Tuesday 19 to Saturday 23 May 2026 - Around Fort William and Montrose

Tuesday - Fort William and Neptune's Staircase 

A slow start. The forecast rain didn't arrive. Sue made a nice scrambled egg and smoked salmon breakfast while I contacted some of Gary's mutual friends. Gemma (his daughter) said he had wanted to contact us but had deteriorated rapidly.

The funeral will be on (TBC)

The morning passed quickly in the conservatory, under the dulcet tones of the resident chaffinch.

After lunch, a 21 km bike ride for me and Sue, to Fort William and Neptune's Staircase. Here are a few pictures taken in between showers, including one above where the railway crosses the River Lochy.

Here's our 21 km route.

Cuckooflowers line the towpath at this time of year.

Wednesday - The Hermitage in Dunkeld, and Montrose

We drove in pleasant weather to Dunkeld, for a walk around the area known as The Hermitage.

Click on the next picture for a readable version of the highlights of the Hermitage.

There are several iconic bridges over the River Tay in this area.

The woodland is beautiful at this time of year, with many different shades of green as the leaves emerge from the year's new shoots.

Ossian's Hall is a long, thin building dating from 1757.

Nearby, the River Tay plunges down a series of cataracts.

Ossian's Cave dates from when the pleasure grounds were first opened in the 18th century.

A little further on, more white water flows under the Rumbling Bridge.

After pausing for lunch on a massive picnic bench near some beehives, we worked our way round a 7 km loop, passing through a magnificent avenue of pine trees before returning to the car park and our onward journey to Montrose.

Here's our route - 7.6 km with 180 metres ascent, taking us a leisurely couple of hours. Well worth it if you are passing through Dunkeld and fancy a short break.

Later, we got installed in the Links Hotel in Montrose - a lovely room with a balcony and a bath - and said hello to TGO Challenge Control next door in the Park Hotel, promising to help with tea and biscuits for the finishers over the next couple of days.

We soon met up with Ali, Gayle and Mick for an impromptu convivial evening with some nice Thai food at the Ma Yom restaurant.

Thursday - Teamaking at TGO Control, and a walk to the beach

We've been here before. Pictures are from a quiet moment in the Park Hotel, and a walk to the beach.

Friday - Challenge Control and a bike ride

After a busy morning with the teapot, Sue and I grabbed a chance to cycle 5 km to Charleton Strawberry Farm, where we met a variety of Challengers passing through with only 6 km to go to finish their walk from the west coast. Some of the paths in the disused aerodrome were bordered with the sweet coconut scent of gorse, a pleasant change from the sweaty atmosphere back at the Park Hotel!

Here's our 11 km route.

Back at the Park Hotel, a table of socks that participants could swap for the pair in their goody bag if that was the wrong size. These excellent Darn Tough socks would have to be returned to the sponsor, UltraLight Outdoor Gear. I'm not sure of the arrangement, but it seems a shame that the socks (albeit every finisher gets a pair) are not for sale.

Coming towards the end of tea and biscuit service, this next picture shows the team at work after several of us had returned from a largely uneventful vetters' meeting.

Later, there were about 100 people at the Friday dinner, which seems to be more popular every year. There had been 130 the previous night, and a good number on the Wednesday as well.

Speeches and awards... dinner finished quite late.

Saturday - Montrose parkrun, the strawberry farm, and a five hour drive home

After saying goodbye to our friends in the Park Hotel, we drove a couple of km to the start of the parkrun, where we were joined by Mick and Gayle and by veteran parkrunner (he lives in Bushey), Charles Harmer. I think there may have been a few more Challengers there as well. Gone are the days when Sue and I were amongst very few Challengers to have even heard of parkrun. 

Here we are with Charles at the start.

There were 193 finishers, and our results went something like this: (full results here)

Charles - 24:21, position 31 (well done, as he was the only one of us who had actually completed the Challenge)

Sue - 25:58, position 52

Martin - 34:19, position 146 (my 7th time here)

Mick - 48:47, position 179

Gayle - 49:10, position 182

It goes without saying that Mick and Gayle had decided to walk round, otherwise they would have been ahead of me. Here they are with Alethea McHardy near the end,

After cake at the parkrun finish, we went backto the strawberry farm for one of their iconic tarts, Alethea and Mags McHardy joined us, amongst other Challengers and parkrunners.

All in all, a successful TGO Challenge, ably 'controlled' by Di Gerrard and her team. Well done, everyone. The one week version - Challenge East - for less experienced or time constrained backpackers was also a success.

Then we drove home.

Gary Beighton

Sad news today. We learnt of the passing on 15 May of my contemporary at UMIST and good friend over the years, Gary Beighton, after a short illness.

More donations to cancer charities will no doubt follow. Other good friends are undergoing treatment for cancers. It's almost as if there's an epidemic.

We remain in Fort William before spending a few days in Montrose and returning home on Saturday, after which I will wrap up this series of postings with a single report on the last five days of the trip.

The picture of Gary was taken in 1970, at a party to celebrate our success in the 55 mile charity walk - Bogle Stroll, in which Gary was a reliable team member.

RIP Gary

Monday 18 May 2026 - The Grey Mare's Tail and West Highland Way

Today was supposed to be a rest day for Sue, but the poor weather that had been forecast was postponed, so it was another Munro bagging day for her, bringing her tally to 20 since 26 April, only 4 of which she had been up before.

A 45 minute drive saw us parking up in the Grey Mare's Tail car park in Kinlochleven (£4.30).

Sue soon zoomed up towards the 1056 metre summit of Na Gruagaichean, whilst I went to a viewpoint for the next picture. 

The Grey Mare's Tail was just visible ahead.

I soon entered Via Ferrata country. Not today, thanks.

Before long I was below the waterfall. To give perspective, the next picture shows the full drop of 50 metres.

Bluebells were abundant and I caught the songs of at least eight bird species in a small section of woodland.

Blackbirds can be added to this list.

The Pap of Glencoe stood out in the view down Loch Leven.

The metropolis of Kinlochleven was now far below. This was home to an aluminium smelting operation employing up to 800 people before its closure in 2000. Now it's a tourist town - the West Highland Way passes through and the Ice Factor, the world's biggest ice-climbing wall, opened in 2003, now welcomes over 150,000 visitors a year.

Numerous rhododendrons were passed on the steep climb to the former Mamore Lodge Hotel, suggesting a throwback to an earlier era when such specimens were brought back from distant regions such as the Himalaya.

The mountain on the right below is Beinn na Caillich, near the summit of which I enjoyed an idyllic campsite on 17 May 2010, before descending to the Mamore Lodge Hotel to pick up a resupply parcel on my 4th TGO Challenge.

Today the house sitter I met has long gone and the once splendid shooting lodge (and latterly hotel) dating from the late 19th century is now surrounded by a high fence and in a dilapidated state.

I wonder what happened to the full size snooker table that I noticed in one of the impressive rooms when I passed by in 2010?

A little further on, I met an elderly gentleman who was helping with some field studies for second year geology students who were littering the place. His response to my question "were you a teacher?" was in the affirmative and accompanied by a lecture on the local geology that had me thinking that he was possibly a retired professor from Imperial College, on a mission to help the students on their first foray outside the lecture room, which he described as 'challenging'.

We sat on a bench chatting, and admiring the wonderful view down Loch Leven.

Soon after that I joined the West Highland Way path, not overly busy today, and walked all the way back to Kinlochleven with two mountain bikers who were walking in order to avoid any mishaps with the numerous run off ditches for rainwater. 

The lady was due to complete a 550 mile route around northern Scotland later in the day at Tyndrum. Her friend for the day was a more confident local mountain biker with whom I had a good chat on the way down.

On reaching the road at Kinlochleven, I admired a nice sign pointing walkers to Fort William. This was just off the well signposted West Highland Way route.

By the time I got back to the car I'd walked 5.7 km, with 280 metres ascent, taking a leisurely 2.5 hours.

Sue arrived back a couple of hours later, having happily got a view from her 1056 metre summit.