Day 7: Inverness (Rest Day 1)

Distance: 1.1 miles
Time: 20 mins
Weather: Sunny intervals
Cumulative distance: 121.8 miles

No serious walking today! Received an email from Lynda, who I used to work with, saying she would be in Inverness tonight. Apart from having company and catching up, this is also a chance for me to offload some excess kit. I moved into ruthless mode and extracted the following from my rucksack:
Used maps (50 A4 sheets)
Spare t shirt
Polo shirt (1 casual top to last to Carlisle)
Pair of spare socks
Travel wash (will have to use soap)
Various toiletries
Travel towel (towels provided most nights)
Leather belt

I estimate that their removal will lighten my load by a few pounds, but psychologically it feels like even more.

I walked into town and located Craigdon Mountain Sports shop. I explained my boot predicament to Calum, the very helpful boot specialist. He's arranged to have my right boot stretched overnight, but also recommended a padded insole support for the boot - this would allow the foot to sit further back in the boot. I agreed to collect the newly stretched boot tomorrow morning.

I had a couple of hours to kill before I checked into a different Premier Inn (last night's was closer to yesterday's route), so I stocked up on plasters and foot padding, then had a light lunch at a super pub called Hootananny - the Red Kite bitter from the local Black Isle Brewery went down well with the homemade pea and watercress soup, served with a salmon and cream cheese bloomer.

I checked into my second Premier Inn in 24 hours, with a fine view of the city and the river from my bedroom. A free afternoon gave me the chance to wash some clothes. I had to construct makeshift coat hangers and will probably have to use the hairdryer in the room to complete the process.

Many thanks for all of your donations to Cancer Research UK. I've noted that we're very close to the initial £10,000 target. So who's going to be the lucky person whose donation breaks through this barrier? Must be worth a prize?