Day 2

Day 2 – New Luce to Bargrenann – 18.5 miles

Had a long chat with Marc last night and here is their update from yesterdays walk!

The good news is the weather stayed dry and the scenery and wildlife is amazing! Everywhere they walk has loads of wind turbines and they only saw 2 people all day, a pair of chaps attempting the same walk but on bikes! As they are walking quite high up they managed to get burnt faces even though the temperate only reach about 10 degrees. All three are now carrying injuries, mostly blisters from walking in wet socks, the ground is treacherous and they try to find tufts of grass sticking up above the water if they can to walk on. Steve was walking from log to log on one stretch and slipped into a bog and immediately sunk to his knees and had to be pulled out. Navigation is quite easy as the route is well sign posted which is just as well as most of the time they spend looking down at the ground hoping to find a spot to place the next step that doesn’t involve sinking! Standing still is not an option as you immediately begin to sink! They’re hoping the ground will become less boggy the further east they travel. Marc says streams are like rivers and springs are waterfalls the lady at the B & B said the last two days, which have been dry, are the first for 6 weeks. The lady at the B & B not only dried out all their wet socks but drove them to the pub for a meal and went back and collected them which was very kind.

They did have one funny incident well funny in hindsight when walking through a field a herd of Galloway bulls took exception to them being there and surrounded them, luckily they got bored and wandered off but Marc says it was a tad worrying all the other bulls had apparently not been bothered by them up to that point, Marc did video it though so that’s good LOL.

Apparently 500 people have started the walk this year but only 300 have finished it, which Marc says it’s  understandable as it is so much harder than last years walk.

Today Day 3 is Bargrenann to St Johns Town of Dalry – 23.5 miles.

There is some concern over Mondays walk which will be 27.5 miles, usually this is split into 2 days but Marc wants to complete it in 1 day so the following day they only walk 8 miles and can have a half day to rest their feet, anyway the forecast for Monday is worrying with gale force winds and rain forecast.

I wouldn’t say they’re down and out but they are very tired which is worrying with just two days walking done. Marc’s knee is holding up well so that’s good news. Any encouraging messages would be most appreciated.