Moy Bridge to Feagour?

Distance Walked: 13.92 Miles

Distance Overall: 51.8/82 Miles

Day four… From the moment we awoke to the moment we finally fell asleep, this day was an absolute travesty.

It had been a heavy night, drifting in and out of sleep, choking on my own snot and coughing up my insides. Sarah actually thought I was dying in the tent next to her, although she didn’t leave her warm pit to make sure I actually hadn’t. The rain had come down heavily throughout the night, leaving the air feeling fresh, but I was not feeling fresh at all. I slowly got myself out of my pit, blew my nose, and reset. I dressed as cute as I could to make myself feel better and then threw some ibuprofen down my neck. Sarah and I then set up the camp kitchen and indulged in a breakfast of coffee, a full Bulk bar, and some bourbons. The full Bulk bar was absolutely a huge mistake. Both of us ate one each, and it sat so heavy on our stomachs.

The Quest for Coffee

Stomachs full of regret, we packed up our tents and got back down to business. During my on-and-off sleep, I Googled around for a coffee shop because I was craving fresh coffee so badly at this point. After seven days without real coffee and counting, I found two coffee shops in Laggan, and I was convinced that we could walk to one of them before they closed. With the goal set, we cracked on walking along the beautiful loch down yet more fire road.

The day before had been mostly Fire Road, and this day started off on Fire Road and then continued on more Fire Road, so we were both starting to feel a little deflated. There were some really picturesque parts, which helped keep the motivation flowing, but the scenery was starting to become samey. As we were getting closer to leaving the mountainous section, I decided to grab a bit of water from a lovely-looking stream so that I could have my pink immune-boosting drink, which of course matched my outfit that day. These little tablets really seemed to be helping with the cold, although it could've just been a placebo effect.

Bye Bye, Highlands, Hello Road

We plodded along, taking in the last of the scenery, until eventually, it seemed we were leaving the forest. We had walked a good ten miles at this point and only stopped once for a few bourbons, as we were both very convinced that we would make it to this cafe in Laggan. We start walking down and see our first set of people since we left Stronlossit Inn, and we realise we're starting to become closer to civilization again. What we didn’t realise was that the path was about to lead us down a busy A Road for around one mile.

We make it to the A87, and we both look in disbelief at each other. We're both very confused by the lack of pavement and verge on this road, so we double-check our maps. The route does, in fact, say to follow this road. We sit down and have a little breather before venturing further. We both cannot and do not understand why this road is a part of this route, but unfortunately, we had no choice. Terrified, we set off and started walking along the small verge. Every now and then, having to switch sides of the road to get onto bigger verges as they sometimes became unwalkable. This one mile or so of the road felt like doing a plank - painful and never-ending.

Pure Disappointment & No Water

We eventually saw the light at the end of the road, and we walked quicker than we had ever walked before to get across the road to yet another forest path. This time we were grateful to be on the forest path, as it was much safer. At this point, it was around 3 p.m., and we realised we were never going to make it to Laggan before the cafe closed. It also dawned on us that neither of us had filled up our water reservoirs. Feeling nervous, we started walking on the lookout for drinkable water, as we had left the beautiful highland mountain water behind us.

We walk for a fair while, and the path starts heading into the forest. This is where we decided that we should probably have some food before going any further, and we also found a small stream going through the long grass that would serve as a water source in our desperation. We settle down, and I get the food started. The wonderful Huel Hot and Savoury for another night. Sarah walks off to test the shovel for its first use of the trip.

Hungry and rather sad, we tucked into our food and buttermint tea. I decided it seemed wise to have the last of the bunny lollipops to perk up our moods as we now had to find a spot for camping.

Desperation Camp

We were currently somewhere around Feagour, right on the outskirts of the Cairngorms. We walked through the woods, which got thicker with every step we took, and eventually found a place that looked reasonable to camp in. We start setting up until Sarah mentions how dead the trees look. Both looking up at the scary-looking dead trees, we make the decision to leave the tents currently pitched where they are and scout ahead to find a safer-looking plot. She literally touched a tree gently and it looked like it would snap there and then.

We walked further and further with no luck. It seemed it was incredibly difficult to find nice camp spots along this stretch of the East Highland Way. We came across a semi-decent section of trampled ferns and decided this would be much safer than the dead trees. So we headed back to grab our stuff.

We called this our desperation camp spot, and that it most certainly was. Pitched up and in our tents, we make up some couscous to make up for the lack of food that day and pop into bed. The spot might have been terrible, but the view of the Cairngorms in the distance was certainly a pleasure to have.

With bellies full and tired legs, we put our heads down for another night's sleep in the outside world, knowing that tomorrow we would most certainly get that coffee and taste of proper food.