A different start to today with a two mile road walk on pavements out of Drumnadrochit and sometimes close to Loch Ness. It was lucky we managed to get a few views of the loch at this point as the rain soon appeared. We headed back up onto The Great Glen Way with lovely forest paths made soft by pine needles. It was another steep uphill climb this time to 1,200ft. Unfortunately there weren’t any views today as the rain and mist persisted all morning. The track eventually took us onto remote open moorland which was certainly very atmospheric in the rain, mist and cold wind! Following another short section on forest tracks we left The Great Glen Way and headed off on our own route.
We followed very small isolated roads passing farms and crofts that were dotted about on the hillsides. There were also lots of sheep snd highland cattle, we were lucky to spot some deer and a red squirrel. An interesting sight today was seeing The Tartan Heart Festival being set up with different stages. This is a huge event with a capacity of 20,000. We were very glad we weren’t walking through the day it was happening!
Eventually we came to the lovely village of Beauly and this time were lucky with a lovely cafe where we could sit outside in the sunshine. A real treat after the morning’s rain. Finally we arrived in Muir of Ord where we were lucky to meet Mairi who we had a lovely chat with. She also guided us to our accommodation and gave us a donation for Oakhaven Hospice. Thank you Mairi.