Day 4 Inverarnan to Tyndrum be ready for anything

Today was such an amazing day.

We had our breakfast at the Drover’s Inn where we stayed last night. Their boasts: the inn is haunted (we stayed across the street in the lodge), Rob Roy stayed here, the best pub in 1705 😂😂😂 I think the Scots are known for simple but good food. Their breakfasts are amazing. Noël has had a Scottish breakfast every morning (one was vegetarian because we shared it). And he was so excited about the black pudding this morning. 🤮

Weather report: much better day. It sprinkled on and off all day. There were a couple of heavy showers but very short. We commented that there was something in the sky that we didn’t recognize. It was large and bright. Yes the sun. It was very welcome and very warm. The weather was so much better today and yet changed constantly.

There are a father and daughter walking together. I think she has just finished college and is the youngest. Her father has taken her older sisters on trips so now it’s her turn. Her knee has been bothering her since the beginning. We saw them this morning and she was struggling. Her dad said they were hoping a certain group of hikers were coming by because they had sports tape and could help her. I immediately offered Noël to tape her knee. We have sports tape and he knows how to tape. Just like last year when he taped the Italian girls on the camino and they gave us the name of the Blue tape angels.

We passed by St Fillan’s priory. St Fillan’s was a priest who came to Scotland to spread Christianity to the Picts. He walked the land much like we are doing. There were also standing stones in the cemetery dating to the 7th and 8th century along with graves from the 18th-20th century.

We saw benches that marked the spot of the Battle of Dalrigh and the Lost swords. These had to do with Robert the Bruce king of Scotland. I will share more about this later.

After my fall and the relentless terrain of climbing over boulders and rocks under foot as well as the rain we decided a day without packs is a good idea. So we are sending our bags ahead tomorrow. It’s so important to listen to your body.

We also saw some amazing fun things.

The distances don’t match for us. One of the things that we have learned about doing long distance walks is that the mileage/kilometers don’t always match what you do. This has been true for us on this hike. So we start the day with the “what is the recommended” mileage/kilometers and then add 2 miles or 5 kms and usually that is closer. This allows us a little less frustration at the end of the walk. I think it’s all about expectations. And when your expectations are not met you get irritated and it can ruin an experience. So we add and often come in under.