Day 6 RRW: Ardtalnaig to Aberfeldy, 15.6 miles
This IS getting boring now – but what another cracking day on the trail. Its hard to believe I only have one more day left and then I will have done it!! Over 80 miles of solo walking in the Scottish Highlands in just 7 days.
Today was actually the longest day, clocking in at over 15 miles. The first 4 miles were along a single lane road – the same one that my taxi driver, David, had come along when he brought me back to Ardtalnaig from Aberfeldy. Given that it is the “main” road into Ardtalnaig, I’d decided to set off nice and early – both to get a good start on the long mileage day but also to get the road part done before traffic picked up. As the road is narrow, every time a car or obscure piece of farm machinery approaches, you have to step off to the side into to the grass verge to give the vehicle plenty of room to pass. It does disturb your walking pattern and means you can’t completely zone out, so I wanted to get that out of the way ASAP. Although it did feel a bit daft to hike back along the same road that you’d just been driven down, missing it out to get dropped off at Acharn (where you leave said road and head up into the hills) wasn’t really an option. Could you really say you’d hiked the whole Rob Roy Way if you’d missed out on 4 miles of it? Despite being a bit nervous, I was also looking forward to the challenge of walking 15 miles in a day – I was curious to see how long it would take me and how I would feel at the end of it (answer: made it before 4pm, felt tired and with a grumbly right knee but otherwise fine). But most importantly of all, walking those 4 miles between Ardtalnaig and Aberfeldy would give me another chance at spotting a red squirrel!!
In my conversation with David yesterday, when he first came to pick me up, he mentioned that red squirrels were two a penny here, and that they were particularly prevalent in one particular section along the road. Given that knowledge, how on earth could I give up the opportunity to take a stroll down Squirrel Avenue? I’d been pretty lucky with my wildlife sightings the day before so I hoped my good fortune would continue.
Well, alas – I didn’t get to see Squirrel Nutkin again BUT I did come closer to completing my Scottish Woodland Creatures Bingo Card as I finally saw a deer! I had literally just thought to myself – “wouldn’t it be great to see a deer?” when I saw a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye – and there it was!! A gorgeous roe deer. I managed to get some great pics – and also saw another one slightly later on, this time bouncing through the trees (slightly less great pic!). I also saw another Scottish hare which thoughtfully sprinted across a field just as I’d stopped to take a picture of the view. There were also abundant pheasants (btw did you know a sleeping pheasant looks exactly like a dead pheasant – quite disconcerting the first time I came across one!) and tons of birds (again). There were also noticeably more bugs on the trail – maybe it was all the sheep or cow poo that liberally decorated the hillside, but there was a section where I was waving them out of my face, especially the black ones with the long gangly legs (how do they fly?). I was wary of the bright golden brown ones that were feasting on the poo as I remembered the horrible horseflies that used to terrorize us as kids down in Cornwall and I wasn’t sure if they were the same ones or not. Fortunately, they were not – they were Yellow Dung Flies.
I also discovered, to my horror, that there are Ticks in them thar fields. How do I know this? Because I picked one off the back of my knee in the shower yesterday! Maybe I should have expected it, given all the sheep and deer, but it took me by surprise and completely grossed me out. I HATE TICKS SO MUCH. Fortunately, because I discovered it and removed it within 24hrs, the likelihood of getting Lyme Disease is pretty small (the bacteria that causes Lyme disease needs time to move from the tick’s gut to its salivary glands) so at least that is some relief. I might have picked it up when I sat down to have lunch yesterday – or it could have been anywhere on the trail as they hang out in long grass, ready to leap on and attach as you walk through it. And while I will do it if I have to, I really don’t want to have to stop and pee on the trail now that I know there are ticks lying in wait for me.
Anyway, ticks aside, it was another lovely walk – after Squirrel Avenue, there was a long section upwards (past a pop-up coffee shop/bakery and pee stop, set up by an enterprising farmer – much appreciated!), across the sheep hills, then down through an ancient Caledonian pinewood forest that is being restored, before entering back into Aberfeldy via the Birks. The Birks were a section of woodland containing the Moness Burn river, energetically making its way through a scenic gorge and giving rise to a number of waterfalls (creatively known as the Falls of Moness). It was very pretty but was a rather convoluted way back to Aberfeldy with wooden steps built into the trailpath that were just a bit too high for easy navigation (why??? why build them so high??). By this point in the day, I was getting pretty tired – also because I had really picked up the pace over the last couple of miles as the sky looked as if it was threatening rain and I really didn’t want to be arsed to have to get out my rain gear so close to home. As it happens, it didn’t rain and my turn of speed meant that I’d made crazy good time and had managed to get back to Aberfeldy before 4pm, even with taking a couple of short breaks.
Side note – my powers of manifestation were strong yesterday. As well as the deer, I was just finishing coming down a long hill section where the route turned right, to continue onwards to the town. I had been thinking about where to stop for lunch, something like a big flat rock or wooden bench, where I might be at slightly less risk of tick invasion. On seeing the right turn, I said out loud “Where’s my picnic table at?” and then looked to my left – AND THERE IT WAS!!!! Crazzzzyyyyyyy.
Anyway, that was today- and now its time to have an early supper and a well-earned rest. As it’s Sunday, I predict there to be a Roast Beast in my near future (possibly not lamb, though – they were so stinking cute today, I would feel a bit bad). Tomorrow I head off on my very last hike, to Pitlochry, and because the B&B is another “don’t bother trying to check in until 4pm) and its less than 10 miles, I can take my time setting off in the morning. I’m on the home stretch!
