Leap of faith

The Challenge is almost there. Or here. Or I'm almost there where the Challenge will be. In exactly one week I'll start my journey from home to Mallaig, Scotland. It will take me three days to get there and I'm not even walking! Since it is my first trip to Scotland I wanted to make the most of it, so I'll be stopping in Edinburgh first for a few days, to walk around without a rucksack, post my supply parcels for the Challenge and make any necessary last minute panic purchases. Like a plane ticket back to Finland.

It's not like I'm nervous. Because I'm not. Frankly, I'm terrified. I'm also super excited! What a lovely twofold feeling! Half of me can't wait to be in Scotland and start walking across it, while the oher half is screaming in agony. Why the bugger did I have to sign up for this? Why on earth did I think I can do it?

I have been walking and hiking a lot in the past 17 years, so I'm not new to this, per se. But I am new to the Challenge and the specific demands of it. So far, my longest hike duration-wise has been 8 days and distance-wise 110 kilometres. The Challenge will be 14 days and approximately 311 kilometres. Well, I suppose that's why they call it a challenge. Were it easy, they would be calling it The Great Outdoor Sunday Stroll in the Park.

Also, I'm physically not as fit as I'd like to be, and I'm not talking about dreaming of athlete fitness, but a regular "every limb works and there is no overall ache or pain until I actually start walking" -type of fitness would be nice. I don't have the luxury of that with my rheumatoid arthritis having decided this would be a good time to have a temper tantrum. A doctor's appointment on Friday will probably solve some of that with all the cortisone injections no doubt waiting for me there.

And then there's the actual training, as in "put your boots on and take your rucksack and go walking on the hills". Or the lack of it. The spring has been nonexistent in Finland so far. The last day of April, which is traditionally spent in light spring clothing sitting outside and sipping sparkling drinks, was not like that this year. It's like the installation of spring was accidentally forgotten in the headquarters of Season Control. So there hasn't been much of actual hiking. Fortunately, I do have a dog and my work is very dynamic, so I've been walking a lot, just not with a rucksack and not that much with the boots on. Also, there are no hills where I live.

So yes, it WILL be a challenge. But like someone, who has done it a lot of times, recently told me: the Challenge is for all. I suppose it includes me. So, I'm going to take a leap of faith and see where it goes. Hopefully all the way across Scotland to the east coast.

What's cooking?

Meal "cooking" in a 473 ml mug (up left), nice note outside the package,
and my selection for the Challenge.

Really, nothing is. It's just my try-outs for the Challenge, to avoid any disappointment, or downright crisis in the food department. As in I never want to experience what I did in Fjällräven Classic in Sweden two years ago. That is, walk 110 km eating basically potato crisps, Peanut Crunchy ClifBars, bilberry soup and coffee (and two cans of Coke, because yes, the Swedes know how to install a kiosk in the middle of the wilderness). I just couldn't stomach the freeze-dried meals they handed out at the start. Or the bread. Yikes. Finnish rye bread is nothing like that squishy sponge-like thing they equipped us with. It had mould on it on day three. So, no. No more surprises for me, thank you very much.

So, now that I ordered some vegan meals (not that I'm a vegan, but a lactose intolerant pesco-vegetarian) from the TentMeals (highly recommended, by the way: excellent customer service!) I took 2-3 packs of everything so I can try them out before I go. Today was Italian inspired main meal day (since I was too lazy to cook anything). Given my natural suspicion towards couscous based meals (due to some not-so-delicious experiments in the early years of my hiking career, back in the day) I was delightfully happy to find out that this meal was entirely edible - and better yet, it tasted quite good. I loved the Brazil nuts in the mix and will probably throw in some more for the actual meal on the trail.

TentMeal food comes neatly packaged, very compact indeed (average weight of a 500 kcal meal is just 124-125 g packaged), and since they are not the "eat from the tin foil bag" -type, they also produce very little waste. To avoid having to rinse my pot and still get my afternoon tea taste like sundried tomatoes and basil, I wanted to know if I could use my SeaToSummit Insulated Delta mug to prepare the meal. Yay! There was plenty of room for the ingredients and the 200+ ml of water. I'm quite sure the mug will be big enough for the Almond Jalfrezi meal too, although it requires 250 - 300 ml of water, and the third meal, Moroccan mango, should be fine since it takes the same amount of water than the Italian version.

I also purchased two Subtly cinnamon breakfasts that will be a nice change for my usual porridge with berry soup. In addition to the TentMeals I'll be eating my way across Scotland with instant mashed potato with dried tuna, nice Finnish thin crispy bread (extra dark), Tartex paté, coffee, tea, trail mix with nuts and berries, Pringles and salty liquorice, some fish & chips for certain, and of course all the possible cakes and biscuits that I can eat (meaning the ones that are lactose free, which might be a bit restrictive). I suppose I can manage. It will definitely better than my Fjällräven Classic diet, at least!

My sucksack and other kit issues

No. it's not a typo. My rucksack sucks. Well, that was maybe a bit harsh, since she has been the most wonderful rucksack for several (almost 8) years. Her name is Aura and she is an Osprey by name. We've seen a lot together, me and her.

Stone-stepping across a stream in the Paistunturi wilderness
area, Finland. June 2012.

But now, despite my desperate attempts in patching her up with Tear-Aid for the Challenge, it seems she just can't hold herself together anymore.

It's not like I feel a lot better at the moment, to be honest, since I'm suffering from a very tiresome flu and super achy knees, but I expect to get better before May. My Aura probably gets worse. Maybe it's just time to let her stay at home and swap her for a younger model.

I have tentatively looked at the new Aura AG 50 (sturdier, but heavier, but also comes with adjustable torso length and a zippered lower compartment) and Sirrus 50 (also heavier, but not as much as the Aura AG, also not as sturdy, but with both the aforementioned features that my current Aura lacks). I would love to have the Exos 48, speficially in blue and white to celebrate the 100th year of independent Finland, but even the smallest torso length is too tall for me. Bummer. Also, it might not be a good idea to get an ultralight pack since apparently I manage to trash a heavier one in less than eight years.

Since my hiking trousers (Fjällräven Keb Gaiter) surprised me and came out of the closet the other day well-fitting, as opposed to being too tight like they were two months back, I don't have to buy a new pair and thus could spend the extra money (What extra money? There is no extra money! Best regards, your bank account) on a new pack.

However, I'm already on the verge of a small panic regarding a lot of my current gear. Should I go for  lighter boots (although the last time I tried lighter boots I got really sore feet and a blister the size of Canada)? Should I get a new sleeping mattress (because my trusty old NeoAir is not that trusty anymore, it has the tiniest leak that usually never bothers me, but what if it starts bothering me on 2-week trek)? Do I need a new stove? Will my down jacket be a bit too much? Or a bit too wet if it rains all the time? Should I bring my Merrell barefoot sneakers for wading and camp (although it would mean that they get wet and I'd probably need to buy a pair of Sealskinz socks to go with them) or my Crocs Offroads (although they look hideous and wearing them in public is a fashion crime)? Getting a new rucksack was the ONE thing I thought I don't need to worry about.

Well, at least my back-and-forth with the tent has come to a conclusion. I am getting the Hilleberg Enan (2016 model with the slightly heavier but a lot stronger Kerlon 1000 outer material). In green, obviously. Sleeping in a red tent is a bit too Christmasy.

Now I only need to solve the twenty something issues with my other things and I'm good to go! 50 days left. Better start thinking about food next.

Eastward bound

It goes like this.

For the life of me I can't figure out if it is possible to share a Google Earth link, so here's a screen cap of my route.

I think it is entirely possible that walking across Scotland will be easier than planning the walk. It HAS to be easier than making the OS Maps' digital routes appear in Google Earth.

Two months and 7 days to go.

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.