I'll just leave this here for now

In Finland we have this thing called last minute

It is, however, done, finished, and sent off. At the last minute. I am so ashamed, and will accept the  pillory, stocks, the pranger and any other appropriate method of public humiliation.

Nobody knows the troubles I've seen

February the 26th, the deadline for route submissions for the first-time Challengers, is approaching like a teenager driving his father's BMW for the first time. Full speed. Way too quickly for me to get out of the way in time. It's a good thing that I've been on my winter vacation this week or I might have be in serious trouble. Now I'm only in regular trouble, as most of this week I've been ill and also taking care of my canine companion's injured paw. She managed to rip the outer layer of one of her nails off. I'll spare you from the dreadful image and show her sporting her protective husky bootie instead:

11 years and 5 months worth of pure love and happiness. Also some amount of dorkiness.
Her name is Lumo and she is a Lapponian herder (a Finnish breed for herding the reindeer).

Might have been Gillian Anderson's fault, too. Not the paw injury but the fact that my route is still not finished. On my worst sick day I ventured into the world of Netflix (Try one month for free! Binge-watch 'til you drop!) and stumbled upon The Fall.  All three seasons of it. Nuff said.

Anyway, despite all these hardships, I'm nearly there with the route. It looks like this:

Day 1: Mallaig - Inverie - Sourlies bothy
Day 2: Sourlies bothy - Kinbreak bothy
Day 3: Kinbreak bothy - Laddie Wood
Day 4: Laddie Wood - Invergarry- South Laggan
Day 5: South Laggan - Melgarve bothy
Day 6: Melgarve bothy - Laggan - Newtonmore
Day 7: Newtonmore - Glen Feshie - Ruigh Aiteachain bothy
Day 8: Ruigh Aiteachain bothy - Linn of Dee
Day 9: Linn of Dee - Mar Lodge - Braemar
Day 10: Braemar - Balmoral - Ballater
Day 11: Ballater - Mount Keen - Tarfside
Day 12: Tarfside - Mount Battock - Charr bothy
Day 13: Charr bothy - Fetteresso forest
Day 14: Fetteresso forest - Dunnottar castle - bus to Montrose

I'm still contemplating an alternative route  for days ten and eleven to be able to attend the Cheese & Wine party, but that would mean walking the Jock's Road, keeping my original plan as the foul weather alternative - thus forcing me to decide which route to take already in Braemar. Better have that crystal ball clear and at hand.

*edit*
Changed Day 4 destination from South Laggan to Fort Augustus.
*edit of edit*
Changed Day 4 destination back to South Laggan (thanks for the encouragement, Humphrey!)

Mallaig. It will be Mallaig.

After tossing and turning for several nights in agony over deciding where to start my big adventure, I have finally come to the conclusion that I will take a train/bus/train combination from Edinburgh  to Mallaig via Fort William. Why is that, you ask (well I doubt that anyone really asks but I'm telling you anyway). Because having already planned that I might do that (or choose from the dozen other plans I had schemed out), I came across a Challenger blog from last year and realised that travelling by train to Mallaig I will actually be crossing the River Finnan. ON TOP OF THE GLENFINNAN VIADUCT. Oh yes, the Harry Potter bridge, that is. Being the overgrown child that I am, I was thrilled to to be able to nail my starting point choice with a little help of Mr. Potter. Thanks Harry, much appreciated!

So far my itinerary is as follows:

Tuesday May 11th: Fly into Edinburgh from Finland with the kind help of British Airways. Spend a day and a half out and about Edinburgh.
Thursday 11th: Travel to Mallaig for a night at the Mission Bunkhouse.
Friday 12th: hop on a ferry to Inverie. Recover from possible seasickness . Start walking towards the East coast. Over the hills and far away. The actual route is still being plotted reverently.
Thursday 25th: arrive somewhere in between Stonehaven and Kinnaber Links. Bus to Montrose, a Challenge party and a night in Montrose. Flight home on Friday 26th. Arriving home in the early hours of Saturday 27th.

There! Wasn't that hard now, was it?

Booked

It's a brand new year! From now on I can start saying "this year I am going to walk across Scotland". It really has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

To able said walking across Scotland I have indeed made some vital preparations. First and foremost I have begged my boss to let me have three weeks of my four week summer vacation in May, despite all the happenings and general hassle at work during that time, and she has, a bit reluctantly, said yes, after I promised to update our company Instagram with awesome Scottish scenery a lot.

Vacation time secured, I could then get to the pesky tasks of bookings. After having spent considerable time browsing the internets for cheap flights, and giving kudos to the profession of travel agents that I have not deployed to the task, I finally managed to book reasonably priced (194 euros including the hold luggage) flights to and from Edinburgh. Local logistics at this end will require me to first take a taxi (30 euros prebooked) to the bus station at an ungodly hour, then a 2-hour bus ride (27 euros) to the airport (train would be quicker and cheaper, but also more unreliable), followed by a flight to Edinburgh via London Heathrow. After finally landing on Scottish terrain for the first time in my life, I will spend one and a half days and two nights in Edinburgh before continuing towards my Challenge starting point somewhere on the west coast. Probably Mallaig, Morar oc Lochailort. A big hand and hallelujah to booking.com that allows me to book several accommodation with a free cancellation option up to just a few days before, so I don't exactly have to be 100 % sure where I'm gonna be at which time just yet. I have also booked a bed in a hostel in Dundee for the evening of the finishing party in Montrose. Might swap that to an Airbnb room, though, since there seem to be a few attractive options in Montrose. Staying there would save me a late evening bus/train ride to Dundee.

Update: I did indeed manage to book a lovely room in Montrose via AirBNB, so party all night, party all night it is (quite possibly up to 10 p.m. after which I probably fall asleep).

Up next: route planning.  I have the big lines covered, and a bit more specifically than just "from the west coast to the east coast", now. My plan looks like this: from Mallaig/Morar/Lochailort to Stonehaven/Dunnottar castle/Inverbervie/Johnshaven/St. Cyrus. Not exactly ready to submit the route sheet to my vetter yet, am I. Well, there's still time... I'm sure there is a bunch of experienced challengers who balk at my procrastination skills, but it really isn't that simple and easy to plot a 14-day-walk through a land that might as well be "there be dragons" sort of uncharted territory.

The route shall go somewhere there. Maybe. Possibly somewhere else.

Gear-y Christmas

This is the inevitable phase in any hike planning. Gear talk. The weight and bulk of gear. And quite possibly the excruciating need to update it.

As a middle-aged, rheumatoid arthritis ridden gal I'd rather go on treks where I have sherpas carrying my equipment, leaving me practically skipping along the paths and off of them with just a tiny little pack on my person. I have never done that, though. I have always carried my own belongings, as I also enjoy the wonderful feeling of being completely free, in charge of my own route and pace, carrying everything I will need in a week's time on my back. That and the fact that I couldn't afford a sherpa.

I have tried to keep the weight of my pack down without giving up the sense of security and reasonable comfort, having succeeded in my efforts quite nicely. I'm not saying that it is a particularly lovely sensation to haul a 12 to 14 kg pack over the hills all day, but it is at least tolerable. What wouldn't be is being cold and hungry, wet and miserable after a day of walking with a much lighter pack. The more comfortable, the more uncomfortable, as the saying goes. I always choose the after walk comfort, without going overboard with luxury items.

A typical kit for a week long hike, from a few years back (some of the gear has since been replaced).
Among the Absolute Essentials note the Pringles can on the right. Never leave home without it!

Since I've done this hiking thing for years, I've created quite a functional kit to draw from for all kinds of treks. And yet I find myself at loss when preparing for the Challenge, as it is the longest trek I've ever done, both in duration and distance, and I need to be sure that whatever I take with me will work for me in those conditions. Which is a bit of a challenge (pun intended), considering I've never been to the Highlands before. Judging by all the stories and photographs in the internet I have been able to deduct that hiking in Scotland will likely be reasonably close to hiking in Lapland - windy, boggy and wet, that is, so I am going to plan accordingly.

So far I have only been able to decide on a few items, and the rest is all a big, fuzzy jumble of ideas and need-to-buy-new things kind of a mess. 

Definitely coming with:

Sleeping bag: Therm-A-Rest Mira HD 

Sleeping pad: Therm-A-Rest Neoair medium

Probably coming with:

Backpack: Osprey Aura 50

I'm tempted to update to a Aura AG, although it's heavier, but supposedly even more comfortable to carry. Also, I've been repairing the current pack with Tear-Aid here and there, and would not want it to burst to smithereens in the middle of Scotland.

Stove: Primus Eta Solo. Not the lightest portable kitchen possible, but the weight to gas consumption ratio is the best I've yet encountered. I've typically gone 7-8 days with just one 110 g cas canister. Admittedly, my hiking pals have been quite fed up with me taking my sweet time making tea or coffee on the last day, waiting for the precious last grams of gas finding their way out of the bottle. I might consider a new stove and a titanium pot, but the gas consumption worries me. I really don't want to carry any extra canisters. Since I'll probably be spending at least a third of my nights in hostels or B&B's and having tea and/or lunches in pubs and cafes on the way, I might be able to take just one 110 g canister with the Eta Solo.

Trying to decide between:

Tent: borrowing a Fjällräven Abisko Lite 1 for free or buying a Hilleberg Enan. The former would be a no-brainer if it wasn't 700 grams heavier than the latter. And don't even start with all the dapper UL shelter thingies they have over the pond (in the Americas, that is. The Tarptents and MLD:s and whatnot).

Boots - my trustworthy Hanwag Tatras or a new pair of lighter boots. Tatras have never ever given me any trouble, no matter the terrain or weather. I even walked along the Cornish coastal path in them quite happily, even though they are a bit heavy and stiff. I bought a pair of lighter boots for the Fjällräven Classic Denmark last summer and nearly couldn't finish in them, as all the hot weather road walking and not being able to cool my feet off in streams and ponds and lakes, caused my feet to swell so badly the boots felt like three sizes too small. I also got my first proper blister that was the size of Canada. So I'm really tempted to trust the good old Tatras even if they would be a bit overkill for all the roadwalking (not so much for the boggy terrain though).

Insulated jacket: down or synthetic? With or without a hood? I've got perfect candidates for each option. Not sure if the hood is worth the extra weight, or if the obviously lighter down is a good choice if the weather is really wet (they all fit under the shell jacket though).

Definitely going to have to buy:

New trousers. The current ones have downsized themselves in the closet!

All this and the route planning (which has progressed to "starting from Mallaig, probably, or from Lochailort, or possibly from Morar, and walking to the east coast!"), what a way to spend Christmas. And I haven't even started on planning food parcels and the like. I have a feeling that May can not approach too slowly...

Be prepared!

No, I am not a Scout. It would probably help if I was, since apparently they are great at preparing. I'm great at procrastinating, though, so there's that.

However, I have actually done things to help my big fat Scottish adventure along. I have ordered the Scottish Hill Tracks book from Amazon and subscribed to the OS online maps. I have sat in front of the computer a lot and stared at said online maps. I have also lounged on my futon sofa with my laptop a lot and read stories of previous Challenges. What I have done most, though, is wondering if I should get my head checked.

There's still a shit ton to do. Like actually plan a route and have it vetted and book travel and accommodation. And start stretching my hill legs. On it!

Stretching is always important. Demonstrating at the top of Tjäktjapasset in Sweden.
August 2015.

And so it begins.

"Many thanks for your application for the 38^th Great Outdoors Challenge. We are delighted to inform you that you have a place on the 2017 Event".

Oops. I might  not have believed that I could be accepted. After all, in my application I generously confessed that I've never been to Scotland (but I have, however, hiked a lot in Lapland where some parts are almost identical to Scotland with the bog, the wind and the rain and the snowy fell tops) and that I've got rheumatoid arthritis (which, however, has not stopped me from hiking in Lapland, or Cornwall with all of its glorious ups-and-downs for that matter). Apparently I was deemed qualified enough, and so I am now in for a whole new hiking experience. So exciting! 

Six months to prepare. Need to acquire paper maps and download e-maps. Need to plan and submit the route. Need to book plane tickets and accomodation for start and finish. Need to sort out, and quite possibly buy new gear, at least a solo tent. Need to decide whether to buy new boots and if so, break them in. Need to beg my boss for 2.5 weeks of vacation time in May. Need to organize a caretaker for my dog. Need to be in better shape. Need to stop panicking and start planning! Scotland, oh you land of the brave, I am coming!

Hiking in Kaldoaivi wilderness area, Finland, in Midsummer 2014.
The weather is balmy +2 C with strong winds. Adequate training for Scotland, eh?