"Blow Out"

If you think the titles of the day by day walks are getting a bit weird, fear not! All will be clear later.

Today was to be the the longest walk of my Timeless Way challenge at 26+ miles and would be the furthest that my little legs had carried me since the 29 mile last day of the Pennine Way in 2000 and, before that, all those daft marathons I used to run before my right knee started protesting. Was I up to it? Of course I was; though I wasn't so sure when I set off.

We awoke, after a very pleasant night out last night, to the patter of rain on the roof windows of our loft room at Ceol Na Mara. So I had an early and yet another excellent, full Scottish breakfast, donned my full waterproofs and set off at 08:45 from Direcleit in moderate rain, heading for the so-called Golden Road along which most of today's walk would take me. In fact the rain continued for most of the day - alternately wet, wetter, driving, windy and driving to, near the end, dry and almost pleasant.

I followed the LDWA GPS route which went away from the road and followed the shore of Loch Ceann Dibig to Miabhaigh and even in the damp and gloomy weather it looked very beautiful. Maybe the light itself added to the atmosphere of the place. Just before Plocrapol (if Typhoo but the T in Britain who put the.......in Plocrapol? Sorry I couldn't resist that but it's better than the similar saying about Scunthorpe!) I saw a footpath sign pointing right (west). After walking half a mile further on I realised that I could have taken that path, walked west around Loch Phlocarpoil, instead of going east around it on the road, and rejoined the road to the north west of Scadabhagh. It wouldn't have saved much in terms of distance but it would have been much kinder on the old plates of meat! So next time.....

The walk was, to be honest, quite tedious. The views, which would have been tremendous in good weather, especially up the east shore of Loch Stocinis, were spoilt by the incessant rain and mist. But I did stop and talk to a guy from Wigan (yes - those bloody pie eaters get everywhere) who was doing up a house he'd bought for £18,000 eight years ago and reckoned he could let it for at least £600 a week in the summer, until he retired and moved in himself. I did stop for a while in a bus stop to have my lunch. Well, it was dry, away from the wind and had a seat - what more could I have asked for? Talking of bus stops I passed one during the day where some local had kindly placed folding chairs for "bus waiters" to sit on. You wouldn't get that in Westhoughton; the chairs would be knicked in five minutes!

I arrived at Rodel for the final three miles to Leverbergh, had a look and took pictures of the very solid looking 15th Century St. Clement's Church and turned left onto the, very nice and welcoming, marked footpath which goes around the south side of the small loch and on to Borghasdal. It was at that point that I got my first mobile signal of the day and a voicemail from T'Boss to say that she was in trouble (What, at her age!?). She'd had a puncture which couldn't be repaired, was running of the stupid skinny "spacesaver" wheel that so many cars with wide wheels have these days and had ordered a new tyre which couldn't be delivered for five days when we would be in Lochboisdale, S. Uist! It turned out that she'd run the car off the road slightly to let someone by, the tyre had caught a sharp stone and it was "goodnight Vienna"! My beloved also said that the B&B was "acceptable" - which meant that it wasn't!

However, I continued along the narrow road as the weather got better and the waterproofs finally came off. There were good views out to sea and I stopped for a moment at the memorial to the Paisley sisters who, in the middle of the 19th century, had helped popularise Harris Tweed, which can now only come from the islands. I reached Leverbergh harbour and walked to the B&B a little further inland, making today's walk 26.2 miles. I had walked a marathon in nine hours; I'd once run one in 2hrs 50mins!

Noelene explained about the saga of the tyre and how two farmers had changed the wheel for this "damsel in distress"; apparently the third tourist's tyre they had changed during the week. She was also right about the B&B. It was okay with a lovely lounge and stunning views but, for the price, the room was very cramped and the shower room tiny. This may not seem very important to you, dear reader, but although this was my walking holiday, it was also The Boss's main holiday of the year and she weren't walking; so standards needed to be maintained!

Leverbergh also wasn't very much to write home about - or note down here! It's probably a bit like a very small version of Horwich, dumped on the coast with its charm and culture removed! Nevertheless, the Anchorage at the harbour, the only restaurant in town was pretty damn good, service and drinks couldn't be faulted either.

We headed back to the B&B to prepare for tomorrow's 09:35 ferry to Berneray in the morning. In Peter Clarke's "The Timeless Way" I'd read about his love affair with this small island to the north of N. Uist; it seemed a wonderful place to visit and walk around and, although all the B&B's were full and we'd be unable to stay there, I was really looking forward to seeing it.

A Few Photos From Day 07 (just click on them for the BIG versions):
Day 07 - Leaving Tarbert, 25/06/11	Loch na Tighean
St Clement's Church, Rodel	Small Loch Near Rodel
Loch Roghadail
View From B&B At Leverburgh	View From B&B At Leverburgh