The West Highland Way was great. Easy walking and lots of interesting people along the way. I had walked over 200 miles in 11 days to reach Kinlochleven, just South of Ben Nevis, including a 3 hour burst from Kingshouse up the Devil's Staircase where I would meet a colourful character from Falkirk. I had picked up a jacket on the ascent, obviously left in error and returned it to it's owner on the way down to Kinlochleven at which point he produced a bottle of Scotch from his rucksack and offered me a wee dram. He told me where he was staying and promised me an ale or two for my troubles. I headed down to pitch my tent which was wet from that morning and met up with him later. Looking a little confused I asked if he was OK. "I fell asleep", he informed me, "on the way down, woke up with midges in my mouth". At least he was safe.

Meeting a mate from Sheffield the next day we planned our next two days, staying in a bothy overnight before heading along the Grey Corries towards Ben Nevis. It was not to turn out that way. I felt a little out of sorts, not sure exactly what was wrong, yet knowing something wasn't quite right. I put the consistency of my morning constitutional down to the butterscotch Angel Delight from the previous night, but had little enthusiasm for what should have been a significant day on my adventure. Eventually we had to call it a day and headed down to safety, passed the filming of Harry Potter 4 at Glen Nevis, energy spent.

I lay in my tent the next day, flushing my system with mugs of tea, (NB: Do not attempt to fart!) and had recovered enough the following to eat again and got dropped off where we had left the hills, ready for another attempt.