Day 8: Kingshouse and Isles of Glencoe
14.03 miles
I think that mentally, today has been my hardest day – perhaps physically too.
As we left Bridge of Orchy, the day was very dark and the clouds were lying low on the mountains. It was a bit colder than previous mornings as well. Within the first 1/2 mile, the rain started and stayed with us for at least an hour or more. 
Once the rain stopped, the midges came out and feasted on us despite the bug spray I put on. If you are wondering, midges are the Scottish mosquito. The are very small and just swarm around you – especially if you stop walking. As I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, my arms and legs took the brunt of the feasting, leaving me with tiny pink dots all over.
With the rain, I had put on my rain jacket, but walking uphill is strenuous work – at least for me – so I was sweating inside the rain jacket. Once the rain stopped, I had taken off my rain jacket and found that I was just as wet inside the coat (from sweating) as outside the coat (from the rain). As we reached the moors, there was also a cold breeze. I spent most of the day putting the jacket on and getting too warm, then off and getting cold. There were times that I was cold even with the jacket on, just from being sweaty. I never knew that you could be cold and sweaty at the same time.
The WHW immediately started uphill as we left Bridge of Orchy. Around the 2 mile mark we had about a mile downhill, the the grade resumed up. It wasn’t until the last mile that we resumed a downhill stretch again. Most of the time it was a “gentle” grade (according to the Scots in previous towns) and some of it was quite steep. Imagine 11-12 miles uphill walking!
The scenery today was quite different from previous days. Before, we were Loch-side, surrounded by mountains and forests. Today, we walked across moorland – sweeping, rolling hills with no trees or other cover. Even the tall bracken was gone and there was mostly low lying heather. The path followed along an old military road that was cobblestoned. This left you with a choice of walking in the wheel ruts with the puddles, or on the higher center area where the wet stones were quite slick.
Despite all this, we made good time and came into Kingshouse by mid-afternoon. Kingshouse is situated at the end of the moor, and we had a nice downhill stretch that took us from the moorland back into a valley surrounded by mountains. We actually passed a ski resort before coming to Kingshouse! Another small “town” that consisted of 4 houses (and another being built – the town was expanding) the hotel and the pub. The fun thing was finding a “herd” of wild deer eating the grass just outside the Kingshouse hotel. We found out that the deer were wild, but very used to people. They are well fed – especially during the winter – so that they hang around the area. On of them seemed to like posing for the cameras! As we waited for the taxi to take us to our accomodations (a 20 min ride away as Kingshouse hotel was fully booked) I had a hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows and whipped cream. Yummy – and gone all too quickly.
We are staying at the Isles of Glencoe resort tonight – a very popular “get-away” for vacations. There are water tours, kayaking, boating, indoor ice wall climbing and so much more here to do. However, after the day of walking, all I could do was take a hot shower, slaver on the Ben-Gay, and rest before dinner.
Instead of eating at the hotel, we wandered into the village area to eat at the local pub. As we had dinner, the clouds began to clear and we could actually see spots of sky. There was a beautiful sunset around the mountains, but unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me. Perhaps next time!