Day 27 was always going to be a tough day. 37 miles and 1,700m of climbing on the penultimate day of week 4.
The learning from doing this in training is that it pays to get over Rannoch Moor quickly so that one can get to Kinlochleven by lunchtime.
With this in mind I set off fairly smartly with tunes on and got in the zone. The weather was dreich but I enjoyed running on my own for a couple of hours especially approaching Glencoe. By pitstop 1 I was about 2.5 km ahead of anyone else so had a fairly long stop to wait for a buddy - as leg 2 was deemed a mountain leg we had to at least pair up. The wait enabled me to have a second breakfast of pork pie, coffee & cake. Jamie, David & Sarah came in next and we headed out together towards the Kingshouse and then up the Devil's Staircase. The weather brightened and we got excellent views into Glencoe and also towards the Mamores.
Lunch was in Kinlochleven before heading back out for the climb up to the drove road over to Fort William. The weather deteriorated and it became quite character building. Morale was boosted somewhat as we closed in on a group of squaddies. Whilst our power walking was enabling us to narrow the gap on the troops, we decided we should at least break into a run to pass them in their maroon tops. Pleasing to note that even on day 27 we can beat the parachute regiment for speed on rough terrain.😉Haven taken the lead in this particular race for Goose Green we realised we had to keep running until we were over the next hill to really make the point!
The descent into Glen Nevis offered cracking views of Ben Nevis and the only dampener being Jamie taking a tumble and twisting his ankle so we all just walked the final section into Fort William and the official end of the West Highland Way.
A flatter day awaits us tomorrow as we head up the Great Glen for the final day of the week.
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