Their story, in their words…
Our journey started with quick goodbyes to our families as we ran to catch our first coach, beginning a long journey with three stops along the way. We finally arrived in Inverness and began our walk to the start of the Affric Kintail Way, racing against time as the coach hadn’t got there until the afternoon. We set up camp a few miles past Drumnadrochit – it turned out to be one of the worst spots we camped at over the coming days, as the ground along the path was extremely rocky, so we spent much of the night putting up the tent.
Waking up the next day, we knew we had a long hike ahead of us. We got caught in a massive downpour on our way to Cannich Village Hall, where we were thankfully able to dry off before setting out again to pitch camp near Dog Falls. We had yet to encounter any midges, so we were all in good spirits before going to bed.
A couple of hours into day three, we were met with beautiful views of Dog Falls. As we relaxed on a nearby bench, the midges arrived and we quickly moved on. We walked along Loch Affric before deciding to push slightly further to Strawberry Cottage. We soon regretted this, as camping alongside the River Affric meant thousands of midges swarming the tent, so we ended up eating dinner inside it that night.
On day four, we woke up to the sound of heavy rain slamming against the side of the tent – a sign of the day ahead. We walked past Alltbeithe, where we were grateful to be allowed to rest inside the hostel for an hour or so. After our break, we walked along Allt Granda, where countless waterfalls and rivers ran over the path all the way to Morvich. The path was flooded, and seeing a frog swimming right alongside us said it all. We soon found ourselves walking through ankle-deep water for most of the way, meaning we were soaked through by the time we reached Morvich.
On our trek back to Inverness, days five to eight were a similar experience to those before, though we managed to eat out on the last day, having joined a stretch of the Great Glen Way, with its stunning views and very steep hills. Tired, we boarded the coach knowing our transfer time was only ten minutes, so when we arrived in Perth we had to quickly get off and onto the next coach to Edinburgh, where we then sat in the bus station for almost two hours. Shortly after boarding our final coach, it was announced that it had gone the wrong way. Nine hours later, we arrived at Victoria Coach Station, still tired but excited to tell our families all about our brilliant time away.
We are very grateful to the Mark Evison Foundation for the opportunity to do this hike. We learned a lot and are already planning our next trip for when we finish our A Levels.
