The Quiraing - 5 hours is enough! 21st Jan 2020

You guessed it - Vince set another alarm for 6.00am - but he didn't get out of bed until 6.25am as he stayed up late last night and was warm and snuggly this morning.

I reluctantly sat on the side of the bed rubbing my sleepy eyes and grabbed some clothes I'd put on a chair to put on, but in my sleepy stupor I managed to snag my new earrings and ripped the left one clean out of my ear and onto the floor. I picked it up but couldn't locate the back - FFS! Not a good start to my day.

Vince was calling from downstairs reminding me we need to leave by 7.00am! I got dressed, my sore ear and my lost earring back adding to my grumpiness! In the bathroom I went to brush my hair and in the overnight tangles I heard something drop on the floor - maybe my earring back I thought - do you think I could find it? Of course NOT! Vince popped his head in to let me know my cup of tea he had made me was getting cold. I told him about my earring problem but he just said "Well it will have to wait as we don't have time now!" Very helpful!!!

I asked if he wanted me to heat up the soup and do the thremos - NO - he was on a military like precision schedule that included returning home to recharge his drone batteries - so we would get lunch at home.

The hike in the Quiraing we were undertaking would be 30min out to the Prison and the Needle and 30min back - that's what Vince had worked out from the many different sources he had read last night. He assured me there was a designated path, that was mostly flat, so it would be easy walking. Not the fittest of people from the start, still recovering from my broken left leg, and not keen on long walks - I thought that sounded doable so had agreed to it last night. Vince had offered to be my "Sherpa" and carry all the camera gear to free me up on just concentrating on the hike and watching my feet.

We arrived in the dark and waited until civil light (8.03am) - so we could see where we were going as we had never done the trek in daylight. The mist and drizzle had closed in so we waited 8.15am until we finally decided to give it a go.

All kitted up and resembling the "Goodyear Blimp" in all my layers and woolies, I headed off with my hiking poles and although it was cold I was comfortable in my layers and wearing my new gloves!

It started reasonably well, the path was uneven, rocky and muddy but okay, and we stopped to admire the view and the waking sun, taking a few photos on my camera with the Beast (my 14mm prime lens). It was a bit of a mission clipping and unclipping Vince who was wearing a drone bag on his front and a camera bag on his back.The camera bag had both our cameras with wide angle lenses, and an additional lens (35-70mm soon) just in case, 4 spare batteries, 2 spare cards and my "blower" for cleaning lenses. He also carried a tripod which we would share. He looked a sight and all credit to him, he said he felt like a commando in training. I just thought he looked like a pack horse poor thing!

We continued along the trail and as we did it got a bit more complicated. We had to figure out which way to go at times, and found ourselves on the very edge of the mountain, sometimes clambering around rocks with only a foot width of ground before going over the edge of the cliff. It was nerve wrecking to say the least, and frequently I had to tell myself "just keep looking ahead, one foot in front of the other, FFS DON'T LOOK TO THE SIDE OR DOWN! But it's always the same, the thing you tell yourself not to do, you end up doing and each time it happened I felt all wobbly like I would fall over.

I asked Vince if he had the SPOT (A personal Satellite Safety Device that tracks exactly where you are and can summon help if required). To which he replied that he did and that he also had his phone. It was little comfort really as looking over the edge of the path along the mountain face I knew that if we fell there was no need to call the mountain rescue chopper or coast guard - we'd be dead - it would be a body retrieval situation only!

We stopped periodically for Vince to do some droning and me to take some photos, but to be honest I was more concerned with watching the weather closing in, and where I was putting my feet as there was little room for error! There were 4 waterfalls/mountain streams to cross over, three of them were reasonably okay as I had my Wellies and could wade my way across, but one was quite tricky and involved both a steep descent and ascent. I wasn't sure I could do it, but Vince was there cheering me on and encouraging me, so I summoned my inner strength and courage, and thankfully I made it unscathed.

The designated path was not so "flat" as it was "up the day and doon the morrow" and quite frankly - it was F%@KING HARD WORK! My left leg (still recovering from being broken and having two lots of surgery) was absolutely letting me know that it thought I must have disowned it and given it to someone half my age - since no 56 year old in their right mind would ever be doing this!

Vince offered several times to turn back if I wanted but I said no, I wanted to push on. After about the 4th offer I barked at him "I haven't come this bloody far to go back now - I'm getting to that Prison and Needle now, 'cause I'm NEVER doing this again! I thought he was just being kind and considerate of me, but I found out later that HE would have been happy to turn back - the poor overloaded bugger!!!!! If I trudged on it meant he felt he had to trudge on too! All the on and off of the backpacks ended up in a broken strap which made securing things even more difficult. I kept quiet every time he unloaded and loaded again, as I knew it was a pain in the arse for us both but he was doing me a huge favour carrying it all.

I find with Vince it's best to let him ask for help, I've tried offering or showing initiative in the past and it never ends well. He is very independent and gets quite snappy about it. However, this "wait and see if I'm asked" strategy backfired today as I had broken a nail into the quick and was trying to deal with that, when he wanted help to unload. "When you're quite finished looking at your nails, I could use some help here!"

We hadn't brought any supplies with us, not even water - big mistake, and as we were so thirsty we ended up just drinking from the waterfalls.

Eventually, we did make it to the Prison around 11.30am (after 3 hours of hard slog), although shrouded in mist and drizzle there was little hope of taking any proper photos. Vince stopped at the foot, but I was determined to scale the last hill and see what was over it. It was as steep as anything, just scree, and I have to admit it dam near killed me, but I was tenacious and determined to see what was over it. Disappointed - it was just more path and complete cloud and mist, you couldn't see a thing.

Vince had lost sight of me and was concerned so started to follow me, and called out. As I turned around and started to decent the cloud lifted a bit and we could see the Needle. I was so pleased with myself, as was he! WE NAILED IT!

By this time we were about 3 and a half hours into it, and still had to go back. The wind was up, the drizzle was in and the weather was generally starting to close it. So without much hast we headed back. It was just as arduous on the way back, the only difference being that I knew I could manage the tricky waterfall crossing as I had already done it on the way up.

We stopped at one of the easier waterfalls and did a YaYa Vlog - the only time we used the tripod on the whole 5 hours we were out - Vince as determined after having carried the 2.5kg tripod all that way that he was definitely going to use it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfYGMWbIXYM

Although, we met several younger people on the hike going in the same direction or the opposite direction, we also met a 56 year old man who actually RAN, YES RAN, the whole way! Unbelievable!

Well I don't know where those guides and sources get their info that say you can do the whole Quiraing loop in 2 - 3 hours. We only did about a quarter (then return made it a half) and it took us 5 hours total. Vince says I deserve a diamond for my effort - I thought he was just joking, but he is now insisting on getting me one to commemorate our achievement today. It is the hardest hiking I have ever done in my life, and Vince says it's also been the hardest he has ever done!

A few times I thought I was going to have a heart attack with pains in my chest from the strenuous exercise, but I just kept on going, one foot in front of the other, as I knew the only way out was if I kept on going - then I could collapse. Vince offered for us to have a rest, but I said that if I stopped he'd have to just leave me there 'cause I'd never start again!

We were both knackered and so, so happy to finally see the car park. Vince decided that we should just go home and stay home, he had had enough for one day. So when we got home I soaked in a hot bath! Whilst in the bathroom I searched for my earring back and amazingly was able to locate it - so that was a bonus.

Vince had a shower and lay on the couch exhausted. It would be TV dinners for us tonight and early to bed for a well earned rest!