I'm leaving in 15 minutes.

See you all when I get back!

One More Day

I'm leaving tomorrow. My flight is at 6:30 PM from Newark. As outrageously excited I am, the next-day jitters/nervousness/giddiness haven't hit me. But when they do, I'll be happy because then this will all be real.

It's an amazing feeling to have planned this trip in around a week and to know that I'm actually leaving tomorrow.

There's a wonderful element of this trip: the unknown. I've seen on the maps where there are campsites, but there's flexibility and options and I've made no reservations. There are stores at many points along the Ways, but I don't have my meals planned out. I don't know who I'm going to meet. I don't know what I'm going to see. I don't know what I'm going to discover.

This is one of the reasons for going on this trip.

I think it's going to be meaningful, eye-opening, and empowering.

Local Hero

Just watched Local Hero. One of Daddy's favorite films. 1983 Scottish film about the fictional town Ferness on the West Coast. It's great.

Very very excited. Hopefully along the Ways or on the Isle of Skye, I'll see some towns like Ferness (above) -- peaceful, filled with the beauty of simplicity and life.

SHYA Glasgow Hostel

Reservations with the Scottish Youth Hostel Association have been made for the nights of the 11th and 27th in Glasgow. There are no camping grounds in Glasgow, and it'll be nice to have an actual place to stay my first and last nights.

The hostel has internet. Maybe I'll actually be able to do a skosh of blogging when I'm in Glasgow. Let people know about my day of getting supplies before heading out to Milngavie and a brief bit about the trip before I come home. Once I'm back, I'm sure I'll write a longer post about my time.

Guidebooks

The two most comprehensive guidebooks I could find arrived today from Amazon.com. One on the West Highland Way and one on the Great Glen Way, both from Rucksack Readers. Each is waterproof and has a 1:100,000 scale fold-down map. The itineraries they suggest almost perfectly match the ones in LonelyPlanet's Walking in Scotland, so my itinerary shouldn't change too much. I'm now confident that I can put together a very specific itinerary with when and where I'll buy food and fuel (and alternatives of course), and how I'll be spending my nights, whether a campsite, free campsite, or wild camping.

Still have to get colorful spare stakes and salt/pepper shakers.

The guidebooks have the most amazing photos of the landscape. This has gotten me so excited. The land over there is so varied: open grassy/mossy areas, bog, ranges, forests, and my favorite land formations ever....cobbles, totally isolated hills that rise out of the middle of a flatland or in the bottom of a valley. So cool. I used to dream of building a house right on top of one in Vermont. I had a specific one in mind, it's on the drive from Lincoln to Burlington.

72 hrs....

Gear

Trips like these "require" new gear. Haha. Daddy would have loved to go with me today to get all this stuff.

MSR Whisperlite Internationale

The NorthFace Mica 12

Those are the highlights.

Pan, pot, spatula, spoon, salt/pepper shaker, firstaid kit, fuel bottle, trowel (What's that for, Will??), fuel bottle.

Waiting on two more guidebooks; gonna go back to EMS to pick up extra stakes, more salt/pepper shakers for curry, oregano, garlic salt; gotta flush out my itinerary (maybe laminate it); initial test pack felt pretty light; getting really really excited.

Isle of Skye

Isle of Skye

A - Sligachan

Red Cuillin Hills

Great Glen Way

http://www.greatglenway.com/

West Highland Way

http://www.west-highland-way.co.uk/home.asp

Map

Rough map. Google maps doesn't have the exact route even when you choose the "by foot" option (which I guess is understandable).

A - Milngavie, the start of the West Highland Way.

B - Inverness, end of Great Glen Way.

C - Sligachan on the Isle of Skye. Red Cuillin hills stretch directly south from Sligachan almost all the way to the coast of Skye.

Basic Itinerary

Sunday May 10th:

Redeye to Glasgow
Monday May 11th:
Day in Glasgow, gathering supplies
Tuesday May 12th:
Train to Milngavie, the start of the West Highland Way
Milngavie to Drymen (12 miles)
Wednesday May 13th:
Drymen to Rowardennan (14 miles)
Thursday May 14th:
Rowardennan to Inverarnan (14 miles)
Friday May 15th:
Iverarnan to Tyndrum (13 miles)
Saturday May 16th:
Tyndrum to Kings House Hotel (19 miles)
Sunday May 17th:
Kings House Hotel to Kinlochleven (9 miles)
Monday May 18th:
Kinlochleven to Fort William (14 miles), end of West Highland Way
Tuesday May 19th:
Fort William to Gairlochy, start of Great Glen Way
Wednesday May 20th:
Gairlochy to Laggan
Thursday May 21st:
Laggan to Fort Augustus (10.5 miles)
Friday May 22nd:
Fort Augustus to Invermoriston
Saturday May 23d:
Invermoriston to Drumnadrochit
Sunday May 24th:
Drumnadrochit to Inverness (18 miles), end of Great Glen Way
Monday May 25th (Birthday):
Inverness to Sligachan on the Isle of Skye (by bus)
Tuesday May 26th:
Red Cuillin Horseshoe, a loop that goes through the Red Cuillin Hills (7.5 miles)
Wednesday May 27th:
Sligachan to Glasgow (by bus)
Thursday May 28th:
Glasgow --> Home

Possible Alternative:
Combine two of the days on the Great Glen Way (like the 22nd and 23rd), go to Isle of Skye a day early, spend my birthday doing the Red Cuillin Horseshoe, and one more day of hiking on Skye. If I can pull this off, I will. I'd rather spend my birthday hiking awesome conical peaks than sitting on a bus, watching the countryside going by way too fast.

I will probably be totally out of touch. Phone won't work (I will have a UK mobile for emergencies). If I check my email/facebook, I'll only do it once.

Other than hostel stays for the nights in Glasgow, I will be camping: sleeping in a one-man tent and cooking my meals on an MSR Whisperlite Internationale. I will be pretty much self-sufficient, except for buying food and fuel along the way. All my clothes and gear will be in my pack.

I'm expecting to spend some quality time with my (space) self, but I'll also hopefully meet some people walking the Ways. The landscape and views will be breathtaking. I'll have my camera. Not sure what reading material I'll have since I have to worry about weight. No iPod. No MacBook. Deck of cards. Maybe a harmonica.

Overview

Sunday night, I'll be taking a redeye to Glasgow. Then for the next 18 days I'll wander the Scottish Highlands. I will walk the West Highland Way and the Great Glen Way, taking me from Glasgow all the way to Inverness. After those 168 miles (with a good stretch along the shore of Loch Ness), I'll go to the Isle of Skye and hike the Red Cuillin Hills.