Prologue

Once again, this trip to Scotland began by sleeper train. Kate and I met the train on Crewe Station, quickly found our berth and settled down to sleep. There is something magical about the sleeper experience, going to sleep in the darkness of a Midland industrial town and waking up to the site of heather, hills and huge skies.

We arrived at Inverness at 8.30 am and immediately found ourself in the middle of a small gathering of Challengers, some of whom were old friends making an early trip to Strathcarron and other start points along the train line to the Kyle of Lochalsh. After a few minutes we were joined by old friend Colin Ibbotson, one of the UK's most dedicated, ultralight, backpackers, who we'd arranged to meet for breakfast.

Breakfast was taken in the café of the bus station. I knew I was in a Scottish town when the bacon for our sandwiches was thrown in the deep fat fryer! Colin was in typical lightweight mode his back pack hanging nonchalantly over one shoulder and looking for all the world for someone about to amble down to the corner shop. Kate always refers to Colin's pack as his 'handbag'. I've certainly seem bigger, and heavier, handbags in regular city use.

Colin was also starting his crossing in Torridon but was not quite going our way. Torridon is a difficult start in that the village does not sit on a train line or a regular bus route. Challengers spend ages working out how to get here, sharing the costs of expensive taxi hire or getting local friends to ferry them from Inverness. Colin's approach was both novel and elegantly simply. He would catch the train the Strathcaron and walk to Torridon, a twelve mile walk. This sounds so obvious I wonder why I'd never thought about this before or even heard anyone else consider it!

We had time to kill before Colin took his earlier train. Wondering how to spend a few hours we inevitably stumbled in the Craigdon outdoor store, "The best in Inverness" according to Colin. Before we had time to fix our eyes in the gloom of the the store than one of the shop workers bounded over. What was Colin's pack?What material was it made of? Was that cuben fibre or Spinnaker? How much did it weigh? What was its capacity?

It turned out that our new friend was attempting to design and make his own lightweight pack. He was a mountain marathon runner. The discussion about ultra lightweight gear quickly developed and within a few seconds Colin was emptying the contents of his pack on the floor of the store. Colin's super light bivy was admired and his home made, light weight esbit stove assembled. We eventually left without buying a thing or even browsing, but with the staff effusive in thanking Colin for popping in!

From Craigdon it was a quick hop to a second hand bookshop, Leakies, that was recommended by blog reader Andrew Baxter. What a fabulous place this is — a veritable paradise for those of us who like second hand bookshops. Leakies is in a converted chapel and has great presence. You enter a cavernous space that is crammed to the roof with books and maps. The centre piece of the store is a huge wood burning stove which makes for the coziest setting I have ever seen for a bookshop. At the far end a mezzanine floor houses a fine looking, organic, café. Suddenly I was regretting our deep fried bacon.

We were particularly struck by a fine collection of old and antiquated maps. We pawed over some of the earliest Ordnance Survey maps of Scotland, delicate little gems printed on cloth. Their scale was huge and their pages were missing many modern roads, but we reckoned we could still navigate through the Cairngorms with them.

Colin left us to take the train and I continued to sift through an amazing collection of old travel books. Several caught my eye and I enquired whether the books could be despatched to Birmingham for me. This was possible although the staff were clearly not too keen. I made a note of the titles sure that Leakies would have a web site. The first thing I did when I switched on the computer was to search for the site — they don't have one! If you're ever in Inverness with time to kill make sure to go there; it is an amazing place.

From Leakies we visited the Victorian Indoor market that features artisan shops, good food suppliers and a series of quirky, specialist shops. The Inverness Model Railway Society has constructed a computer controlled 'train set' which runs a whole series of model trains along a complicated stretch of track that is suspended from the roof. The trains make their way through the walls of shop units, and circumnavigate the entire market. Model train enthusiasts were clustering together in ecstatic mood, snapping photos of what must have seemed to them to be a miniature gauge nirvana. A pie shop advertised their famous pies, voted "best football pie" in the country. We bought one each for lunch. The best? The pies simply reminded me what a strange and foreign place Scotland can sometimes seem.

Back at the station the Challengers were gathering, not quite the crowd that would be building at Glasgow Queen Street but it had much of the same atmosphere. We had hoped to meet Shirley "Peewiglet" Worrall here and Doug Cockburn was desperate for her to arrive as she'd agreed to split the cost of a taxi fare with her. At the very last minute Shirley bounced up and the train was free to depart.

As ever there was something of a party atmosphere on the train. There were experienced Challengers and first timers. Nigel Ellis and Lyn Paquette had travelled from near Seattle for their first crossing. Dragging myself away from all of the jollity I saw that the burns and streams were running hard and fast. And it began to rain.

Torridon is not the easiest of starts to get to. As soon as our entry was confirmed I booked into the Cromasaig guesthouse of Tom and Liz Forest at Kinlochewe. Both Tom and Liz are 'Challengers' and a stay here has its advantages. Tom picked us up from the train station and drove us to Torridon for the start the next morning. Tom picked us up with Nick Roggen from Belgium and soon we were in the comfort of the guesthouse in which Koos Schekkevis (Holland) was already in residence. As we stepped inside rain was falling, very heavily indeed.

The Cromosaig guesthouse is a pretty comfortable place and an ideal base for walker throughout the year. There is no doubting that this is a place that follows the Challenge. Copies of TGO Magazine lay everywhere and the walls featured a great my TGO Challenge Certificates, mainly from the days when the event was styled as the 'Ultimate Challenge'.

Tom was on the first ever Challenge, indeed I think he was telling us that he was on a rehearsal event the year before the official start. In those days Tom was in the services, one of those hard core guys who can carry a 50 kilogram pack for 18 hours a day. As the afternoon drifted into evening Tom kept us entertained with stories of the early days of the Challenge. He was particularly keen to tell us about the first Challenger to be airlifted out, a celebrity who was not one of Tom's favourites. "He had quite a public profile — it all had to be kept very hush-hush". The Challenge stories continued throughout the evening as we all sat down to enjoy Liz's superb cooking. The Challenge wasn't what it was. It should be limited to 250 walker. Back in the early days you had to walk a minimum of 250 miles. You could opt for a high or a low route and this was recognised in the colour of the certificate that you received. Tom is more than a little entertaining. Most of his stories begin, "..we're not that politically correct in this house ..." This is inevitably accomplished by a shrug and knowing look from Liz.

Tom was walking the Challenge when men were men and Challengers were as tough as they come. On one Challenge Tom broke his leg a few days from the finish. He found a bothy, strapped a piece of wood onto his leg and kept walking. This sounded all pretty heroic until Liz pointed out Tom's limp. "He's suffering for it now!"

After a thoroughly entertaining evening we retired to our beds. Outside it was raining heavily.

This starts at London Euston and makes its way up to Inverness by way of Blair Atholl, Newtonmore, Kingussie, Aviemore and a number of other stops that are conventient for walkers.

It is probably easier to book via the Trainline website that to use the First Scotland site. The latter is a little complicated to use and never seems to be able to give you the option of a combined booking for train and sleeper. On Trainline the availability of a sleeper service is indicated on the timetable details.

Unlike us, you should book early. Huge discounts are available for early booking. If the sleeper births are not avaiable at the same time you can wait and book these seperately. First Scotland offer a number of bargain births, some available some time out and others at the last minuted. These offer great savings but I've never actually seen any of them. Apparently, First Scotland are constantly changing the times and days on which these are available.

Leakies, Inverness

No website, but there are a number of glowing reviews — and photos — on the web, which do give you a feel of the special nature of the place.

Cromosaig

Tom and Liz's guestohouse has its own website which is here.

Tom also maintains the website for the Cape Wrath Trail, a long distance trail for which the B&B is ideally situated to support. The website carries all of the information required to begin to plan for an attempt on this stunning western walk.