May 18th Duncan is very keen on numbers: every time he's phoned me he tells me how many steps they've done-27,273 (21.81km) on the 17th, 31 063 (24.85km) today. He doesn't seem to be much good at geometry though; in Scotland, apparently, there is no "down", or so he claims.They are about to tackle the Cairngorms after a steady upward incline thus far, so maybe we can excuse him his paranoia.
Last night's pied a terre was allegedly at a place called Luibchonnal, which neither multimap nor google acknowledge as existing, so we must be grateful that Lynn, Duncan, Will & Bridget have not disappeared into a hole in the space-time continuum. Allegedly, they camped at the western end of Loch Laggan. Tonight, after what sounded over the phone as a very good night in the pub (good whiskies abound, but ales are scarce), they are staying at the Pottery Bunkhouse in Laggan (click here to see it). Laggan also has a parallel existence as Glenbogle in the BBC TV series Monarch of the Glen, as its website makes clear. Filming was taking place today, apparently, so our intrepid travellers may have bit-parts as first, second, third and fourth ramblers in the next series.
For those of you interested in the tic count, Lynn has removed 27 of them from her body today. Ouch!
May 16th After a day of radio silence, reports received at mission control indicate that all four are now safely ensconced at Roybridge- click on this link for more authoritative information on the place. Duncan tells me that this exploit is " very tiring and silly", but they all seem to be enjoying themselves, with the possible exception of Duncan's feet, which apparently now consist of more blister than foot. Those feet managed 28 km from Glenfinnan to the middle of nowhere on Saturday, and a further 30 km today, a total of 74.000 steps, accordingly to Will's strategically-placed pedometer.
They've been encountering the local fauna, firstly in the shape of about fifty deer, and the far less docile tics which are attacking Duncan. The midges, apparently, are going for Lynn.The next port of call is somewhere conveniently in the middle of nowhere called Luibchonnal, where they'll be camping. I think they're cheating tonight, as rumour has it they are staying
in a hotel. Oh well, I think we can let them off this once...
May 14th My secretary (and sister) took the first report over the phone from Duncan: unfortunately her handwriting is as bad as mine, and neither of us can now read most of it. Our fearless foursome have now set out on their journey, and are now in Glenfinnan, which judging by this link looks very pleasant indeed, and is by Loch Shiel. This is where Bonnie Prince Charlie raised the Jacobite standard and rallied his clansmen for battle. Duncan claims to have walked 20 778 steps today, although, as with most statistics, I think that might be an estimate. No reports of them being eaten to death by midges yet, though.
Later....my sister has now unscrambled her memory and tells me that Will has a pedometer, which is the reason why Jersey's Chief Statistican has been counting his steps. OK, she's forgiven.
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