Day 94 of the End to End was a wet one. It started wet, it ended wet and essentially it was wet all the way through. Now and then a tantalising glimpse of the sun would last a few minutes but it was mostly wet.
Before started walking we stopped at the Commando Memorial. It’s an evocative setting in the Lochaber hills where the Commandos trained for their part in D Day and other missions in WW2. I was to see evidence of this connection throughout the day’s walk. It was also the longest dry moment of the day.
The walk started near Rubha allt a’ Bhradain on Loch Lochy, a grey strip of water on the Great Glen Way. The first couple of miles was on the road to Clunes. Fairly soon there was a panel about the WW2 Landing Assault Craft used by the Commandos in training that has been preserved there. This stretch of Loch Lochy was used for rehearsing beach landings and attacks in advance of D Day in 1944.
The route from Clunes along the lochside was also used for training exercises, the timings for which were quite a lot quicker than mine today. Their target was 7 miles in 70 minutes whilst mine was to make it by mid afternoon.
The rain came and went and came again in large splodges all along the 7 miles stretch. Rain fed streams tumbled down the gullies and vegetation bloomed everywhere.
Bob met me about halfway. Both already wet through we ate a quick sandwich and pressed on to the end stopping only to use the Compost Toilets provided beside the path.
We crossed over Laggan Locks and enjoyed a welcome hot sandwich and drink at the somewhat open-air cafe on the side of Loch Lochy. It was a change to see the rain clouds rolling down the Loch and not for once be drenched by them.
Yesterday, Loch Lochy was in the news for an amazing rainbow
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-49030378#
From Genesis 9
God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have put my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”
There’s nothing quite like a rainbow. Wonder at the Laws of Physics, at the diversity of humanity, at the way in which we are bound together in a covenant relationship.
God grant us a quiet night and a peaceful end.
JAL 18.07.2019
Day 94 of the End to End from Rubha allt a’ Bhradain to Laggan Locks.