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| On the road to Barisdale |
Over our six days in the Scottish Highlands, we were taken aback time and time
again by the people we met; each and every one had an interesting story to
tell, all were genuinely interested and invested in our trip, and without
doubt, each in their own way gave us a helping hand. Whether or not the fact
that we were three girls travelling alone made a difference is something we'll
never be able to know, nevertheless here is a selection to give you a taster. (It would seem the way to my heart is food and drink...)
- Joe, at the B+B in Kinlochhourn. We left our bikes with him for a couple of
nights and, worried we wouldn't make it to our bothy before dark, he insisted
that we let him know we had got there safe (via Craig, who lives near the bothy). Two days later, we came back to pick up our bikes to an enormous
fry-up!
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| Kinlochourn B+B |
- Dave and 'Chell' at Barisdale bothy. Two 30-something friends from a rambling
club who had canoed to Barisdale to do some hiking. They cooked a delicious
Thai green curry for us one night; a welcome alternative to ou4r planned diet of
couscous and tomato sauce!
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Dave at Barisdale bothy. A chap from Liverpool who was doing two weeks of
walking, wild-camping and staying in bothies where possible. He was a fountain
of knowledge on the Scottish Highlands who dished out a lot of useful advice.
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Jonathan, Simon, Jake and Kia at Barisdale bothy. Two fathers and their
teenage sons enjoying the mountains. Simon was 'Munro-bagging', with only 40 to
go before he hit 50. They had a great dynamic and, as well as giving us enough
of their leftover food to last for two dinners, they happily passed round their hip flasks full of whisky and boxes of flapjack.
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| Invermallie Bothy |
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Raymond, Craig, Young Craig and Robert at Invermallie bothy. Four Glaswegian
guys staying in the Bothy for a long weekend of fishing. Initially, we were
very intimidated, arriving a dusk to find a pile of empty beer cans at the
door. Fortunately, behind their burly exteriors and almost impossible to understand
accents, were four very interesting guys who shared their water, candles and
wine with us and made us sausage sarnies in the morning. Needless to say, our
discussions about politics, immigration and independence gave us some insights
into the Scottish working classes' lives.
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Guy from the Lochaber Archaeological Society. Him an his colleagues had just
discovered some live hand grenades near the Clan Cameron museum and were
waiting for the bomb disposal team to come and detonate them. He gave us a
bottle of water from him car.
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| Train |
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Man and his friend on crutches on the train from Fort William to Mallaig.
They helped us get our bikes, panniers and assorted bags on in time.
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Waiter at Mallaig Tea Rooms. Went out of his way to find someone who might
have a clue about disk brakes to help fix mine. No-one came out of the wood-works but he did try.
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Irish couple with crampons on Ben Nevis. When we recklessly took a 'shortcut'
up a snowy path and found ourselves going in the wrong direction on sheet ice,
they offered some helpful advice and friendly encouragement, and once we made
it back down, some fun banter too.
Soph x
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