Well the last link was sorted this morning. I ordered my train ticket from Crianlarich to Oban. On Thursday I booked my ticket from Montrose to London. I decided to go First Class. I thought £50 was not bad, particularly as it includes free refreshments. Mr Sloman and pals are travelling in the same carriage, so I’m taking ear plugs!
I booked my sleeper from London to Crianlarich a couple of weeks ago. I was going to get a bargain on that too, but it would have meant getting the last two bargain berths so I decided not to deprive someone else. Instead I’m taking the earlier sleeper all the way to Crinalarich. At Crianlarich I have a bit of time to kill, so I might pop into the Crianlarich Hotel for a serious breakfast.
Hotels at the beginning and end have also been booked in Oban and Montrose. I’ve decided that I will also have a bit of hotel comfort in Kinlochleven and Braemar. Until Braemar I will be mainly wild camping, then after a last wild camp above Loch Muick, it will be tamer, with camping at Tarfside and North Water Bridge. My route has been fully vetted and passed fit for purpose, so all I have to do is turn up! I’ll do some more posts on the specifics of my route later.
Good luck with your crossing, i am having a gap year..haha….petticoat goverment bless her haha. Ilook forward to your write up etc.
Stuart
Many years ago I used to go on Motorbike tours over the Western Isles.
One of the best routes was from Oban up to Ullapool where there was a beautiful campsite which over looked the harbour. In the summers it was wonderful, except when the breeze stopped and the miggies attacked you!
Touring Mull is brilliant and hopping over to Iona from Fionnphort is must! I have fond memories of sitting by the WW2 War Memorial at Tobermory, eating fresh ‘Fish n Chips’ whilst watching the sun set!
Once back on the mainland I’d then make my way accross east travelling back down thorugh Yorkshire.
I can honestly say they were the best holidays I ever had meeting nice people along the way…
I will bet you are glad the planning is over. Have a good crossing and i will keep my fingers crossed for good weather. We are looking forward to reading about it and the gear list too.
The planning has been fun. The travel planning has been more difficult in getting reasonable fares. The Challenge message board has been helpful. The moral has been to book as soon as poss when bargain fares become available. There are some gear choices to be made, in particular which tent and rucksack. I’ll probably not be using Paramo.
Which waterproof might you be taking and what type of insulation layer?
I’ll do some posts on gear soon.
Hi Robin,
When does it start ? And good luck!
It starts on May 11th but I start my journey on May 9th. I finish on the 23rd or 24th May.
Where did you get tickets back to London? Been trying east coast trains for sat 26 , but cheapest is £123. Ouch!
East Coast trains http://www.eastcoast.co.uk/ . I don’t think they’ve released cheap tickets for Saturday. Sign up for the alert.
Thanks Robin, I’ll keep checking