Here are the most recent updates from Dad...
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"Day Eight (Tuesday):-
Today was a very disappointing day; only 16 miles were achieved.
The day started with a steep downhill section which caused havoc with my sore feet and also gave me a quad injury. Doc has had to remove the nail from one of my little toes.
Our off road route was almost impossible to negotiate as it was so boggy. I had to walk and only managed a speed of about 2 miles an hour due to the conditions, with Alan accompanying me. As it usually is when Alan is with me, the weather was very poor!
We went onto a forest path around Invergarry and asked for directions from a forester who gave us the wrong information and sent us in the wrong direction. Fortunately we met some more foresters later in the day who told us we were walking towards a dead end and gave us a lift back to the main road where the team agreed we had no option but to conclude the day’s walk. We had been out of touch with the back-up team whilst off road as there was no mobile signal in the area.
I am very disappointed that I have not managed a marathon today, but the team are all committed to reaching the goal of Land’s End on 29 October and I will be adding an extra mile to my distance for each of the next 10 days.
We have concluded that the off road route is not possible because of its condition and the difficulty of back-up so I will not be following the West Highland Way as I had planned but will be looking at a new route closer to the road.
I may have to walk tomorrow due to condition of my feet, but I am keeping going!
Day Nine (Wednesday):-
Having recovered from yesterday, which was disappointing on so many levels, we had a super day on Day 9.
We passed the 200 mile mark, the weather was glorious and we had fabulous views of Ben Nevis with not a cloud in sight.
It was a late start this morning as my first stop was sports shop in Fort William to buy a new pair of running shoes. The three identical pairs of shoes I have so carefully worn in over the last 18 months of training in Guernsey without any problems seemed to be causing a lot of the problems with my toes. Today, the new pair was much better and I have more on order to collect in Glasgow at the weekend.
The route along the banks of Loch Lochy was quite hilly initially. At the south end of the loch, at 13 miles, Doc was waiting for me with gammon, cheese and salad sandwiches which were very welcome indeed.
My quads were playing me up again at that point, caused by running downhill on steep slopes. After some stretching I had a great run on to Banavie.
The route then went through Fort William and the finish line was about 2 miles south of the town having completed 27.2 miles including my extra mile to make up for the shortfall on Day 8. The objective over the next days is to make up the remainder of the 10 mile shortfall from yesterday.
Unfortunately I have developed infections in both of my big toes. Doc promptly put me on antibiotics and we hope we have caught the problem early.
The route tomorrow goes through Glencoe following the A82, the main link road from Glasgow to Fort William. We have decided not to run off road due to the appalling conditions underfoot following a very wet Scottish summer."
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