone had had an adventure of sorts.
From Psalm 23
Even though I walk through Death’s valley, I am not afraid, for you are there for me.
Waves of anxiety come and go with me, mostly due to over thinking about others.
There is so much of life we cannot control, of course. Jesus doesn’t avoid Death’s valley, for himself or us. He is familiar with the landscape. He’s ready to walk through it again.
God grant a quiet night and a peaceful end.
JAL 15.07.2019
Day 91 of the End to End from Kinlochleven to Blar a Chaorainn on the WHW.