CCXX – Tongue to Bettyhill

Hasteful MammalFOLLOWING my thirty-miler from Durness to Tongue, I slept the sleep of the absolutely steam-rollered. Come the next morning, my body was not at all keen to stop sleeping and carry on with the walking part of my walking trip.

I couldn’t blame it.

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CXCVI – Isleornsay to Broadford

I AWOKE oHasteful Mammaln the first of July with some alarm and trepidation. Not just because it heralded the second half of 2018, meaning six months had passed and I’d so far achieved almost none of the goals I’d set myself for the year but also because it was once again oppressively hot and my plan for that day would have been doubtful whatever the weather. There was a very real chance that I’d fail to achieve my goals for that day alone and it was more tempting than it should have been to sit in the shade all morning and relax and enjoy the view.

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CLXXIX – Port Appin to South Ballachulish

Hasteful MammalON THE penultimate day of my August 2017 walking trip, I awoke and breakfasted as early as possible.  It had rained through the night and the forecast was uncertain though the clouds seemed pretty sure that they hadn’t finished yet. I was equally sure that I wanted to get going and cover as much distance as possible while the water was just hanging there, threatening and grey, but not dropping onto everything.

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CLXXVI – Kilmelford to Ellenabeich

Hasteful MammalIT’S been a bit of an unsettled summer and I kept a careful weather eye on forecasts for Scotland with a view to picking the timing of my latest trip carefully.  This turned out to be entirely pointless, though not because of the omnipresent threat of showers.  Rather it was because, as a non-parent, I totally failed to account for the school holidays and their effect on accommodation.

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CLXXII – Tayinloan to Tarbert

Hasteful MammalI AWOKE on day two of my July 2017 trip with a sense of excitement. Not only was I about to embark upon another day of plentiful pedestrian progress but also I was awaking on an island.  Now, I realise that I normally awake on an island but I was on a smaller island and that makes all the difference.

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CL – Cairnryan to Girvan

Hasteful MammalWITH wonderful synchronicity my one hundred and fiftieth walk also included my two thousand five hundredth mile.  The objective for the day was to walk from Cairnryan to Girvan, which I made to be twenty-three miles.

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CX – Benllech to Beaumaris

Hasteful MammalMONDAY mornings are not renowned for their better qualities and are sadly often only appreciated in contrast to something worse.  Monday last week (as I write this) was a glorious exception, beginning with the awareness that I’d taken the day off and that a full English Welsh breakfast awaited.  Also it was sunny, I had slept well and I was ready to walk…

To be honest, I think that Monday was more than a little confused. I know I was.

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