Sunday 24th July 2016
Awoke to approx 5000 midges. Packing up was difficult.
A man may dream of waking up to find thousands of females want a piece of him, but when this actually happened to me it was really annoying and quite scary. Only the females of the midge species bite.
A 4×4 passed by – only person encountered all day. Cooked instant potato plus flavourings.
Continued up track along River Thurso, then Glutt Water. Stopped in comfy cabin in the hills (with sauna-like qualities). Collected water from Glutt near iron springs (Chalybeate) – delicious (could taste iron).
This was really tasty – I might go back someday just to taste the water again!
Clouds came down, and I lost sense of direction in the peat morass. Started using compass. GPS also helped a lot to confirm distances.
This was quite a scary experience. I found as I was walking in what I thought was a straight line, I was actually walking in circles. This was boggy ground, and although it was the top of Knockfin Heights, and at some point there was an Ordinance Survey trig point column at one point, there was really no obvious peak. It was just a big flat bog with a number of “lochans” (small lakes) that happened to be at the top of a hill. Once I got the compass out I made slow progress and eventually found the way through the bog to the stream I was looking for. This was the first time I ever really needed a compass – the kind of navigation that I wasn’t able to practice near London.
Came down stream and stopped to camp around ruins of Knockfin.
Distance: 15.3 miles [view on map]
Spending: £0
Mood: 🙁 -> 😐
This was a tough day, with more ascent than previous days, and rough ground, so unfortunately I was too busy walking to take photos!
Ah! – a work in progress!
Yes – I am publishing a journal entry each day!
I think I told you about the man I lost in the Highlands who started walking in circles and climbed about eight peaks before he reached a road. I had 200 square miles in which to search for him. I was probably the only one who could have formed a search party. Luckily he reached a road and rang in to the CHA and then we went home. All the food had been kept in the oven for two hours. The managers wasn’t pleased!