WHW Day 8 (The End Is Nigh)
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Day 8 and, at last, the end is in sight and the bright lights and fleshpots of Fort William beckon. But spare a though for the locals for whom this place truly is the End.
In the shadow of Ben Nevis, take the gate - cross the bridge and find the stream after paying your respect to the locals.
Make sure you throw Jig-Saw a carrot on your way past.
If you have walked the whole Way and found all 8 caches, then you are indeed a truly heroic cacher and your name will be inscribed in the Day 8 Roll of Honour.
The West Highland Way Roll Of Honour:
First in with a spectacular five day walk is Keppielen and his workmates from Belgium. Well done on being the first to get all the caches. Hope you enjoyed your trip through Scotland.
Second in with a six day trek is Thira en Candor from the Netherlands (I think). A fine second place only marred by horrific midgie incidents when writing up the logbook. Well done!
Third in goes to a local lad - Deltree, with a seven day walk, accompanied by his faithful travel bugs, Manes World and Harry H H and, occasionally, two Dutch girls. Excellent work!
Fourth in with a seven day walk is the Running Penguin from Cambridge although I suspect that he did more walking than running. He chose this series to launch his geocaching career. Well done, and even weller done to his 72 year old dad who accompanied him.
Fifth with an eight day walk is Heggi from Kempen in North Rhine-Westphalia, accompanied by Bigizi. This one seemed to be the wettest of the five treks so far. Luckily, though, you missed the last two torrential days. Hope you have dried out now that you are back in sunny Germany. Well done!
Sixth is Bigizi, Companion of Heggi, who now qualifies for a separate entry in the Hall of Fame. A man (or woman) of few words, but immense stamina. Well done!
First in in 2005 is Ursus, the first bear to walk the WHW since the ice age. A splendid 8 day walk (or is it lope), only spoiled by the closed path over Conic Hill. Hope your paws aren't too blistered.
Blimey, it's nearly August, and Steve C is only the second WHW cacher this year. Well done, Steve, on your 7 day walk. And straight up Ben Nevis in 3 hours at the end of it. Obviously a man of iron!!
End of September now and, At last, A third entry to the Roll of Honour. At seven days, The Yob Yabass (what?) team's walk equals that of Irom Man Steve. Well done!! Only spoilt by Bogle interference on number four. This is the first time that the Bogles have taken against a WHW cacher. Was it the smell? Stop press. The Bogles have relented and allowed the cache to be found at a second attempt.
A fantastic early start to 2006 with Ladybird Ladybird's nine day April trek. They must be a hardy bunch down in Preston! No mention is made in the logs, though, about what bribes were necessary to persuade the Lego Men to do the walk as well. Well Done!!
It's still April, and another successful WHW marathon. We are well up on the last two years. Well done 3_Generations. Half Scottish, half English. The quickest trip this year at 8 days.
Into May now, and our first ever WHW cachers from Singapore. All hail Javamama on her epic 8-day walk. I hope that the Scottish culture (and weather) shock was not too traumatic. See you again soon?
Also hail Spa Susi, Javamama’s faithful companion and FTF prize in Malaysia's 1st ever geocache. Heroically fighting off the pain of a cracked coccyx, she dogged Javamama’s tracks despite numerous attempts to shake her off. What a heroine. Special praise to them both, as well, from Jigsaw, who has never enjoyed his apples and carrots so much.
It's still May and its a moot point whether this is our first transatlantic WHW geocacher. A bit rainy at times, but he stuck it out and managed to reach the dry(ish) fleshpots of Fort William in 8 soggy days. Well Done!
At last, a cacher who does everything by the book. The Time Librarian has walked the Way after travelling from sunny Australia to get here. A fantastic nine day effort. Hope that the rain wasn't too much of a shock!
It's well into 2007 and where are those intrepid walkers this year? At last, Singyred and team saunter into The WHW Role of Honour with a leisurely nine day walk. Well, not that leisurely when you consider that the combined ages of the four team members is 266! A particular Well Done to Stan - All of 80 years old. Perhaps those hinged knee stabilizers gave you an extra bionic bounce?
It's August, and we're getting desperate this year -- So an honorary mention for Aldawen and Landy-Team who nearly did the lot, except for a weather led catastrophe around the Devil's Staircase. They didn't half get loads of those other upstart WHW caches, though, that have sprung up along the Way. Well done on a 10 day walk (or, stroll?). Special praises for Aldewan, who maintained an unimpressed stance throughout the Way!!
Near the end of May 2008, and at last, an intrepid local cacher makes it up the WHW. The first this year to get all the caches. All hail Aldemor for an 8 day trek into history. Bet we've never had a drier 8 days to do it in, either.
Well, there are a helluva lot more than 8 caches on the Way now and it's too hard to keep the Roll of Honour going. Here's to those heroic souls of early geocaching!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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