dooger.org

Thanks for the encouraging comments from folks following our trip. It really helps reading then at the end of a hard slog. Brett suggested getting a hip flask for a ‘wee dram’. You’ll be pleased to read we sorted this out before leaving Dornie – there were many nips taken in the hills!

Glad the SPOT is tracking well; the display on our ‘easy showily’ packed in so it’ll be the only way we get to see our actual route.

The weather for the last three days has been outstanding. Blue skies and sun; so much so that our arms and neck are pretty red – will be covering up. Our hands have a nice white lines across them from the straps on our hiking poles.

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[lost the first draft so this is a short redo]

Day 1: Dornie to Falls of Glomach
Gales force winds, sleet (1inch bombs), gushing rivers that were challenging to cross, amazing climb (bit dodgy) to Falls of Glomach. Tent camp on first night was exciting when our main guyline let loose at 2an during a wind and hail storm. Oh and let’s not forget the malfunctioning ‘flying jetting’ propane tank!

Day 2: Falls of Glomach to Athnamulloch
Special note to Craig and Julie: in the book "Lamb" by Chris Moore when Jesus was stump jumping was an exact depiction of our first experience crossing the "Scottish Bog". Very hard going today- it was a super-saturated wet trail. Lots of excitement crossing the stepping stones at the head of the loch. Camped by an open barn with four other challengers – great fun.

Day 3: Anathnamulloch to Cougie Lodge
Easy hike compared with last two days but slogging it through lots of heather marsh on hillside. Dry boots are a mere memory. Lynn loves cougie lodge. Wonderful hospitality and lots of animals. Lynn wants to spend the next TGO here on a working vacation there while Nigel and Brett ‘hill walk’

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Just arrived to Ft Augustys after an epic 28km hike. Easy terrain but hard on the feet. Currently in the pub by the lochs inhaling beer and food. Our planned camp was outvoted in favor of a BnB stop 🙂

Tomorrow we head back to the mountains for a Munro or two then onto our wildcamp at Garva Bridge.

Lynn says ‘I’m not dead yet’ 🙂

The next leg of our trip started at 530am today. Up bright and early to see if the weather had improved. Yikes, there’s still snow and galeforce winds on the coast where we start. Luckily the genius folks at TGO make sure everyone has a foul weather alternate (FWA) route which we’ll no doubt take advantage off.

After a quick drive to Manchester airport we waited for our little turboprop service to Inverness. Then a quick stop for last minute items like extra thermals, extra large tent pegs (for the storm guy ropes I had the foresight to pack) and some fuel for our stoves. From Inverness we took the train to Kyle if Lochalsh before finally arriving in Dornie. The train was packed full of ‘challengers’ who all jumped off before we arrived in Dormie. Supposedly the train line was used to film Harry Potter on his way to Hogwart’s.

Dornie is a small village famed for Eileen Donal Castle of ‘Highlander’ fame. It’s very picturesque. Off out for some liquid food, real food then bed for an early start.

The weather here is BAD with heavy winds and rain. We’ll be taking our FWA route over the next three days to our B&B. Tomorrow we head for the Falls of Glomach and our first wildcamp.

The latest forecast for Thursday:
How windy? Southwesterly 40 to for periods 50 to locally 60mph gusts 90mph.
How cold? 900m: 0 or 1C, but will feel as cold as minus –16C directly in the wind. Strongest winds will be focussed in the afternoon.

Yikes… the weather for this weekend is looking pretty nasty. Gust up to 90 mph (and I’m not talking about my wife)…

http://www.mwis.org.uk/mountain/WH.PDF

There’s a nasty storm over Scotland right now – the above forecast is for Thursday but will ease off over the weekend.   Hopefully our new gear will keep us nice and warm…

N.

Just getting together the final bits and pieces of kit.   Our flight leaves Seattle at 6:50pm today.   We’ll spend a few days with family in Manchester before flying up to Inverness and then taking a train to our starting point in Dornie.

I added a few new pieces of kit for this trip.   With the weather likely to be wet, I focused on lots of warm clothing, good dry layer and a great “sleep system”.

I’ve previously blogged about my OR Celestial paclite jacket.   Here are some other editions to my kit list.

	Montbell Ultralight Down Jacket At a whopping 6.5oz, this jacket is offers an amazing weight to warmth ratio.    I plan on using this as warm layer around camp plus as an emergency layer under my jacket.
	Marmot Precip Pants These pants rock, I’ve had them for over a year; they’re super light (7oz) and take up almost no space in my pack.
	Roclite 318 GTX Just got these shoes a few weeks ago and they are really great.   Given that Scotland will be cold and wet, I’m hoping the addition of Goretex might keep my feet a little drier than usual.   At 11oz, they are about half the weight of my regular Soloman shoes.
	Thermarest Neoair Sleeping Pad The new Neoair from Thermarest has redefined “ultralight luxury”.  At 9oz for the small (which is a whopping 47” long) it’s more than half the weight of conventional pads. Brett has a review here.
	Western Mountaineering Megalite This bag is simply amazingly warm for the weight.   It’s 24oz and rated to 30F.   I’m a very warm sleeper and have slept naked in freezing temps without feeling cold.    On this trip I’m bringing along a silk liner just in case we get arctic winds for our hike.
	Six Moon’s Lunar Duo The LunarDuo is a great single wall two person tent.  It’s light at 39oz and has a great deal of floor space for two – 54” x 90”.   Weight is saved by the lack of an integrated pole system instead relying on hiking poles for support.
	ULA Conduit Backpack This is my favourite piece of kit – it’s super light at 17oz and is sooo comfortable.   Everthing about the pack has been well thought out including the side pockets which are reachable with ease even when the pack is on your back.
	Snopeak LiteMax This stove is small, super light (2oz) and works really well provided there’s no wind.  Like all canister stoves, gas can be a problem if the canister is too cold.  This is easily solved by sitting the can in cold water for a few minutes to “warm it up”.
	Katadyn Micropur Purification Tablets I no longer carry a water filter and instead use simple water purification tablets. No mess, simple and leave no nasty aftertaste.
	Easy Showily GPS Tracker This is a great little device that’ll record your trek as you hike along.   Works like a charm and is super simple to use. Brett has a nice review here.

I’ve been wondering what to take for brewing coffee on our trip.   I can attest that a good cup of coffee is a necessity for Lynn every morning.  I was planning on taking instant coffee such as Nescafe Espresso or similar.    While it has more than enough caffeine content, the flavor isn’t there.

So, what to do? While browsing my local REI for last minute goodies, I stumbled across the GSI Ultralight Javadrip.    At a measly 0.5oz it definitely doesn’t add any significant weight.   The price is great too at $10!   No more instant coffee, no more filters – now that’s not bad :-)   We gave the gizmo a trail run on Sunday and it works pretty well.

What’s the coffee of choice for the trip?  Deadman’s Reach by Raven’s brew in Alaska. The preferred brew to “jump start” your morning.  Available from your local Whole Thief.

I recently purchased a SPOT GPS tracking device.   It’s remarkably simple with four buttons – help, power, ok and 911.    Pushing ‘help’ sends a page to your list of trusted friends and is intended for things like ‘my car’s broken down’, etc.    The 911 button is obvious which leaves the ok.    Pushing ‘ok’ sends a page to your list of friends and also records your GPS postiion.    If you push and hold down OK, the pager goes into tracking mode and will send out your location every 10 – 20 minutes.    This can be be tracked on a map so folks at home know where you are 🙂

I spent a little time today hacking up a Live Maps mashup that shows our planned route (in red) and the progress we’re making (in blue) as reported by our SPOT tracker.

[Large Map]

Just got a nice package in the mail today with final details for our upcoming TGO hike in May.  We’re hikers #99 and #100 out of an amazing 379.   I was lamenting the fact that my training regime hasn’t been all I would have hoped and thought better of it since there are lots of over 60’s on the hike including some 80 year old folks.  Amazing!

Our starting point of Dornie and finishing point of St Cyrus seems popular with 49 starting from Dornie and 89 ending in St Cyrus.   I’m sure it’s going to be quite social 🙂

I’ve been contemplating the meals for our forthcoming TGO Challenge in May and have been thinking about experimenting with de-hydrating some of our home cooking.    Both Lynn and I are avid cooks – I like to make Thai/Indian and she likes the traditional stews, Italian, casseroles, etc.   

I found some interesting articles on Andy Howell’s blog going over the basics of dehydrating along with some great recipes.   Freezer Bag Cooking also has tons of information on everything you’d ever need to know.  So it could be Thai Green Curry, Chicken Panang, Phai Thai Noodles for us!