Let’s be honest, day four was a bit miserable. Barely mustering 5 or 6 degrees all day. Those who took on the cima coppi over the Corrieyairack pass in the snow, like Tobi here – chapeau.

Many struggled even on the easier alternative route up the Great Glen Way. The wisest of the crew sought lubrication and sustenance on the Eagle Barge at Laggan locks. Sam a Yorkshireman and Sandro from Switzerland enjoying a pint together on a canal in Scotland, hearing about the history of the barge as a German troop transporter in the war. It’s a funny old world.

The Lock Ness Inn in Drumnadrochit served me up a personal reward for ploughing on that day. A fan of fish & chips, I’d contrived to have it every night of the trip, and this was the best. The Goddess kept mumbling about scurvy, but I’m still alive. Scotland doesn’t have much by way of ‘signature cuisine’- unless oatmeal with sheep heart, liver and lungs, boiled in the poor wee things’ stomach, counts as cuisine. Fortunately Scots-Italians have saved us from haggis with fish & chips and macaroni pies!