Walking the Great Glen Way along Loch Ness

That's Loch Ness

Camping and playing near Inverness

Out n' about on Skye

Tracey offers wicked horse riding trails, even for a splash into the sea.

Some of the random formations.

A ruined castle. I had to close my eyes and shoot, Santi's such a dare-devil ;)

"Old Man of Storr" - As high as 11 double-decker buses stacked on top of each other. Santi's the little black spot waving in front of the rock.

Views from Old Man back over Skye to the mainland. The morning had been drizzly & misty. Again we were super lucky that everything cleared and the sun shore as we climbed up to the Old Man.

Isle of Skye

Unfortunately the replacement tent didn't arrive on schedule. We'd become tired of waiting around, our feet were very itchy! So we just decided to up and go across to the Isle of Skye and visit Tracey & Mary, Santi's friends he'd met in Spain.

It was really meant to be. We hitched from 8pm to midnight and didn't have to wait longer than 20mins for a ride. The easiest night time hitching I've ever done. Though it was my most expensive hitch. I dropped my camera in one of the cars, realising 30secs after they'd speed away into the darkness. Mary's lent us her camera while were been here, but sorry folks...there'll be no more photos after Skye for a while... RIP 21st century, we now have no gadgets at all (I only just restrained Santi from buying a GPS system with Ordnance Survey maps).

It's been brilliant, the people here are absolutely solid. Not to mention a comfy bed, shower, AND electric foot massager (me blissed on couch). Here's Mary with Santi (still trying to upload it), we never got a photo of Tracey. We really had a blast. There were long pub sessions, live music, and funny FUNNY peeps.

PS. added last photo just for Santi's dad.

First Class after sales service

We spoke to Mountain equipment about our problem, they do not have our tent in stock at the mo, so they are sending us another version with a small porch that we can keep, and in January also sending out an identical version of the one we have now. We pick it up today at the local camping store. We are ecstatic with the result.

We have just arrived in Fort William, 500 Ks of walking. We are now a quarter of the way through the walk. Yeasterday we clamberred up Benn Nevis, the highest mountain in the U.K. Wow, our fitness levels have risen sharply, we made it to the summit in two and a half hours, in one single push. The views were increadible, this area is full of mountains as far as the eye can see.

We are nearing Inverness, after walking for 28 days. I still have sore feet! The midges are our biggest problem, as we cannot take advantage of the sunny evenings where we set up our wild camp. They literally hunt in packs. Swarm then dive and attack, getting under clothes and giving hundreds of tiny irritating bites. Going for a night time pee is now a huge no-no, as they swarm into the tent for an early morning breakfast. Check them out on youtube.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-GLqWaVcNA&feature=related or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJA8HO1UMOI&feature=related

We got the best tent on the market, R.R.P £350. However it has now started to leak badly. A serious problem as our sleeping bags get cold when wet and the tent is our only refuge from the Scottish elements. We may have to buy another and send this one back.
We're certainly learning the hard way, especially in regards to "appropriate" equipment for such a walk. We're trying to make life easier and more enjoyable, by shredding kilos of weight as we go. We must have started with 20kg each including water and food. We are now down to 14kg each and we would like to go down to 10kg if poss. This could be possible with ultra light, high-tech gear. I also got the best boots money could buy, but at 2.5kg, they are twice as heavy, as I'd like and my feet are constantly paying for it. I wanna hot tub.
Tonight to whisk away our pains we're going to go and listen to a traditional pipe band - WOOT!

We've hit the mainland

WOW! so we're officially on our way from John O'Groats to Lands End. Scotland's amazing but very remote and isolated. We struggle to find house, food and internet are nearly non-existent. Check out our beautiful camp sites, and views we've had. Even passed a helicopter housed in a cow field, go figure why????