My backpacking journey to Scotland this Could didn’t go as deliberate. Two days into my hike, I got here down with what was in all probability Norovirus. It kicked my ass, and it took me a couple of week earlier than I started to really feel myself once more. Mockingly, I’d simply revealed an article about The way to Keep away from Norovirus on Backpacking Journeys. I’m not sure once I caught it: perhaps on the airplane or the practice to Oban, my start line, or on the mattress and breakfast I stayed at for one evening earlier than the journey. Onerous to say.
If that wasn’t unhealthy sufficient, the carbon fiber body stayed holding my hip belt on my $400 Zpacks Arc Haul ultralight backpack broke, so on the time, I believed I’d have to purchase one other backpack in Scotland, a pricy proposition if I wished to proceed after my restoration. It then took the gear producer a number of days to get again to me and a number of emails earlier than they despatched me alternative stays and a repair for the issue. I’m nonetheless attempting to determine whether or not I’ll proceed utilizing that pack. I prefer it quite a bit, however I’m ambivalent now. Body stays shouldn’t break, particularly on such a brand new backpack.
However given different scheduling commitments, I made a decision it will be finest to bail and fly house early to recuperate additional and put together for my subsequent journey, which additionally had a calendar deadline: finishing the White Mountains 4000 Footer Grid. Bailing in Scotland was a disappointing expertise, to make certain, however you must roll with the punches. I do know I’ll be again for extra backpacking in Scotland, and subsequent time, I plan to provide myself a for much longer time window to deal with future mishaps.
The plan had been to thru-hike coast to coast, about 200 miles, in 15 days in early Could, coinciding with the TGO Problem (click on for information), an annual occasion that’s run for the previous 40 years. I’d accomplished this crossing twice earlier than and deliberate to complete a 3rd time. There isn’t a set route—you intend your individual—however it have to be accomplished within the 15-day time window wherein the occasion happens.
However on the second evening of my route, I used to be erupting at each ends and felt like bloody hell. Imodium had no impact in any respect. I used to be about 8 miles out of Bridge of Orchy and felt so unhealthy that I even thought-about calling for assist, however in the end, I made a decision to stroll out alone steam. Then, a mile from city, I heard a pop, and the carbon fiber keep on my pack snapped clear by way of. That, on high of my sickness, was fairly demoralizing. I plodded on and hitched to the native practice station once I received to a street. Wheeled transportation is a disqualifying occasion on the TGO Problem, and I knew my participation was by way of (technically, I might have resumed from the place I received within the automobile, however that will have been practically every week later).
Inside just a few hours, I used to be in a modest lodge in Glasgow, protecting hydrated and avoiding strong meals. My situation steadily improved, and as my power returned, I took just a few days to discover Glasgow. It’s a beautiful metropolis that’s simple to stroll in and has heaps to do. The final time I’d been there for any size was in 1984 once I took the GSAT.
Then, I flew house early. No resolution like that is simple. There have been another mitigating circumstances, equivalent to hip and knee ache, that I’d been dealing with on the time. However I’ve overcome that subject with some easy workout routines, and I’m nicely into my subsequent challenge, mountaineering a Lengthy Path side-to-side in Vermont.
