Day 0 - Thursday 5th May
From Home to Acharacle
(623km as the crow flies!)
Now, mountains are pretty scarce in the wilds of Cambridgeshire and Suffolk so our training had been more concentrated on the social aspects of the walk - meeting most Sunday afternoons in the Three Blackbirds, before leaving the warm, convivial fug of the pub to set off into the cold Winter air for the physicality of a muddy slog around the fields for a few hours.
Perhaps it was down to this lack of 'match fitness' but on the journey up to the start point, things soon went down hill fast for Phil in Glasgow. In his haste to enter Sainsbury's for a few cans for the rail trip to Fort William, he tripped over the disabled ramp and promptly disabled himself with a tear in a calf muscle. He should really have spent more time in those winter months honing his shopping skills.
With Phil undeterred at the thought of hopping across Scotland, and with me sporting a sharp new Glasgow haircut (Lionel Blair doesn't have his haircut like this! - 'He does if he comes here'...) we hobbled onto the smart little train to Fort William. The train was crammed full of rucsacs, brand new fleeces and Gore-Tex. Tall tales of past trials and tribulations were passed on by the old hands to the first-timers to further unnerve, and the scenery flashed past the windows at breakneck speed. Before we knew it, we were at Fort William, cadging a lift and were soon in the bar at the Loch Shiel House Hotel, Acharacle, resuming our training.
By ten o'clock, as the polling stations were closing their doors all over Britain, we pronounced our training to be finally complete. We were ready for whatever the Mountains and Glens of Scotland could throw at us.
