Sunburn, midges and blisters

I just got back yesterday from walking the West Highland Way with Emily and our friends Emma, Iain, Ann and Neil. We took 6 days to walk the 95 miles from Milngavie to Fort William. We could have knocked off a day, but one of the places we were going to stay let us down. However there were some great places to stay along the way, especially the Ewich Guest House near Crainlarich. A really great B&B.
On the hike we passed through some of the country that I'll be cycling through in a couple of weeks; Loch Lomond, Crainlarich, Bridge of Orchy, Glen Coe and Fort William. The A82 looked very busy going north and at the weekend so I'm glad I'm going south and passing it during the week.
We started planning this walk last year and have been out on practice hikes near Braemar, Aboyne, Glen Esk, and Glen Glova since January. I'm not sure that I am fitter from all the walking, but I certainly feel older. Apart from the general exercise I think the only real practice for my JoGLE was eating the full breakfast each day

One month to go

One month to go today!

* Route Planned - Check

* Estimated Milage - 1063 miles

* Accommodation booked - Check

* Kit bought and tested - Check

* Training done - mmmm!

Google Maps route

Google Earth map of route

Malt Loaf...Yum!

I've been on a lot of training runs in the last week and I'm still happy with the new bike. It's great going up hills. I've also been trying to sort out my carb intake on the long runs as on one of the runs last week I experienced a "bonk". I think I've sorted out the amount I need per hour now and have found that Soreen Malt Loaf fits the bill, so I'll be packing a loaf in my panniers for the JoGLE. It was also very sunny last week and I now have funny tan lines because of the cycling gloves.

On the sponsorship front the amount has now broken the £500 barrier and is getting close to £800. Thanks to everyone for donating so far. Lets see if we can reach £1000.

New Bike

I bought a new bike last week, a Trek 7.3 FX. I used one of these on our holiday with The Chaingang last year and was impressed enough to buy one for Emily for her birthday. With the lighter frame and slimmer tires I've managed to knock 20 mins off my standard training run and going up hills is a dream. As well as all the normal accessories, I got the bike shop to fit some Cane Creek Ergo bar-ends just to give me a different hand position and they are really comfy.