Do Walkers Dream of Electric Sheep?

Ye ye ye ... so I've pinched the title for this blog from the novel that spawned the movie Blade Runner.  I feel I've earned the right because I've had to climb over more electric fences on this trip than is socially acceptable. The fact that I'm still alive suggests my motor skills must be a bit above par.  Anyhow ... 

I remember two things from Mr Piat's Grade 3 class at Duffin's Bay Public School in Ajax.  First, the school provided TVs for each class so that we could watch the inaugural Space Shuttle launch.  This may not seem like a big deal today, but it certainly was the sh1t back then.

The second thing?  The PET computer that visited our class for a short period of time.  It was remarkable for one reason - the Desert Island video game.  My first experience with an entirely word based computer game.  I loved that game even though it amounted to little more than a "Choose Your Own Adventure"  book on a monitor.

Why do I mention this?  Well, there was one part of the game where we were given a choice to either build a raft to escape the island or choose to stay.  The choice to flee was a poor one.  When selected, the result was always the message "discretion is the better part of valour" followed by some indication that you were eaten by a shark.  I didn't really understand what it meant at the time, but I do now.    

As I said before, this adventure of mine has really beaten me down.  While I was witness to extreme weather in the first two days of the trip, I still pushed myself hard.  Too hard.  The result?  I was completely bed ridden on the third day with feet that were blistered and with two black toenails.  Laying there in bed, instead of visiting my grandfather's birthplace, I decided that running was just not a sensible thing to do (at least until I am in proper shape) because my rucksack was simply too heavy and the route too brutal.  I've been walking ever since with some running on the downhills. 

In addition to switching to walking, I also contemplated different route options.  I had spent over six months planning my route and it only took me two days to begin questioning its logic.  On day four, I awoke feeling much better from a physical perspective and a glorious day walking across Galloway Park reaffirmed my need to continue on with this adventure.  Day five, on the other hand, was cold and cloudy ... meaning I was literally walking through a cloud for most of the it.  Once again, my feet were drowned for nine hours in the moors and the bogs and I was utterly miserable.

With the forecast for Day six being driving rain and high winds, I simply could not stomach the thought of another 43km moorland walk up/down significant hills.  So I sat down with Frances (the owner of the B&B I was staying at) and worked on an alternate route that would be entirely on roads but would extend the day by about 5km.  The weather ended up being worse than called for.  Even with my rain gear on, I was freezing but I had no option to put on more clothes because I would have had to do so in the middle of a storm.  I just trudged on, in a terrible mood, but knowing that I would have never made it if I hadn't changed the route.

After grabbing dinner in Moffat with Christine and Celine, I retreated back to my room and began thinking seriously again about the overall route.  The "mid section" was to see me travel from Drymen to Fort Augustus and, along the way, spend four nights wild camping.  Not an exciting prospect for me.

Several phenomenal days later, as I headed into Edinburgh, my mind was made up.  I simply could not tolerate the camping schtick.  My feet and my mental state would not survive and I absolutely need a bed every night for adequate recovery.

So I've pivoted.  Instead of turning east at Drymen, I've gone north.  I'm currently on the West Highland Way and will jump onto the Great Glen Way to get to Inverness.  I'm replacing the mountains of the Cairngorms with the western highlands which include Glencoe and Ben Nevis ... I'm replacing more moors and wild camping with hotels and B&Bs.

All in all, in life and on this journey, change is necessary.  My primary goal is to get to John O'Groats.  The ways and the means are secondary.  So I walk on ... along a new and utterly breathtaking route that will put me in a much better position to complete my journey and to enjoy it as well.  And If the last two days are any indication, I couldn't have made a better decision.

Craig

Somehow it got easy to laugh out loud

I see myself change as the days change over.

   We've Been Had, The Walkmen (inc. title)

Hey All, 

Yeah, if you read my last post, you may be surprised that I've come back.  But I've started my adventure and it's given me a much different and more positive perspective on things.

I've been writing ... a lot.  In all honesty, I can't even keep up with it at the end of the day.  My routine is typically this - wake up, breakfast, walk (that's right, very little running until I'm convinced that my body can handle it), check in, stare blankly at wall for a few minutes, unpack some essentials, stretch and roll, tend to my poor left foot which is blistered to h3ll, shower (fingers crossed that the place I'm staying at has hot water and/or pressure), dinner and pints, return to room to stretch one last time and then lay out and write for a bit.  It's gotten to the point where I have so much to jot down, that I just bullet point the vast majority of the events from every day and plan to elaborate once this whole thing is over.

This said, I haven't walked away from documenting some of the more relevant events.  One was deeply personal and quite detailed and I had considered blogging it (yes, I am a hypocrite as I alluded to in my last post ... whatevs).  However, after getting some good advice from Nelson, I've decided against laying it all out in this Post.  I will, however, touch on it in the second part of "the two things I've learned so far in Scotland".

First ... there is no camera in this world that will ever come close to capturing, accurately, the immensity and beauty of Scotland's diverse and open spaces.  However, just when you stop to appreciate the wonder, the weather and the landscape itself attacks, tears through your core like a buckshot and leaves you hollow and broken.  I've been left despondent and beaten so many times in the past few days and have wanted nothing more than to give up.  But I trudge on just as the Scots would.  Get on and get at it ... as I'm sure they would say.

Now on to the second part which I alluded to earlier.  I've lived my life feeling as though my self-imposed isolation protected me and is, in fact, my friend.  When I failed to go out, it gave me reason to stay in.  Whenever I left early, it gave me a reason to do so.  But as I walk on alone, I've come to realize it's logic is flawed.  It's rationale is, actually, irrational.  This confidante, who has guided me for so long, is not my friend, it is my enemy.  My life left unfulfilled because I've been listening to a liar.

It's one thing to acknowledge a personal flaw ... and I'm glad I have.  However, it's an entirely different challenge to face it. At this point, I'm still not sure I can but I do hope somewhere along this route, I'll build up the courage to do so.

That's all for now.  Hope to be back in touch once I reach Edinburgh in a couple of days.

Craig