So I Woke Up At School

Well I hardly ever slept if truth be told. It was snowing again outside.

I had to get on the road but it was hard getting out from under my rucksack and getting out of the sleeping bag. 

 Eventually at 08.30 I set off. It was grim because all I had left for breakfast was a small tin of tuna and a bar  of out of date Kendall mint cake that killer bought me. Tasted good though. After an hour I came to a river where there wasn’t a bridge. I went half a mile upstream but there were no crossing points. It is deeper than it looks here, very fast and the rocks on the river floor are slippy.

I thought that if I fell in carrying my rucksack with my clothes on then I’d be in real trouble from exposure as I was miles away from anyone or anything. I stripped down to my underpants thinking I would be less likely to slip under in the river if I didn’t have my rucksack on, so I crossed first time in the freezing water carrying just my clothes. The water came above my knees but I didn’t slip, although it was painful walking on the rocky river bed.  I left my clothes at the far side, returned over the river and made a second run with the rucksack. I did it and felt relieved to get to the far side a second time without having ‘went a pisser’ like our Clive’s ma – as Bavs might say.

I passed a second bothy, Knockdamph, which was really a home with two storeys. 

  The rest of the way to Ullapool was 7 hours of non-stop slog. I was exhausted but finally made it to the Caledonian Hotel Maggie had booked me in. 

 I sat in the floor of my shower for half an hour and was still shivering. Then I got up and went out to a local curry house – in Ullapool. Chicken Vindaloo, a large Cobra and an early night. Perfect.

Night night.