Day 1
Friday 13th / Sat 14th May - Euston Station to Bealach Duibh Leac
Scotland here I come, crossing number six. At some point during the previous five Scotland had thrown just about all it could at me. Last year it had been a heat wave in Moidart. In 1985 I had been struck by torrential rain and lightning on Beinn A' Ghlo. In 1983 it had rained on every day of the Challenge and our crossing of Rannoch Moor really was like walking across a wet sponge for two days. On this Challenge I was starting with a positive attitude and no matter what happens we will stick to the planned route and battle through....ho ho, has Scotland got a surprise in store for me!.
Friday evening (Friday 13th) saw Avril & myself at Euston Station embarking the night sleeper to Fort William in company with Chris Sainty, a long time Challenge walking companion. After the usual 12 hour trundle at 30mph we arrived in FW with three hours to wait for the bus to Shiel Bridge, but we were adjacent to Safeways (now Morrisons) so we picked up lunch and had cups of tea in the sunshine while waiting.
The ride to Shiel Bridge promised some spectacular walking over the coming weeks and excited us as we had not walked this far north in the Highlands. After signing in/out at the hotel we left Alan Price and Dave Owen to finish their lunch while we set out for the bealach below the South Kintail Ridge (Bealach Duibh Leac) to meet our walking partners for much of the walk, Joe & Jean Brown, who had come up the previous day to claim a couple of tops while waiting for us to arrive.
On our way to the bealach we were caught by Michael Rea who intended to cross the bealach to meet some friends at the Tomdoun Hotel in the morning. After meeting with Joe & Jean, Michael thought that it may be interesting to walk the ridge with us the following day as he had not yet been on a Munro.
