John and Sally Dodwell's TGO Challenge 2006

We fly from Birmingham to Glasgow and we are over the Lake District in no time with exciting views of familiar places and former campsites at Beattock. We are easily excited.

The plane is full of 30ish men and women writing execrable things on laptops and checking their phones for texts almost until we rotate. I can just see over the shoulder of one of them and she is writing things like ‘Projected Retail Turnover’ and ‘Motivational Methods’. We think the pilot is Polish Scottish by the way he speaks on the PA and we hope he does his cockpit drill more slowly than he speaks.

Glasgow streets are full of summery looking people. We head for Tisos outdoor shop for gas and they say we are enjoying a new consignment of good weather just arrived. This being Scotland it cannot last and snow is forecast for the morrow. To Queen Street station where we meet heavily laden outdoor types and we find that they too are up for the Challenge. We exchange notes with some and offer one young man the advice that space age food can cause starvation. There is much chat about gear.

The train pulls in and an enormous gaggle of be-rucksacked people surges along the platform. It looks as though all the seats are reserved, but there is room for all and we settle in amidst much excited chatter. Clearly most of these people know one another. This participant is beginning to feel the effects of an early start and needs to doze off - too much input. Familiar views are passing the windows – Erskine Bridge, Greenock, Loch Lomond, Ardlui and Crianlarich where we wait whilst the train is split – one half for Oban and  the other for Fort William. Some passengers are worried because either they or their bags are on the wrong half of the train. We have some interesting discussion about the refreshments trolley which we share with the stewardess. We think the trolley should be suspended from the roof so that she would not have to struggle up and down with it, blocking the aisle, She thinks she might be out of a job.

Upper Tyndrum next stop and then we turn up the hill. We soon see the viaduct and Ben Dorain before we stop at Bridge of Orchy. Then on to the moor Corrour, Rannoch, Roy Bridge, Spean Bridge and at last we pull into Fort William after four hours. No time to alight before we are on the move again backwards to Corpach, Lochailside, Glenfinnan, soon to be revisited on foot, and our destination looms – Lochailhort. The weather is fine and warm, the views are magnificent and the atmosphere on the train is terrific but at last we are off the train and into the fresh air. No sooner are we afoot than disaster strikes. I fall off the pavement and fall in a heap on the road. No apparent damage save for a couple of grazes. But later when safely booked in to the Lochailhort Inn my right thigh stiffens up. We are staring failure in the face before we have even started. We have return tickets, but six months planning all for nought?. So it is ice, Ibuprofen and painkillers followed by a hearty meal of Mallaig plaice and chips and a pint of Scotland’s Best. Miraculously a fellow Challenger has some Magic Ice rub which is applied with more Ibuprofen and more Magic Ice and things are definitely improving.

We turn to study fellow dinner guests. They seem to have many experiences to relate. We hear snatches of bunkhouses here and snowstorms there; of exploits past and routes galore. They seem to know what the Challenge is about. We listen carefully for this is our first Challenge. We have done many long distance routes, but we listen. And so to bed hoping for the best for the morning.