It was the early hours of the morning before the party stopped but I was still awake early and up to see the sunrise.

It had rained in the night so it was a bit of a misty morning.

We made a lovely breakfast of pancakes and bacon with eggs and maple syrup. And then we packed everything up and loaded up the bus.

We headed off and went onto the Cherohala Skyway. This is a 43 mile scenic highway that was built in 1996. Its name is a mix of Cherokee and Nantahala, the two national forests through which it passes. It was a beautiful, and sometimes, windy road.

After a while we made a stop to do a short hike to Huckleberry Knob.

Huckleberry Knob is the highest peak of the Unicoi Mountains at an elevation of 5,580 ft (1,700m). It’s a beautiful walk through shrub and meadow land and also a bit of a forest.

On the way up we passed the grave for Andy Sherman. Back in 1899, Andy and his friend Paul O’Neil, left Tellico Creek to get to Robbinsville for Christmas. They never made it. Their bodies were discovered in September 1990, along with some whisky jugs. It appears they froze to death as they were lost and drunk. Paul’s bodies was donated as a medical exhibit but Andy’s body had been badly mangled by wild animals so was buried on the trail.

At the top you had a 360 degree view, which was amazing. We stopped in the sunshine to have a picnic and take in the views.

We sunbathed for a little while before heading back down to the bus.

It was then quite a bit of a drive to our new lodge, Otter Ridge, in Gatlinburg. This lodge is gorgeous and sleeps all 13 of us.

We had a quite night in with takeaway pizza and I think most of us were in bed by 10pm.

Another early morning awakening and another beautiful sunrise.

After a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs and muffins,  with lots of coffee we drove a short distance to the Ocoee River to go white water rafting.

On arrival we all had to don wetsuits which were not the most flattering!

Ryan, one of the guides, then gave us a safety briefing which was pretty humorous but also quite scary.

After putting on splash jackets and helmets and picking up our paddles we drove down to the start of the 6 mile white water rafting course.

The Ocoee River is 37 miles long and the word ocoee means apricot on Cherokee as there are lots of wild apricot vines in the area. There are 3 hydroelectric dams that control the river and the white water rafting course starts at dam 2.

The Upper Ocoee River is made up of part natural stream bed and part man made whitewater course.  The man made section of river bed is one of a kind and was built for the canoe and kayak events in the 1996 Olympics. It is the only white water course built into a natural stream.

Part of the time the white water rafting section is drained and the water diverted via the powerhouse to produce electricity before being released back into the river.

In our raft we had Mark, Jim, Ali, Sherrien, myself and our guide was Acacia.

As soon as we entered the water we had a grade 3 section. The course is made up.of several grade 2 and 3 sections and also three grade 4 parts.

At one point you could jump into the river and just float which was amazing. We practised our rescue techniques getting back into the raft.

Around 90 minutes later we came to the end of the course. It was brilliant and luckily nobody went overboard.

We got the bus back to the wildwater rafting centre where we all had a nice hot shower and put on some dry clothes.

We then hopped back in our bus and drove a short distance to the Cherokee National Forest. We hiked a short distance to the Benton Falls.

By this time it was around 130pm so we stopped for some lunch.

The waterfall was beautiful and Sid, Steve and Nod went for a dip.

After lunch we scrambled up the mountain a bit further to another waterfall which was also stunning.

After our hike we headed home via the supermarket. Mandy and I were in charge of dinner and we made 3 chillies – veggie, mild and hot.

It all tasted really delicious and following dinner we had a bit of a party including a dip in the hot tub.

It was the early hours of the morning before we went to bed.

I woke up early again, around 530am, so decided to write my blog. But the advantage to waking up so early was that we could watch the sunrise, which was amazing.

Unfortunately we found a little bird dead on the decking – I think it had flown into the massive windows. It looks like a hummingbird as it was tiny but I wasn’t sure.

After a quick shower we popped outside again and we saw some birds of prey, most likely hawks, flying over the mountains.

I am still so amazed at how beautiful our lodge is.

Everyone came to ours for breakfast. We made pancakes with eggs and flat sausage and lots of coffee.

We then drove the bus a little further out into the mountains to Chattahoochee National Forest where we parked up to do a small hike to Long Creek Falls.

The hike was around a mile and was not too strenuous.

Long Creek Falls tumble over 50 feet and have an upper and lower waterfall. We did consider a quick dip but the weather was decidedly cooler than yesterday so we decided not to.

We did walk up to the top of the waterfall.

We walked the same way back to the bus and then drove a short distance up the road to a car park. Here we picked up the Benton MacKaye Trail. Benton MacKaye inspired the Appalachian Trail as he wrote about the trail in an article in 1921.

A little way along the trail we came to a point where there was a really lovely view so we stopped here for some lunch.

Outdoor lunch with wine is always so tasty!

We continued on the trail which was a gradual uphill climb for around 2 miles. We came to a point where we then merged on to the start of the Appalachian Trail on Springer Mountain.

The Appalachian Trail is 2,194 miles long. It starts in Georgia and goes to Maine and passes through 14 different states. It claims to be the longest hiking only trail in the world.

We made it to the top of Springer Mountain.

We took a different route back which was a slightly steeper descent but a bit shorter.

We then drove into Blue Ridge for some refreshments.

The houses were all just as I imagined American houses to be with the front porch and the white picket fence.

Our destination was The Boro Inn, an Irish Pub run by a Scotsman. The Deco was weird but interesting.

I had a pint of Wexford Creme Ale which was really smooth and delicious.

As we were sitting at our table one of the locals, Eddie, treated us all to a shot of caramel moonshine which he made himself – it was actually really smooth and nice.

Around 7pm we headed to the restaurant where Sid, Steve, Nod and Sarah joined us. Catherine, Bob and Cindy’s daughter, and her boyfriend Cain also joined us.

We shared some starters, including some fried green tomatoes and I had shrimps and grits as my main.

After dinner we headed back home and straight to bed as we were all really tired. I’m still waking up around 5am each morning, my body clock hadn’t adjusted yet.

We hadn’t planned to be up too early but I was wide awake around 4am so I wrote my blog.

One of the cats, Evie came into the room for some cuddles, she is gorgeous and really friendly.

Josie, the other cat is a little more timid around people.

After a little while we started to get up and wander downstairs to see who else had surfaced.

Bob and Cindy’s house is amazing, there’s a lot of levels and the rooms are massive. The garden is beautiful too.

After a delicious breakfast of lots of strong coffee, scrambled eggs and muffins we started to pack everything into the mini bus.

And we were on our way. It took Jim and Mark a while to figure out the stereo but we soon had the music on and we’re singing along.

After around 30 minutes of driving we made a stop at a retail outlet park . I think a few of us bought a couple of bits. I could’ve spent loads there if I’d had the money and the space to bring everything back. We also bought some bits for a picnic lunch.

Our next stop was Recee’s Cider company.

This was the first cidery to be located in Ellijay. It is owned by Tanner Reece and his wife. Tanner grew up in the area with Reece Orchards being in the family for a number of generations.

Most of us decided to go for the tasting options, either set 1 or set 2. This means you get to taste 4 different ciders, and 8 if you buy two sets between you.

Some of them were definitely better than others – the one that was slightly smokey with a bit of a bourbon taste was my favourite (number 6) and number 8 which had a strawberry and chilli flavour was pretty good too.

A few of the glasses didn’t make it back to the bar!

From Reece’s we drove a little bit further before stopping for our picnic lunch.

It was then time for a short hike through the woods.

We walked down to the river and took a break to have some wine. Another couple were having a peaceful rest on a rock until we came and disturbed them but they took a good picture of all of us.

The scenery was stunning so we posed for a few more photos.

After a bit of debating Ali, Sherrien and I decided to go for a swim.

And then Mandy and Mark joined us too.

The water was quite cold but you got used to it pretty quickly. We also rescued a little gecko that was drowning and put him safely back on dry land.

Following the swim we dried off with a lovely glass of wine before continuing our circular walk back to the car.

It was then just another short drive up into the blue ridge mountains to our beautiful home for the next 3 days.

The views from our lodge, Tranquility Base, are amazing, the photos just don’t quite capture it.

My room is slowly quite special. Everything is made out of wood, and it smells really nice too.

After a quick shower and change we watched the sunset with a glass of wine and keeping nice and warm in our blankets.

Around 7ish we headed down to the other lodge, Whispering Water, to have dinner – which was a beautifully cooked steak with baked potato and salads.

The evening was finished off with everyone coming back to ours for a nightcap.

It was an early start this morning, we were up and out and on our way to Gatwick by 6am.

I had booked meet and greet at the airport, having done that on a previous trip. Unfortunately I didn’t realise I had booked in with a different company to the one previously so we went into the car park and unpacked the car only to be told we were in the wrong place! Luckily where we had to be was only down the road.

And then when we checked in we were told that we hadn’t payed for a bag to be checked in. Luckily I had the paperwork that showed we had – but because it was through a third party and not directly with the airline the airline hadn’t received the money so we had to pay again. I’m currently working on a refund claim.

Eventually we made it to the airport lounge and could relax.

The flight was around 8 hours and the Canadian law is that you have to wear a mask which felt a bit strange after hardly wearing them at all now.

We watched some films, chatted, ate and tried to sleep a bit.

I had a window seat so took some photos as we came in to Toronto.

We had around a 4 hour layover in Toronto but we had to collect our bags and check them in again. We also had to go through a pre-usa check which took quite a while.

Once we were through security we found a bar and had some wine.

It was then just a 2 hour flight from Toronto to Atlanta. As we left Toronto the sun was setting.

And I took a couple more photos coming into Atlanta.

Our bags were one of the first ones to come through and Bob arrived just as were picking them up. It was so nice to see him.

It was just a short drive from the airport to the restaurant where everyone else was already – there already had some Halloween decorations up!

After some delicious tacos we headed to Bob and Cindy’s for a glass of wine in front of the open fire. It was just so nice to see everyone again and catch up!

And then it was time for bed.

We got up early, had a quick porridge pot in our room, before getting a taxi to the start of the Ben Nevis mountain route.

Even at a lower level the views were impressive. The initial part of the climb was pretty tough on the legs as it was walking up natural steps.

We crossed over a bridge and saw the odd couple of sheep on the mountain side.

As we continued climbing the path got a little easier, with a gentler gradient, and the views over the Loch and mountain range were beautiful.

We crossed the Red Burn stream, which is around the halfway point, and not long after that it became really cloudy and windy. The path also became more difficult as you had to climb over boulders and scree.

As we got closer to the summit we followed the cairns which appeared out of the fog and guided our way.

It became really windy, at times if felt we were going to be blown away. It was raining too. At one point you had to wall through some snow.

And the North face of the mountain also still had snow on it.

After 3.5 hours of climbing we eventually we made it to the summit.

At the summit there are the remains of the old observatory.

Basically there were unfortunately no good views from the top, so after a couple of minutes wandering around at the top we headed back down.

The way down was also quite difficult as you had to be careful not to lose your footing. Saying that, we did see people running both up and down the mountain! As we passed the halfway point the cloud began to clear and we got some more fantastic views.

There were a couple more sheep on the way down.

At the bottom we had a well deseved quick half pint at the Ben Nevis Inn.

It took us 6 hours to get up and down the mountain, with the summit at 1,345m and around 16km in distance.

After getting back to town we showered and then headed out fir dinner. We stopped at the Black Isle pub to try some of the beers. We sat outside in the sunshine and had a lovely view over Loch Linnhe, one of Scotland’s largest sea lochs.

We had booked a table at Crannog as we had heard the food was really good.

The food was really delicious and really well presented.

The restaurant itself had some interesting artwork, one was a set of paintings depicting the various stages of depression.

We finished off with a ‘Scottish’ coffee.

And then headed out for a little wander along the Loch.

After a stop at another couple of pubs, this time to sample some Scottish gin, we headed back to our bed for the night.

After a homely breakfast we set off from Kinlochleven around 9:30am. The morning views from our room were pretty impressive.

It was quite sunny when we left but the day would bring showers too. There was an interesting gnome garden on the way out of town.

The initial bit of the walk was quite a steep climb through birch woodland.

We had a good view back to Kinlochleven and you could see the pipelines from the hydro-electric system. And Loch Leven itself.

After a long uphill walk we started to pass through Lairigmore, known as the great pass. We had sunshine and rain during this time, but when the sun was out it all looked amazing.

We continued on this path for many miles. After a while we came across the ruins of an old cottage in the area of Tigh-na-sleubhaich.

There were some other ruins a bit further down, but not so well preserved.

We continued walking along the old military road, through the Mamore mountains.

We found a comfortable spot to have some lunch, it had a pretty good view too.

We continued on the path and eventually got our first glimpse of Ben Nevis.

As we continued on walking the views got better.

The last one and a half miles of the route were along a road so there wasn’t much to see. We passed the former end of the West Highland Way.

In 2010 the end of the route was changed so you now walk through the town of Fort William to the statue of the rambling man.

It was so nice to reach the end – and with no blisters or injuries for either of us.

We wandered back through the town, passing a couple of churches, to our b&b for the night.

After a lovely hot shower we headed into town for a delicious dinner which included venison lasagne.

And after meeting another new friend, Meg, and a couple of beers, we headed to bed.

Today we walked 27.68km.

The breakfast this morning was brilliant, lots of variety, so we made sure we had plenty to eat before setting off.

The weather was not kind to us, it was raining quite heavily and very windy as well.

For the first 3 miles it was pretty bleak and remote.

After a while we started to climb the Devil’s staircase and you could look back over Glen Coe.

The Devil’s Staircase was initially given its name by the soldiers who were part of the road building programme of General Wade. The carrying of building materials up that stretch of the road was not popular! The name came into being when some of the workers building the Blackwater Dam chose to travel to the nearest pub after their wages had been paid out. For the workers at Kinlochleven the journey to the Kingshouse Hotel proved to be more difficult than many realised. The journey back was even worse as unsteady legs meant that many were unable to manage the return trip and, on a cold winter’s night, the devil often ”claimed his own“.

After around a 550m climb we made it to the top, the highest point of the WHW. Despite the weather the views were still pretty amazing.

As we continued walking you could see the Blackwater Reservoir.

This reservoir was built to drive the generators of the hydro-electric plant for what used to be the aluminium smelter at Kinlochleven.

As we continued walking the sun actually made an appearance, even though the wind was pretty relentless.

We walked past the hydro-electric plant and headed down into Kinlochleven through some woodlands.

We could see the dam and the pipeline as we headed into the village.

We made it to our destination around lunchtime so we couldn’t check in straight away. But we had a couple of toasties and some coffee to warm up.

The walk today was our shortest day, just 9 miles but the weather wasn’t the best. I have now managed to perfect my technique with the she wee!

After a bit of a rest we wandered through the village to the church.

We the decided to visit all of the pubs in Kinlochleven. The first one was the Tailrace Inn where we sampled local beers and met Smudge.

We met a guy called Shane in this pub, he was a bit of a Scottish hippie and had some interesting views on life. He showed us where the next pub was – the Bothy Bar – and the views from here were stunning.

After trying another local beer we went back to our place for a delicious dinner.

We moved upstairs to the balcony bar to take in some more of the amazing views before heading to bed.

Today was the longest stretch of the WHW for us – 19 miles in total.

So we set off early and after a quick breakfast at the Real Food Cafe we were on our way.

It was a cloudy and drizzly start to the day and it stayed like that pretty much the whole day. This is the view as we left Tyndrum.

We passed a house that had some interesting carvings in its front garden.

Despite the weather the views were pretty stunning.

After a short while we passed through a tunnel under the railway line and then headed on past a sign to Loch Tioraidh.

We passed through more green mountains and past cascades of water.

We came across some beautiful and majestic highland cows.

And also some oystercatchers on the shore of the river.

We then made our way into Bridge of Orchy which is a tiny village.

We stopped at the Hotel here for a quick coffee which was served with some delicious shortbread.

After our refreshments we headed over the Bridge of Orchy and continued on our way. The bridge was built by the British Army following the Battle of Culloden in 1746.

Had the weather been a bit kinder we would have seen more of the mountains, but even in the clouds the mountains and lochlans were amazing.

Our plan was to have lunch at the Inveroran Hotel but it was closed when we arrived and didn’t open until 12:30pm – which would have meant an hours wait.

Luckily we had packed lots of snacks and had plenty of water so we continued on.

Shortly afterwards we came to a Forest Lodge which actually looked a bit neglected.

From here the path is the remains of an old 1930s motor road.

For several miles we walked through Rannoch Moor, a huge expanse of moorland which is quite boggy.  The view was quite similar along most of this route.

After a while we came to Ba Bridge.

The whole of this section is quite bleak and remote and for long periods of time we didn’t see anyone else on the trail.

At one point we came across a small cairn so I decided to go and investigate.

The views from the top were beautiful, even if a bit cloudy.

As we came close to Kingshouse we could see Glencoe mountain. Glencoe mountain is 1,108m tall and is the site of an infamous massacre in 1692 where around 30 of the MacDonald clan were killed by Scottish government forces. The name Glencoe is supposed to mean Glen of weeping.

We had to pass over a small roundabout before heading to our hotel.

It took us about 6 hours and 45 minutes today, including a 20 minute stop for coffee, and I thought it would take a lot longer.

When we got to the Kingshouse Hotel we were too early to check in so went to the bar for a beer.

Once we got into our room we had time to relax before heading down to dinner.

The views of Glencoe and Buachallue Etive Mor from the hotel were amazing.

We had a delicious dinner and then headed back to the bar.

I tried some Scottish smokey whisky, recommended to me by my brother in law, it was really nice.

Another bowl of porridge and coffee set us up for the day and it was then a short walk back to Beinglas Farm to pick up the trail.

It was a beautiful sunny morning and the scenery was amazing.

We followed the River Falloch, through the Glen, for a few miles. The trail was undulating and we were surrounded by gorgeous green mountains

As we walked along the river we caught glimpses of the cascades of the Falls of Falloch.

The hills looked so much nicer in the sunshine

It was quite an easy trail to follow so we had a good pace today.

At one point we saw a train go past and we also had to go through a tiny tunnel under the railway.

These are the markers for the WHW trail, most of them are quite well placed so far but there are a couple we have missed, or nearly missed.

We then had to go under another tunnel to pass under the main road.

We followed the path up to Crianlarich which was around the halfway point for today.

After a short stop to eat our packed lunch we continued into the pine forest of Bogle Glen Wood.

The walk through the pine forest was really nice and there were some lovely views.

I learnt later that a Bogle is an irritating spirit which lurks just past the borders of visibility, and takes delight in hiding things that split second before you want them. Signs of Bogle infestation can be distinguished from normal losing by the following signs: If you lose something to a Bogle, you are most likely to find it while looking for the next thing you’ve lost, some time later. By this time the bogle has a new toy and is bored with the original lost item, which you almost certainly don’t need anymore. Also, if you spend ages looking for something, sit down in frustration for a cup of tea, and then the item will often be found somewhere in full view nearby. Bogles are mischievous but not wicked, if they sense you are worn out and upset they usually give things back. For this reason it is possible to get things back by asking for them in a firm tone of voice … making it clear that you know what’s going on and are not impressed. Apparently, this presence can be alleviated by leaving a hair from your head or a small thread of cotton or wool at the east most corner of every bridge you come to on The Way.

We didn’t do this so I am expecting to loose things!

At the end of the forest we had to cross the main road again after passing an old aqueduct.

We then had to cross over the River Fillan.

And make our way past lots of field with sheep to St. Fillian’s Priory.

St. Fillan was a traveller who came to spread the teachings of the Christian way of life to the Scots. He had travelled from Ireland with his mother and uncle and stopped here while they carried on to other parts of the country. The priory was built in recognition of Fillan’s teachings and he was made a saint after his death.

Opposite the priory ruins is Kirkton burial ground which is a circular mound within a square enclosure. The gravestones date from the 18th to the early 20th century. The burial ground also contains four early medieval cross slabs believed to be from 7th to 8th century.

We walked on and crossed the River Cononish through a path with a few trees to reach Tyndrum. On the way we saw some very chilled out sheep.

At Tyndrum we stayed at Tyndrum lodges which were basic but ok.

We went yo the Tyndrum Inn for dinner where we made another new friend called Vera!

Today we walked 22.81km. The weather was perfect for walking today, quite a lot of sunshine but a nice breeze too. Most of the other days it has been cloudier and a bit drizzly.