Drumnadrochit and Urquart Castle

...who can pronounce that flawlessly is cordially invited to our holiday evaluation round🤣. Well, we also have our problems with it...!

In the last report, a historical highlight was promised. Since we cheated a bit and took a 20 km bus ride, we gained a whole day. We used it to hike to Urquart Castle, a castle ruin that dates back to the 13th century. We are also into old stones in Germany. It was a really relaxed day with a very nice ending at the pub 'The Fiddlers' with beer and fish and chips. There was even a bagpipe player by the roadside, which added to the ambiance😄.

In this pub, we also met two ladies who were also hiking. We had been meeting them every day so far and it became a little more familiar from day to day. That's why it was really great when the two ladies strolled past our table, we approached them and they spontaneously decided to chat with us.

And then we have to tell you about Marc from Nottingham. We estimate his age to be around 50. He also walked the West Highland Way (WHW). But we really got to know him on the Great Glen Way. We noticed on the WHW that Marc was struggling - with the backpack, with the mountains, with the distance. And yet, every morning he was back on the trail, spent every night in a tent, sometimes had no more food - he just kept going. At the beginning, we had a hard time understanding Marc because he has a speech impediment. Now we know that it is due to an accident with serious injuries. And the more contact we had, the better the understanding became and we were able to have great conversations. Once again, it was the realization for us that you should not judge people based on the first impression, but rather look beneath the surface. Anyway, Marc will continue to hike further north in Scotland after completing his second long-distance hike. He is a self-employed package driver for DHL and has now taken a break after 6 years without a vacation - greatest respect!!! He estimates his backpack weight to be 40 kg, ours weigh approximately 12-15 kg😳.

Marc unfortunately didn't want to take a photo with us - he is a very special person!!!

And with a meeting with Marc this morning, our penultimate hiking day also began. From Drumnadrochit to a so-called glamping site. Andreas had researched as the weather god that rain and thunderstorms were expected today. Since our tent is now in the senior category and has already had several surgeries, we booked a so-called pod. 30 minutes before arrival, the thunderstorm announced itself. We have never run with our backpacks so fast!!! In the nick of time, we reached our pod - phew - just made it, and it feels great to be safe while the storm rages outside.

Conclusion: Instinct and gut feeling are very important companions. Both in dealing with people and with nature!!!

The happy Koes