Hazards

#1 Weather

Hill walkers know they need to have good clothing suitable for rapid changes of weather (usually for the worse) even in summer. Of the three main factors, wet, cold and windy I find “windy” the hardest to deal with. But the answer to these three as always is good preparation, timely information and pacing yourself.

Good clothing layers, used properly, while maintaining your fluids and energy level will deal with most of the conditions likely to be encountered in Scotland. 

Informing yourself in advance of likely adverse weather patterns helps a lot, but this is sometimes not possible in the middle of a longer remote stretch. I’m still dreaming of the day when GPS data signals include summary weather information, but that is a bit of a technical challenge. Perhaps in GPS 2.0. 

Expanding one’s comfort zone by manageable amounts also adds to one’s ability to endure adverse conditions without putting oneself at irresponsible risk. Sharing the risks and pleasures with a friend is desirable but not always possible. Most of my longer walks are solo, while the shorter ones are accompanied.

It would be useful to have a rating for each section showing the degree to which it was sensitive to certain weather conditions.

#2 River crossings

My NZ (Te Araroa 2011-12) experience reminded me forcefully of the care with which river crossings need to be approached. That was probably my top mental challenge on that extraordinary walk.

There were very few challenging river crossings on the SNT, but I’ll immediately qualify this by adding “under the conditions I encountered”. Under more adverse conditions several of the crossings would be either impossible or extremely perilous. And in my view all river crossings should be treated with respect, having first answered the question “Do I really need to do this?”. 

Again, knowing in advance which sections are subject to this particular hazard (and where) would help with planning, and reduce the number of times people make ill-advised decisions. Generally the water goes down pretty much as fast as it rises, and it can rise extremely fast as I noted on more than once occasion.

I was a bit surprised that a group of “Duke of Edinburgh kids” clearly had no river crossing training before setting out. And this was amply demonstrated when one of them dropped a boot (carried loosely in his hand rather than securely tied on or hung around his neck) into the river and it floated off. Luckily for him an alert friend rescued it. Otherwise a long uncomfortable two day hop lay ahead.

Early in the walk a rather unpleasant drunk fellow challenged me as to why anyone would need two poles. Well crossing a fast flowing stream at thigh depth is certainly one reason, and there are many others.

#3 Midges

For some these are a complete deal breaker, and the only solution is to walk at a time of year when they are more or less guaranteed to be absent. They quickly turn what would be an idyllic rest stop into a nightmare. 

I reckon I was lucky to only need my head net about 4 times and that for short periods. Nonetheless I was glad to have it as well as the rarely used repellent spray I had in my armoury.

What is certain is that anyone contemplating doing this with just a tarp fly had better have deep reserves of stoicism. Or be doing it very late in the year. I never had a midge problem in a bothy.

#4 Snakebite

So here’s the reason for my unscheduled visit to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary ("May they be Blessed") that took me off the trail for 18 days. 

On day 21 evening I was bitten by an adder (Vipera Berus) just north of Blair Athol, close to the Geldie burn. 

At first I just felt a slight bee sting on my right inner ankle. I looked down in slight surprise (I had seen no bees) and then spotted the snake slithering away. At that moment I realised that the walk was taking a new turn. 

I am glad to say I remained completely calm and at no point did I ever envisage dying. However I now realise rather more clearly how this could kill a small child or a dog. It is not an experience I would wish on anyone else, interesting though it has proved to be in retrospect.

In brief the sequence of events went like this

• After about 15 minutes (during which time I bathed the leg in the burn) the ankle and foot were already quite swollen.
• Over the next 45 minutes, I had something to eat and managed to walk, with my pack but without much difficulty, about 300m to pitch my tent.
• About 5 minutes later I vomited majestically for the first of many times.
• The first night was pretty unpleasant. No sleep. Burning pains starting in the leg, especially if I raised myself up to any degree above lying down.
• There was a lot of vomiting in a “trying to remove my entire intestines though my mouth” type of way.
• I was shivering violently at times with chattering teeth as if the temperature was about -20C as opposed to +20C.
• During the night I had to get out hurriedly to go to the toilet. The details of this are unpleasant and are best glossed over. I could not move very far.
• However by morning all that was over and I felt fine. Except for the swollen leg. Moving was completely out of the question.
• A kind hiker brought me some water. The 50m to the burn looked like rather a long way.
• A couple of hikers came by and gave me some Hydrocortisone which I took. Not sure how much this helped.
• A second couple came by. They took my details and we agreed a sunset plan whereby I would try and exit and contact the police in Kingussie before six days had passed.
• At this stage I (naively) imagined resting up for a couple of days until the swelling had gone down and then slowly walking out as it became better.
• By the following morning my appetite was back and I could wiggle my toes a bit better but there was no chance of moving that day or even standing up. 
• The leg was starting to turn a bit black in places from minor internal bleeding. I started to take photos of its progress.
• By 11am on the second day Peter, the ranger for the estate, (he had been contacted by the 2nd couple) came out in his Landrover. It was not a hard decision to leave with him to Braemar. A drive of about 30km.
• At the local medical centre I was seen by a doctor who immediately called for an ambulance.
• The ambulance took me to ARI in Aberdeen, where I was admitted and assessed. 
• I was given a drip of antivenin and antibiotics, but only after they had first read “the book”. I was their first snakebite case in a very long time.
• Eight days in hospital with full bed rest and many cups of “lifesaving” tea was enough to get me tentatively onto my feet without burning pain. It had taken two days for me to even reach the bathroom, and another couple of days before I was able to use crutches to get around a bit. All the time with my foot raised as far as I could manage, which made for some unconventional acrobatics in the bathroom.
• Once discharged I stayed with kind friends for another eight days till I felt able to take to the trail with some confidence. Even then brushing my leg with the other foot was quite unpleasant. Paradoxically prodding the leg was not at all painful. Brushing it very lightly with a bed sheet was strangely horrible.
• Two months after the bite a 12 hour flight caused both legs to swell, as it often does. The bitten leg remained quite swollen days after the other leg had gone down. A further two weeks (and some professional Thai massage) later it looks pretty much normal again.

The three things I am most grateful about
#1 This happened in Scotland and not in Australia. I would not be writing this otherwise.
#2 That there is still a functioning NHS system in Britain. The good folks at ARI were truly wonderful.
#3 That it was on my foot and not on my hand. True, that makes it more difficult to walk, but being somewhat “further away” was, I fancy, rather less uncomfortable.

Lessons to take away

• There is one venomous snake in Britain. Its range is extensive. It does bite. The result is nasty.
• If you have the means to contact the outside world and there is a signal then I’d do that sooner rather than later.
• If you can’t contact anyone then keep calm and rest. Hopefully someone will come by. If you have anyone with you send them for help. 
• It may be days before you can really move yourself without considerable pain.
• As always, maintain your fluid intake. "Most situations look better after a cup of tea".
• I didn’t do any bandaging or anything other than soaking the limb in cooling water. The staff at the hospital did not suggest that I should have done anything different.
• Unattended the swelling may come down (or it may not) but the risk of internal infection remains.
• It was very soon impossible to see where I had been bitten, so it would be unwise to assume that the absence of a bite entry wound means nothing nasty got in. Snake venom of whatever type is a pretty potent cocktail. 
• The bite may be dry, or it may not inject much venom. But if it does then you’ll need medical attention if only to ensure no infection and no dangerous blood clots.
• The bite itself was no big deal. The sting of the injections is far worse than the snake bite. “It’ll be a wee bit nippy” the nurse said as she plunged a syringe into my stomach. She was not joking!

Keeping calm is essential
The vomiting phase will finally pass. So will the shivering. And you’ll feel more or less fine afterwards. 

It may have helped that I didn’t actually see that brief but awkward moment when the snake was actually attached to my leg. That is an image I’d rather not have in my head.

What to carry?

• Carrying antivenin is completely impractical for most people. 
• Pain killers were useful. Codeine is quite effective.
• Antibiotics BUT you would need the right sort AND know how to take them. In many places (but no means all) they are quite rightly prescription only.

If anyone can learn anything useful from this experience I'll be glad.

Tread carefully! With attention but without fear.

Gear

Footwear
A fair chunk of this trail is wet underfoot. As a result (and because it was what I had anyway) I favoured light shoes over heavy boots with no Goretex. 

Over time I’ve come to the conclusion that quick drying is better than trying to stay dry, which in a place like Scotland (or NZ) is a completely futile exercise. After a while you just give up and go with it. Any section that’s easy and dry then becomes a bonus.

I used La Sportiva Boulder X shoes. By the end of this trail they were pretty much trashed with dangerously smooth soles and the uppers were full of holes which helped drainage, but also lead to small stones accumulating under the balls of my feet. 

However for $120 I have worn them in great comfort over 2300km of trail between February and October this year, plus day to day usage. So no complaints from me.

Into these I put my usual inner sole combination: Noene for shock absorbtion and Superfeet Green for comfort and familiarity. These are a well worn combo. When I replace them I’ll move up to Superfeet Orange if I can find them when I need them.

If I was doing it again I’d go for a solid trail runner. And in particular I’d want one with a good fast lacing system so that the period of putting on wet shoes is kept to the minimum. I’m trying out some Salomon trail runners now and love their lacing system.

Tent
Tarptent Contrail (750g with 9 pegs). This is the second long hike this summer with this tent. I’ve been using it for a little over a year. As in Iceland I was very glad to have the five big stakes I bought in Kathmandu. Bug netting is beyond essential, and this tent does it well. I use it with a single fixed length pole of 115cm which works fine for me.

Backpack
This will be my last hike with a ULA Catalyst. It’s been fine but simply does not last long enough for an expensive pack. This is not due just to the abuse I throw at it. Partly it is due to poor design and choice of materials. It’s done me fine for a couple of years, and has some good features, but I would expect much more longevity for the money.

Cooking
I carried two stoves and was very glad of that due to poor availability of fuel. I have a Trail Designs Caldera Cone (alcohol, tablets and wood) and an MSR Superfly gas stove with an aluminium wind shield. Both of these worked really well when used. More and more I relied on gas, which was easier to get.

I used a Evernew 900ml titanium pot, a 500ml titanium cup, titanium spoon and an Opinel knife. I also bought a pack of three small light plastic containers for butter etc. Very handy.

Clothing
Conditions were never very hot or very cold, but often wet and sometime windy. I used lots of layers, which I tuned as required. My lower layers were Icebreaker Merino wool with an OR Goretex Pro shell outer (top and bottom). 

When dry and cool I used a Sherpa softshell jacket. My trekking pants and shorts are both Sherpa softshell. Very happy with these. 

I wore about 4 pairs of socks in rotation, and one more for nighttime use only. Light and quick drying socks are better here than heavier warmer socks. Some were synthetic and some wool. For preference I’d like ones that are easy and quick to take on and off. I wore out and threw away two pairs of socks.

Once again my Mont-Bell ultralight down jacket with hood was a winner.

Poles
Two Helinox poles. One snapped on the last day unfortunately. Both had had problems with the internal string tensioning system, which meant I had to tape them with duct tape. But very light at 150g each and they did a fantastic job as usual.

Sleeping
Exped -1C bag. About 800g. Small piece (0.5m square) of closed cell foam. 3/4 length Thermarest ultralite mattress. Did the business.

Technology
iPod touch, iPod nano, GPS, Camera, Kindle. And the means to power and recharge these. Of these the Kindle and GPS were mission critical. I will be upgrading the touch to an iPhone 5s shortly to provide a backup GPS and better maps.

Other
Hygiene, first aid and pharmacy. Spare batteries and a repair kit. Spare ziplock bags. Lots of small Exped drybags. One big tough garbage bag to line the entire backpack.

Food

For what it is worth here is my shopping list. It varies a little depending on which supermarket I find.

Breakfast
Muesli or granola, powdered milk, oatcakes, marmite, butter, boiled eggs.

Lunch
Bread, oatcakes, butter, hummus, cheese

Dinner
Vegetable stock cubes, garlic, soup powder, couscous, dried vegetables, potato powder, olive oil, vegetable masala (spice mixture from Nepal)

Snacks
Dried fruit, nuts, muesli bars, biscuits (shortbread fingers contain 30% butter), scones or muffins

Drinks
Chai teabags, fresh ginger, chai spices (from Nepal), cocoa powder, powdered milk.

Other
Batteries, tissues, medical (ibuprofen, antacids), one pasta meal (emergency)

Rare
Apples, carrots, chocolate, jam (US=jelly)

Notes

• On recent hikes I have been steadily upping the amount of fats with a consequent lowering of carbohydrates. Olive oil provides 9 calories/gram. Butter 7 Cal/g. Shortbread 5 Cal/g.
• There’s nothing so good as being hungry at the end of the day to enjoy a meal and fondly imagine that one is a great cook.
• There’s nothing so humbling as reading about others (think Scott or Shackleton) surviving for months in horrific conditions on a diet of penguin and seal blubber. It makes one so grateful for whatever one has.

Accommodation

The total number of nights was 44, broken down as follows:

Campground: 2 (Bellingham and Kirk Yetholm)
Bird hides: 1 (Robin Aitken Hide - Pentland Hills)
Youth Hostel: 1 (Ullapool)
Bothies: 14*
Wild camping: 26

*Bothies and stage numbers where they appear:
Minch Moor s3
Dalnashallag s24, Melgarve s25, Blackburn s25,  Camban s29, Maol-Bhuidhe s30
Bendronaig s31, Leckie (off track) s33, Shenavall s33,  Knockdamph s35
Duag Schoolhouse s35, Glencoul s37, Glendhu s37
Strathchailleach (off track) after Cape Wrath.

I almost never walked past a bothy without staying. I’ll take this opportunity to send my best regards to Alasdair Veitch from Nova Scotia Canada who did quite the opposite. I followed him (via the Bothy books) through a sequence of regrets where he arrived, admired and then pressed on regardless. 

Bothies are much more frequent in the latter half of the walk. In fact there was only one in the first half. See the Mountain Bothy Association website for information and to read the Bothy Code.

As well as providing a welcome shelter and a change from the tent, they are all places of character, beautifully located and well-maintained. The notes refer to them as “very basic accommodation”. To me they were complete luxury, and one of the highlights of this Scottish journey. That sort of illustrates where I part company from the notes.

See my map of places I stayed.

Resupply

Like Gaul, this trail is divided into three parts. At least for me it was; I’ll explain why elsewhere. These are: The first 500km, a pause , then the second 500km.

Your resupply needs will depend on your hiking style. I’m assuming that generally speaking Through Hikers are self-sufficient and low budget, thus cooking for themselves almost all the time. In this area my response to the notes was often “So what - now tell me something I want to know”. 

Additionally, I was very rarely breaking at the Section ends. Indeed I deliberately avoided this, preferring to stop short, camp and then arrive early in the morning, shop (if possible) and then get out as quickly as possible.

First half

Essentially resupplying in the first 500km is pretty straightforward. There are decent supermarkets often enough (depending on your consumption and needs) to provide everything on a regular (3-4 days maximum) basis. 

Generally I looked for these in my GPS (see notes on GPS) about 20km ahead and planned accordingly. In the south the towns are near or on the route and are mostly big enough to have one or two supermarkets of sufficient size.

The only exception to this was fuel, which I found to be more difficult that I had anticipated.

For example Melrose, a town which the Trail Notes say has “all facilities”, had no gas canisters and I was obliged to buy Surgical Spirit from the Chemists to use in my alcohol stove (see Gear).

Second half

In the latter half of the trail I planned ahead a little more carefully and carried more food. I was consuming more and resupplying less frequently.

Summary

These are the places I used after the half-way point.

Inverness - Big Tesco

• I was off track for my convalescence.
• Do not miss Velocity cafe in Crown. My favourite!

Kingussie - Small Co-Op - on track.

• The Teapot cafe nearby is run by nice Spanish couple.

Fort Augustus - two small supermarkets - near track. 

• These combine not very good with rather expensive.

Kyle of Lochalsh - Big Co-Op. 40km off track near Skye. Excellent. No fuel. 

• From Cluanie Inn I hitched to Kyle and back in 3 hours. 
• Avoid the shop in Shiel Bridge. I am told it is both poor, unreliable and expensive.

Ullapool - Tesco - not far from YHA

• Good selection. 
• I easily hitched the 12Km off track from Inverlael.
• A unique opportunity to have a night in the YHA and do some laundry and take a shower.

Kinlochewe - Small shop near track

• OK for an expensive top-up. 
• Unannounced he changed its opening hours while we were first there, so that it was closed when we returned from the nearby cafe. Unhelpful.

Just before Kinlochbervie - Small shop beside road

• OK but expensive.
• Open very late and I only stopped in by chance.
• Useful little top-up that made the last couple of days easier.

The mission critical places are Kyle and Ullapool. 

The Gallery Cafe in Ullapool has both wifi and power. Coffee passable.

Timing and Weather

Basic facts
I started on the 12th August at Wallsend (Newcastle-upon-Tyne), reached Cape Wrath on the 12th October and walked out on the 13th to Balchrick.

Having only done this once I can’t really comment about other seasons. However the benefits of this season include:

• the beginning of the Autumn (Fall) colours
• the bellowing of the Stags
• the scarcity of midges

I’m fairly confident that the trail would be pretty uncrowded most of the year. Perhaps a few bothies might fill up at certain holiday seasons.

The range of temperatures was between about 27C max and 7C min.

Weather conditions
Doubtless the weather will vary a lot from year to year. I would say that I had generally very fine weather, and (this bears repeating) very few midges. However I did experience a few storms, one day of very heavy rainfall, and many days with a mix of sun and rain. Happily there was much less wind than in Iceland.

By far the worst weather conditions of the entire trail were encountered on the three day Pennine Way section. This was due to the remains of a big hurricane from the Gulf of Mexico. The first day in Scotland was also extremely windy. I was very nearly blown over; the flex on my two poles was impressive. 

I had anticipated wild and difficult weather in the Cape Wrath region, but its name belied its nature in this instance. Also from what I have read the name in fact derives from the Norse for “Turn Left Here” rather than being a comment on the climate.

Some lessons
I carried a lightweight 3-season tent. It was not designed for camping in gale-force winds. So, as in Iceland, I had to exercise some care when choosing a camping spot. Only on one night, when I camped quite late, was I really troubled by wind. On the other occasions I was either in a bothy (once in a hostel) or had taken the trouble to be well protected by trees or the lie of the land.

During the one day of massive rain I only walked two hours to the next bothy and then decided to call it a day. This was wise. However I did have the luxury of walking without a fixed timetable or needing to rendezvous with another party. And one of the things that most impressed me that day was the speed at which the nearby river rose from a tranquil stream over some small waterfalls to a raging mass of white water sloping downhill without interruption.

Once again I was very satisfied with and grateful for my rain gear and indeed my clothing in general. There is perhaps a reason that the trail is sponsored by Goretex and not by "Sun hats are Us". Only on a few hot days near the beginning was I obliged to remove wet clothing at the end of a day. Otherwise even on a really wet day my base merino layers stayed dry (or dry enough) so that a short while in a tent or bothy was enough for my body heat to make them completely dry. This of course had the great advantage that the following morning I never had to put on anything that was wet apart from socks.

At this relatively high latitude the UV can be strong in summer, so a good cap or hat (and sunscreen) is pretty necessary unless you’ve got hair to do this job for you.
Barring a decade-long drought (somewhat unlikely) the terrain underfoot is often going to be very wet irrespective of the weather. I’ll discuss footwear elsewhere, but you can expect wet feet.

Rivers in spate
The critical element in the weather is the possibility of encountering rivers in spate which you need to cross but cannot. 

One of the things I would have liked to see in the Section Summary is a column with a weather symbol. This would indicate to what extent that section is particularly susceptible to weather difficulties: Winds, High Tides, Rain (river crossings and slippery terrain), lightening etc. It would be handy to know how many crossings (at at which kilometre mark they come) there are in a section. A list might also give an idea of the time that they take to go down after last rainfall. In the absence of that the best bet is to search the notes (that’s why I have them on Kindle) for the word “spate”. 

This problem is really restricted to a few sections in the last couple of weeks. In particular the last day up to Cape Wrath has at least two rivers that would be impassible after some heavy rain and arguably two others which I’d certainly give a deal of thought to before attempting a crossing.

A Through Hiker’s needs

In terms of needs along the trail there is naturally much overlap with Section Hikers. After all, it’s not a competition to see how little one needs. Nonetheless there is a considerable difference in priorities and emphasis. Soon I came to regard with a sceptical eye references in the notes to “All facilities”.

Here is a list of what I consider to be “All facilities”
The essentials

• Garbage disposal. Sometimes this is the only useful facility offered by a place. It was never mentioned in the notes.
• A tap (faucet) with drinking water. A relative rarity compared to Europe. Less necessary in Scotland. The notes seldom mention water at all.
• A decent supermarket. Food was straightforward and easy. However I don’t recall any but the largest Tesco superstores (and one Decathlon) having gas canisters and none had methyl alcohol.
• A shop selling fuel of some sort. Perhaps a outdoor or hardware store.

Nice to have from time to time 
OK, for some of us the first of these might be an essential!

• A cute little cafe with great coffee and free wifi.
  And ideally a power outlet to recharge stuff.
• A post office to send the occasional postcard.
• A public toilet, preferably one that is not locked.
• A bench and table to sit at and eat my just purchased “heavy food”.
  Ideally it would be sheltered from the wind and better still the rain.

What I really don’t care about when in “trail mode”

• Expensive Hotels, Bed and Breakfasts and Restaurants
• Public transport
• Luggage Transport facilites
• Car Parking
• Shops for tourists
• Campsites for caravans and camping cars
• Outdoor shops full of crap “lifestyle” clothing and unnecessary gear. Although I’ll acknowledge that one or two did have a limited choice of fuel. Well done them!

And herein lies a problem... 

I probably spent 90% of my money in supermarkets where the profit goes elsewhere, albeit with some local low-wage jobs created. Small local shops where they exist usually combine high prices with poor choice and/or quality and sometimes restrictive opening hours. No wonder the emphasis in the notes is on high spending Section Walkers staying in expensive but locally owned B&Bs.

In Iceland this went even further. I flew into the country with most of my quality trail food bought from the UK. Again this was due to completely unaffordable local prices and very limited range. The only significant purchase was my air ticket out.

On the other hand...

I would maintain that a long distance walk really only exists if at least some people walk it long. Otherwise it is just a collection of short walks, some of which would barely be worth doing in isolation, such as a linking road section which only make sense as part of the greater whole.

Putting it another way a marathon is not achieved by 420 people each running 100m. And of course the mental and possibly physical state of a Through Walker is poles apart from someone who (perhaps for very good reasons) can only dip into a walk for little sections.