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<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nWe stopped for a rest and experienced something frequent in Scotland\u2014rain when the sun is out.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThere was a path along the stream for a while, but it eventually petered out. That didn\u2019t matter because we were planning on leaving it anyway, to head up one of the sides of the valley it formed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sun stayed out for several hours. It was a beautiful afternoon, with views that you come to Scotland for. The land is brown from last season\u2019s grass and heather not yet in bloom, but patches of bright yellow gorse illuminate the landscape, and flowering bluebells decorate it at one\u2019s feet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We crossed numerous small streams that flowed down the hill to the larger one we\u2019d left behind. Along one was a gnarled grove of trees newly in leaf. <\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe walking was steep and difficult. The ground is soft and in places saturated with water that was kept from flowing by grass and moss. <\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nWe\u2019d come from the stream far below.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe plan was to go around the north side of the hill we were climbing, but we realized we could cut some distance if we went around the south side. The original route is in magenta, the one we took in blue. Our destination was Glensulaig, on the right end of the map.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We climbed to the elevation of our destination and then walked along that contour line (the 350 meter one) as best we could. We eventually saw in the distance a dark, vaguely conical structure\u2014the \u201dbothy\u201d where we hoped to spend the night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bothies are former dwellings or barns that are maintained for hikers, although they offer little more than shelter. There are usually no bunks. There\u2019s often a tiny fireplace built to burn peat, but as nobody cuts peat for them and there isn\u2019t wood around, the fireplaces are unusable. <\/p>\n\n\n We saw a bunch of tents outside this one, which made me think it was already full, probably with Challengers. But it turned out to be a group of 11 teenagers (mostly age 15) on an Outward Bound trip. They were all sleeping in tents, as were the leaders, so Mark and I had a room out of the weather for the night, which had turned quite cold.<\/p>\n\n\n We spent an uneventful night and then headed downhill toward Loch Eil. The route took us through another pine plantation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To shave off some distance we went diagonally through the forest on a track, looking out for a cairn marking a path down to the lakeside Outward Bound Center that one of the leaders, Craig, had recommended. But we didn\u2019t see the cairn or a path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The track we were on eventually came out onto a cleared area that we were able to go down, although the ground was another version of sloped land holding water. We had to step from hummock to hummock, trying to avoid water-filled holes. It was hard going. Of course, our feet had now been wet for two days.<\/p>\n\n\n We eventually got to the bottom, had lunch in a restaurant, and then headed up the Caledonian Canal, an ancient feat of engineering that, with the assist of long lochs reaching deep into the country, created a water route from the west coast to the east coast through the middle of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n