Sleeping on a matress still felt alien and as I stretched out my knees let me know how much strain they'd been placed under the nagging pains of complaint. It was difficult to get comfortable but I eventually got to sleep.
The caravan was cold in the morning and the duvet cozy. I couldn't lay in bed though I needed to get on. As I dressed I could hear the wind outside pounding the caravan, the rain heavily tapping on the window. I grabbed a couple of breakfast bars and made myself a coffee.
Looking around the caravan I noticed a map of the area and pulled it off the shelf laying it open on the table in the living room. It was going to be a long and lonely hike. I knew of two bothys I would be passing maintained by the MBA and billy had mentioned there was another at a place called Barrisdale, about a days hike away. I located the locations of all three on the map and began to estimate worse cases for the stretch I was about to set off on. It became apparent that it was possible I'd run out of food well before I arrived at Mallaig or at best I would need my last remaining supply box to be sent ahead of time just in case. The sudden reality of the perils which lay ahead of me became extremely apparent. I checked the food I had left in my pack, it was going to be close, maybe a little too close. At that there was a rat a tat tat on the door.
It was billy, he'd come over to see how I was. "The weather's not too good today" he exclaimed as he stood outside in his old mountain rescue gortex jacket and wellies "you can stop another night if you like, it doesn't look like its going to clear up any time soon". It did look particularly ominous across the loch. "Well if you're still here when I get back I'll pop in but if you do decide to head off, good luck with the rest of the trek".
As billy walked away I could see a little look of concern in his eye. I knew I'd be pushing my luck if I set off without at least arranging a supply drop somewhere. Immediately I jumped onto Google maps and searched for nearby post offices.
Arnisdale was the closest and Mallaig was definitely the next. I reassessed my supplies. It would be too close and I'd run out of food on a couple of occasions before. I'd been pushing my luck since I'd set off back in march and in the back of my mind I knew that I could push it only so far before things turned drastically bad. I'd been offered a second night of shelter and it was still early enough for me to contact jo to arrange a drop right here at billys. It had to be the right decision.
While I was waiting for jo to get back to me I sauntered around the caravan, a little lost. The weather had now cleared up and knoydart was taunting me through the window. I went over and gazed at the impressive mountain range, its solid jutting peaks dominating the skyline. Panning my eyes along the tops of the peaks I noticed a couple were engulfed behind small misty clouds. As I stared pondering what lay beneath the clouds began to disperse revealing fresh snow that had settled over night. Wow, it was getting cold. A sudden rush of anticipation followed by the sense of playful adventure swept through my body. I really wanted to climb to the top of the peaks to revel in the icy cold layer of fresh powder that had been deposited. I wanted my snowboard, I wanted to make snow angels, I wanted to build an impressive snowman right on the top of the highest peak. I imagined myself unnecessarily hiking up the side of the mountain alone, pack on my back eager to do something stupid, something a little outrageous. Thoughts began to flow about how it could be possible to leave my kit in the caravan, paddle across the loch, leave hoolley on the shore, stomp to the top and satisfy the child within before descending back to the loch and paddling back to the caravan. I took a look at the map, it was feasible, it was fool hardy. I quashed the idea and continued sauntering around the caravan trying to ignore the mountains taunting me through the window.
It was lunch time by the time jo got back to me, she needed an address. Peering out from the caravan I noticed billys car had returned so I went over to ask if it would be okay to have a parcel delivered the following day. Of course it was absolutely fine and he gave jo the address. Jo disappeared to get the parcel sent off and billy and I began to chat about how lucky he was living in such beautiful surroundings.
"Do you see that? " he asked. "Yes" I replied. The calm waters of the loch were twinkling in a narrow band in front of us. Lightly raining now the droplets twinkled like fairy lights across the surface as they caught the suns light as it slowly sunk behind the mountains. "I thought it was something you saw all the time" I asked, "no this Is a first time for me" he replied.
Back at the caravan I felt restless, like a wild animal trapped in a cage at the zoo looking out at the wilderness with a longing to run wild and free. I felt confined and the need to feel the rush of adrenaline through my veins. I needed to take my mind off things and relax, I wasn't going anywhere, I had to wait for postman pat to make his delivery round and drop off my supplies.
Up on the shelf where I'd found the map were books. I hadn't read many books in my time but without a television and unable to stream a film through my phone, the Internet speed too slow out at the caravan, I began casting my eyes along the spines reading out aloud the titles. "Whales and dolphins", "mushrooms and toadstools", "fatal call of the running tide", hmm that one looked interesting. On the cover was the picture of a lifeboat challenging the ferocious sea and a caption at the bottom "lifeboat rescues and sea dramas". It was appealing, I continued scanning the titles of the books left on the shelf when one title really caught my eye "life and limb by jamie andrew". The cover picture was of an icy cold snowdrift with the mountains of chamonix in the background. The caption read "a true story of tragedy and survival". My knees were hurting so I stretched them out on the sofa, opened the book up and began reading the first few pages.
It was dark outside when billy knocked on the door. I'd been so engrossed in the story time had flown by. Holding a bottle containing a dark red liquid he said "have you ever tried Bramsky?". I had no idea what bramsky was but felt sure it was a drink of some kind. "Brambles and whisky" he added. I put the book down as billy rummaged through the cupboards looking for a couple of glasses. As he sat down he poured to glasses and told me to have a little taster. It was delicious. Billy had made the concoction himself based on a recipe somebody had given him a couple of years previously. Basically it was half a bottle of whisky, 8oz of brambles (blackberries) and a quantity of sugar he couldn't recall the quantity of. To say it went down well doesn't quite sum it up. Lets just say by the time we'd discussed everything from people who'd dropped out of society to live in the wilderness to inspirational feats the bottle was empty. Before billy bid me goodnight he promised himself he'd have to make a larger quantity the following year as it simply didn't seem to last quite long enough.
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