Rocks, Rain and Roots

We started our day after a refreshing night in the Ben Muthu hotel in Tyndrum. An interesting hotel. Most other guests appeared to have arrived on two German coaches so we drank and ate in the company of roughly 80 Germans. This was fine until I settled into the Quiet Lounge which was not quiet…

Wet on the Way

Our briefing last night included a wet weather warning and a detailed explanation that, as well as dealing with a copious amount of water, we would be undertaking three stiff climbs on the West Highland Way. Fortunately, a couple of us had made use of the Glencoe Hotel’s pool, sauna and jacuzzi, a welcome relief…

Wind, Rain and Rainbows

Hector. Enough said. Warnings arrived overnight from friends and family. On BBC Breakfast telly the second top news story was how Storm Hector was going to rip through the UK; airports and bridges were already closing.  We awoke to an almost perfect rainbow; an arc of colour in the sky neatly crossing the valley our…

Reality Bites

Day 5, one sixth of the way. After a night in surprisingly good rooms at Wetherspoons King’s Highway hotel in Inverness we decided to breakfast at a café in Inverness. For some reason cafes serving breakfast don’t open until 8 am. The first café, highly recommended online, told us at 7:58 that they were not…

Bridges, Balls and Briars

We left the Novar Arms hotel after another fantastic Scottish breakfast. The team was looking forward to a change from the previous two day’s, walking on roads and set off in good spirits having said goodbye to two walkers (Eric and Patrick) and welcomed a new one (Angela)*. We were walking from just north of…

Lorries, Lochs and Lairg

This might seem strange. At the end of Day 2, we drove about 25 miles south to stay at the lovely Lairg Highland Hotel. This morning we got up and drove 20 miles back up from where we had come to start Day 3. Crazy? Well this is the Bryson Line.   A general theme…

Tarmac, Traffic and Trash

Today we left our base camp, the Smoo Cave Hotel in Durness. This had become a second home for many of us having spent 3 nights there. We were royally looked after by Frances and her team. We can wholeheartedly recommend that you visit Smoo Cave Hotel (and indeed the caves at Smoo Cave) when…

Cape Wrath Crusaders

Bill Bryson today returned to Cape Wrath for the first time since he visited to research his book “The Road to Little Dribbling”. As this was the first day of our 30 day walk from Cape Wrath to Bognor Regis we were understandably nervous that the weather was good enough for the ferry to operate…

Old ways, new ways

This is the latest column from Crispin Truman, the CEO of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, in the current edition of The Countryman In last month’s column, I noted Bill Bryson’s important role in our ten-year campaign for a Deposit Return System. So I’m delighted that CPRE is now to be a beneficiary of…