Day 6–12.3 miles hiked (Rowardennan to Glencoe)
The day was supposed to bring some of the best scenery on the most remote section of the trail, but unfortunately it was hard to appreciate its beauty because of the weather. You really haven’t experienced rain until it comes down horizontally….or at least the wind blows hard enough to make it feel that way. No matter though, even with reduced visibility, the views we could see peeking through the cloud cover periodically were simply magical.
There’s only so much you can do to lift everyone’s spirits, including your own, in a driving rain, but the “At Least It’s Not…” game always does the trick for my own attitude. We learned it from our friends Mel and Jeanne, who we met and hosted as they were hiking the Appalachian Trail. It works like this: When you’re feeling low on the trail, start reminding yourself of the things that aren’t happening that would make your situation worse. For instance, on this day, I reminded the kids, “At least we’re not being pelted by hail” and “At least most of our miles are behind us today and it’s all downhill from here.” You get the point. The kids had a more difficult time seeing the silver linings, but it definitely helped me get through the rough stuff!
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- Aidan wandered off at lunch and came back with a special friend
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- The Bridge of Orchy is treated to this view every day
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- Even in rainy conditions, Scotland is a verdant wonderland
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- Old military roads were hard on our feet!
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- Aidan’s special friend 🙂
We trudged through it with as good of an attitude as we could muster, but in the last mile, when we were becoming increasingly soaked and cold (it was probably in the upper 40s, low 50s), it was time for shelter! Thankfully it came in the form of the Kingshouse Hostel’s cafe. Hot coffee, hot chocolate, and even beer were just the thing to thaw us out.
After dinner in our hotel, Larry headed back to the room. The pub in our hotel would have been a great place for all the adults to convene and toast to the continued success of the trip, as they carried a tremendous selection of local brews (and in flights, no less!), but instead I played Banagrams with my two “littles,” Wogene and Paige instead, while I enjoyed my flight.
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- Nothing tasted better than a hot latte after finishing up this segment!
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- Finally, warm and dry and enjoying the best hot chocolate of their lives!
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- I saw several postings like this throughout the trail from search and rescue groups, and it made John and me happy to see them getting the exposure (and funding) they deserve.
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- “Enjoying” his hot toddy
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- My flight
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- The Clachaig Inn’s pub is apparently a long standing hangout for mountaineers in the area but it has an even more exciting claim to fame…
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- ….its grounds are where Hagrid’s hut scenes were filmed in the Harry Potter movies! I’m not sure if this was the exact spot since I’m not overly familiar with the movies, but it happened somewhere around here and put little ol’ Glencoe on the map!
So fun to see the pictures and hear of your adventures. Amazed you could get any pictures with all the rough weather. Mel
What a wonderful experience (in spite of the bad weather) for all of you! The small comforts of life are all the sweeter when you've had to do without for awhile!
Thanks, Mel! I told Jeanne that I think this would be a perfect trail for you two to put on your "to do" list! ;-).