tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90218577973148055322024-02-24T02:02:51.353+00:00On the Way to StornowayWalking from Archway to Stornoway, in a leisurly sort of a way.Spencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804997221198019165noreply@blogger.comBlogger64125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021857797314805532.post-7893604488982268472013-07-07T17:21:00.000+01:002013-07-07T17:21:13.103+01:002:9 Dunbridge to Salisbury
I arrive at Totton station to find Louise waiting for me on the platform. Louise is a friend over from Australia, who has rashly agreed to join me today. Her husband Mark, who I have not met before, is waiting for us in the car park and drives us to Dunbridge station, saving a good deal of time and faffing.
View Dunbridge to Salisbury in a larger map
We set off from the station in Spencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804997221198019165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021857797314805532.post-18055724667465596172013-06-13T19:17:00.002+01:002013-06-13T19:17:51.063+01:002:8 Winchester to Dunbridge
The forecast is sunny with some heavy showers but I come out of Winchester Station to slate grey skies and threatening drizzle.
View Winchester to Dunbridge in a larger map
I pass a Waterlows and notice the window which seems curiously attuned to my endevours. I am currently http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/10/old-ways-robert-macfarlane-review
reading The Old Ways by Robert Spencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804997221198019165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021857797314805532.post-74852219647570569772013-06-06T19:36:00.001+01:002013-06-06T19:36:35.954+01:002:7 Alton to Winchester
No tubular problems today which is good because it is a fairly long day with a severe time restriction. Basically, I need to get to Winchester just before 5.00 if I am to catch the last bus back to Alton or pay an absurd amount to get the train on a different branchline as far as Woking.
View Alton to Winchester in a larger map
Fortunately I make the early train I am aiming for. There is a Spencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804997221198019165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021857797314805532.post-2836738978977329012013-05-26T19:50:00.002+01:002013-05-26T19:50:41.954+01:002:6 Liphook to Alton
The weather has been dismal since last weekend but today is bright if a little cool first thing.
View Liphook to Alton in a larger map
No tube problems on the way to Waterloo today and no people dressed as jungle animals - so I get to Liphook station with remarkable efficiency.
Out of the station and into the centre of Liphook, such as it is. Dither a bit before takingSpencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804997221198019165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021857797314805532.post-33798045107002046492013-05-18T17:24:00.000+01:002013-05-18T17:42:48.624+01:002:5 Godalming to Liphook
Back on Waterloo Station where I am due to meet my friend Caramel. This time the tube was not so smooth, I went up to Archway in good time to find it was the dreaded rail replacement bus as far as Camden. Still I made it in time to get my ticket from a machine (having abandoned the huge queue in the ticket office) but no Caramel. There are however a lot of people dressed as Spencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804997221198019165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021857797314805532.post-71167046034472275672013-05-10T22:49:00.000+01:002013-05-10T22:49:26.909+01:002:4 Byfleet to Godalming.
Another gorgeous day. I did a non-big-walk-walk round Tring reservoirs on Saturday, had a rest and now am feeling reasonably perky on Bank Holiday Monday.
Get up fairly early and take the tube to Waterloo. Here I have a fun conversation with the ticket guy.
"A day return to Guildford please, and can you sell me a ticket from Woking to Byfleet and New Haw."
Look of total Spencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804997221198019165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021857797314805532.post-85945031852959326202013-05-05T20:10:00.002+01:002013-05-05T20:10:37.620+01:002:3 Kingston to Byfleet and New Haw
Bank Holiday Weekend coming up and I mean to take advantage. I have a bit to do at work but also some time in lieu due, so the plan is to go in and check emails etc and then set off for the walk.
It goes very well. I pack my day sack with the requisites for a decent day's walking, remembering water, sunblock and even the maps. I rattle through the business very quickly and am ready to set offSpencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804997221198019165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021857797314805532.post-60714135995863690832013-05-02T16:58:00.000+01:002013-05-02T16:58:16.277+01:002:2 Victoria to Kingston Upon Thames
There has been a bit of a gap since the first day of the new walk - I got very busy with an Online Ancient Greek Course and a trip to Stornoway - nothing to do with it being a long, grim freezing Spring, of course.
View Victoria to Kingston in a larger map
But I was determined to get back on the road and set off reasonably early, this time on a April Sunday morning. It was bright and Spencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804997221198019165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021857797314805532.post-16150409355298715962013-03-05T10:15:00.002+00:002013-03-08T10:52:08.214+00:002:1 Archway to Victoria
In accordance with my firm principles of vacillation,
indecision and procrastination I eschew any sort of proper planning and spend
the morning chatting on the internet, idly trying to decide whether to set off
today or not. Then I have lunch and
watch Football Focus. Then back to chat
a bit more.
Eventually though there is simply nothing for it. I either
have to set off Spencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804997221198019165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021857797314805532.post-2895288266488520872013-03-03T14:57:00.002+00:002013-03-05T07:17:33.990+00:00A Short Walk in the Janeite Kush
OK, it has been over a year and a half since I finished the big walk. I have been occupied with trying to make the house I bought in Stornoway habitable and a postgraduate course. So my trips between London and Stornoway have reverted to being by plane or ferry bus and train.
The plan, obviously, is to move to Stornoway but work/debt considerations means this has not happened yet. Still I Spencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804997221198019165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021857797314805532.post-22114144395904251482011-06-26T16:37:00.001+01:002011-06-26T18:19:33.382+01:00Stage Fifty - Leurbost to Stornoway
Oof, drank a bit too much of Jan and Mun's good wine last night. I only have a half day's walking to do today but I have arranged to meet people so I have to get off at the right time.
Mun has taken to buying silverware in his retirement so breakfast comes in the most elegant, Georgian looking, silverware, tea-pot, coffee pot, even the egg cup set for their own eggs is lovely.
After Spencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804997221198019165noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021857797314805532.post-66972210705868695522011-06-26T15:05:00.001+01:002011-06-26T18:06:44.813+01:00Stage Forty-Nine: Arivruaich to Leurbost
Back on the schoolbus and it is not raining this morning. This is being lazy as I could just walk down the hill as I have lots of time before the Stornoway bus. But I am fancying a cappuccino from First Fruits, the little cafe near the ferry Terminal. Expensive, but very good indeed.
Only when I get there it is shut and so is what used to be the MaCleod Motel. Nowhere to get a Spencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804997221198019165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021857797314805532.post-29486506404220531262011-06-25T20:02:00.002+01:002011-06-26T17:53:14.011+01:00Stage Forty-Eight: Tarbert to Arivruaich
No insanely early start today, for once!
I got the sleeper to Fort William yesterday, setting of from Euston on Tuesday night. We were three in the compartment in a way as I shared with an elderly Welsh man who had his wife's ashes with them, on a mission to scatter them in Morven.
View Tarbert To Arivruaich in a larger map
And then the bus to Uig on Skye and ferry to TarbertSpencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804997221198019165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021857797314805532.post-10255882531930102572011-05-31T11:57:00.005+01:002011-06-01T10:06:43.858+01:00Stage Forty-Seven: Portree to to TarbertHere is the thing. I know my body is too done in to tackle the Trotternish Ridge and Storr en route to Uig. The bugger of it is that I could do it in the time, which is a full day today and half a day tomorrow before catching the bus back to Fort William in the early afternoon. But it doesn’t break up like that. Half a day today to walk up to the Storr by road, bus back and full day Spencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804997221198019165noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021857797314805532.post-73802338226144150132011-05-28T14:24:00.001+01:002011-05-28T14:24:58.873+01:00Stage Forty-Six: Luib to PortreeI am woken by hail rattling on the window and the howling of a cold north wind... kidding, kidding, I am actually woken by the bright sun of another hot and more or less cloudless day.
According to the TV news there are moor fires raging in Glen Sheil and Torridon as well as some in England. Hillwalkers needed to be air lifted to safety in Torridon. I think about my walk from Kinloch Hourn toSpencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804997221198019165noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021857797314805532.post-55704236843692408192011-05-28T14:02:00.000+01:002011-05-28T14:02:06.430+01:00Stage Forty-Five: Glenelg to Luib
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Spencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804997221198019165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021857797314805532.post-88919283265907951062011-05-20T14:26:00.000+01:002011-05-20T14:26:42.990+01:00Stage Forty-Four: Kinloch Hourn to Glenelg.Another glorious morning. This really is astonishing weather for late April and early May. The Kinloch Hourn farm is not the most luxurious bed and breakfast. No electricity after 11.00 when they turn the generator off, and a bit of a fusty bedroom. Three beds though I have it to myself.But this is a very remote spot, at least for the carless, and I am grateful not Spencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804997221198019165noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021857797314805532.post-4392226942436994292011-05-20T13:51:00.001+01:002011-05-20T13:54:13.482+01:00Stage Forty-Three: Inchlaggan to Kincloch HournA bit achey this morning but fortified by an excellent cooked breakfast. Curlew Cottage has a fine view over Loch Laggan, slightly marred by a pylon and power lines that are about to become my companions. Still this is a luxury B&B and I enjoy a spot of luxury for a change.It is clear and looking to be hot again, and there is little prospect of me needing the fleece Spencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804997221198019165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021857797314805532.post-49833283927109217912011-05-17T17:28:00.002+01:002011-05-18T16:52:54.113+01:00Stage Forty-Two: Garelochy to InchlagganThe clouds of yesterday evening have pretty well disappeared. Just a wisp here and there. I walk down to town with Anna who is going to have a leisurly breakfast with the friends who also stayed with her last night, before they head off for the Knoydart Festival.
I have a tough day ahead of me and the sound of driving over to Mallaig to catch a fishing boat across to Spencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804997221198019165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021857797314805532.post-71498147454509983012011-05-17T14:09:00.003+01:002011-05-18T09:37:33.158+01:00Stage Forty-One Fort William to Garelochy
I get off the bus at a Euston bathed in dawn light, having got up at 4.30. England has been toasting over Easter and the warm sunny weather looks set to continue for the second long bank holiday weekend on the trot.
The Virgin pendolino rockets off but it is still a long, long journey. Most of it not too close to my walking route but, as the train sweeps by, I get a glimpse Spencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804997221198019165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021857797314805532.post-39830900209137396382011-01-19T19:46:00.003+00:002011-02-25T20:28:33.619+00:00Stage Forty: Kinlochleven to Fort William
I didn't have to do this leg at all. The idea of this thing is to be able to say that I have walked every step of the way from my house in Islington to my mum's in Stornoway. It doesn't really have to be in sequence, though that is more satisfying. And I have already done one small section out of sequence when I plugged the Hathersage to Edale gap. I don't have to do this because I have Spencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804997221198019165noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021857797314805532.post-68153487829980490522011-01-17T17:05:00.000+00:002011-01-17T17:05:55.900+00:00West Highland Way link
As I have not got it together to sort a map out and the last few stages have been recognised bits of the West Highland Way (and because the streetmap page I linked in the comments did not work properly) I thought I would put in a link to the West Highland Way.
I joined the Way in Crianlarich, walked to Tyndrum,
then from Tyndrum to Bridge of Orchy.
From Bridge of Orchy I walked to Spencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804997221198019165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021857797314805532.post-4975857240727910312011-01-16T13:30:00.001+00:002011-02-25T21:53:03.730+00:00Stage Thirty-Nine: Kingshouse to Kinlochleven.
No rush to get up at all today as I am right on my route and it is a short day. Kingshouse has turned out to be comfortable if a bit shabby, but at £30.00 for a double room with a great veiw of the Buchaille and an en suite bath to soak in last night I am not complaining. The £30 does not include breakfast but I have promised myself I will get a cooked breakfast. But when I go down to the Spencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804997221198019165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021857797314805532.post-33128551106565448662011-01-15T12:25:00.001+00:002011-01-16T10:14:07.869+00:00Stage Thirty-Eight: Bridge of Orchy to Kingshouse (Glencoe)
It is January the fifth and I step off the train to a very different Bridge of Orchy to the one I left two months ago. The sleeper service pulls out as I leave, headed north, the way I have come from. There is some snow on the ground and much more on the hills but what is coming down is more like sleet drizzle.
Although it has gone nine it is barely light. The cloud not helping. I am theSpencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804997221198019165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9021857797314805532.post-19384397263719296272010-11-07T21:12:00.000+00:002010-11-07T21:12:18.953+00:00Stage Thirty-Seven: Tyndrum to Bridge of Orchy
Not such a leisurely start today although the leg should be easy and almost as short as yesterday. However, I have a train to catch at around mid-day. My ticket, bought long ago before the shin splints erupted is from Corrour, which at one point I had hoped to get to by now. However that plan has been abandoned and I am pretty much committed to go up the west, rather than the east, of Rannoch Spencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804997221198019165noreply@blogger.com2