A long overdue update

Well it's been a little while since my last post, and another 2 tasks have been completed since I last wrote.

Task eleven - Walk the Great Glen Way


I decided to walk the Great Glen Way in June after some short practice walks.  The full length of the Way is 79 miles and can take between 4 and 8 days to complete.  I decided to complete the walk in 6 days and booked the appropriate travel and accommodation.  Although a lot of people have said that walking the Way would be similar to the Duke of Edinburgh expeditions that I took part in when I was at school, I was not prepared to carry my pack and camp out every night.  Instead I booked myself in a mixture of hostels and guest houses.  Mum and Dad kindly arranged for a company to pick up my rucksack every day and transport it from place to place to allow me to enjoy the walk a little more (very much appreciated!!).

The weather during the week was not fantastic, but it made good walking weather - not too hot or sunny, nor too rainy.  My journey took me from home in Aberdeen to Fort William (via Glasgow) and I had overnight stops in Gairlochy, South Laggan, Fort Augustus, Altsigh, Drumnadrochit and Inverness.  Mum and Dad joined me on my second last day walking into Drumnadrochit.  It was lovely to have their company.  I met some lovely people whilst walking - we all seemed to be looking out for each other and it was very friendly.  So many people really put me to shame - I thought doing this walk was a great achievement - when you meet someone who is nearing the end of a Land's End to John O'Groats journey you really feel humbled!

I really enjoyed the walk, even though it was quite tiring.  Definitely think I'll try another long distance walk in the future, perhaps the West Highland Way.  My boots and socks certainly were up to the job - no real blisters to speak of, and generally it was my leg muscles that were complaining more than my feet!

Below are a couple of select photos from the walk - I took rather a lot as the scenery is just breathtaking.  Even if you are not necessarily interested in walking I would suggest people visit the Highlands just to see the wonderful views.  Being dwarfed by the mountains makes you feel rather small and insignificant!!

Thanks to everyone who supported me through training and on the walk itself - a special thanks to Mum and Dad for their support on this one :o)

Task twelve - Buy myself a MacBook


This blog post is in fact being written on my lovely new MacBook Pro which arrived a week or so after I finished my walk - a very nice reward indeed!  It has taken me a while to come up with a name for it....definitely a boy!  Finally I have come up with....Beth, Mac...Beth!!

Still a little clueless as to how everything works, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it soon :o)

As far as other list tasks are going, I'm still trying to finish Moby Dick - I now have it as an audio book as well, however the guy reading it sounds just as bored as I am :o/  At least he was probably getting paid to read it!  Maybe this is a novel idea to raise some money for charity (pun intended!!) - a sponsored read-a-thon.  People could sponsor me to finish Moby Dick by a certain date or even sponsor me to start reading Ulysses at any point during this list!

I'm going to try planning other list tasks for next year as I have already exceeded this year's quota!  Next planned task is the casino on my birthday - could be the best or worst birthday ever.  I'll keep you posted :o)