We did it! After almost four months, we completed our aim of walking from end to end! The walk today was mainly along cliff tops, quite overgrown at first with plenty of geos to navigate and sometimes the path was scarily narrow with steep drops, but the scenery was stunning. For the second part of our walk the path was easy, across moorland – albeit boggy in parts. Once our destination was in sight I was a little stressed, as we had booked a taxi to collect us from John o’ Groats and we were running late. However we arrived in time to get the obligatory photo and to get the final stamp on my form. Back at our hotel in Wick, it was time to relax and to celebrate with a large glass of wine!
A Backward Glance
Nearly every journey has drivers and passengers, being a passenger is a very essential role, drivers need us. Passengers have a vague idea about where they want to go and drivers turn it into a reality. My travelling companion is the ‘driver’, a lovely, albeit bossy one, but a meticulous planner, organiser and phenomenal navigator. This translates across all of our journeys: family, business, serious illnesses as well as mad-cap ideas. One lesson this walk has taught me though, is to not make flippant comments about taking long walks out loud again. One aim of the exercise was to work out why anybody would choose to do this in the first place. Two reasons have become apparent, one is to lose weight, the other is to find treasures – we have both lost pounds but added riches. You know how on holiday, the end comes too soon and thoughts of going home adds to the sadness of leaving. Well, the end of a long walk is nothing like that. Arriving at the iconic John o’ Groats sign post was definitely a ‘Hallelujah’ moment. Both of us feel as excited about our returning home at the end as we did about setting off in the beginning. Now, if you have bothered to read this far, you must be getting impatient for news of Mr Komoot and what the future holds for him. Due to bad and what some would agree was rude behaviour during the latter part of the Great Glen Way trek, he was not going to be allowed to spoil our enjoyment of the John o’ Groats trail. This was entirely Carol’s decision and came at a time when I was feeling increasingly intimidated by the constant deference he was being given. This should be a warning to all elderly ladies and men who may be tempted by the charming ways of young attractive ‘bots, promising much but ultimately leading us all astray. Carol is now finished with him and I’m glad and have no pity for the soulless charlatan. If this sounds harsh, then you too may have been beguiled by his devious ways – be careful. It has been cathartic for me writing down these posts. Our walk has shown us a beautiful world full of beautiful people and also the mystery of how flowers are made pre-folded up tightly in their cases, which has gone the furthest in demonstrating the abundant glory there is in life, the universe and everything to me. May you find meaning too in this sad, mad, crazy, wonderful world we live in.
WALKING WITH GRAMPY 
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