MS and Loch Ness: Planning a Monster of a Hike

The Great Glen Way is a 127 kilometer (79 mile) long-distance path in Scotland, running from Fort William to Inverness. The route follows the Great Glen, a major fault line that runs through Scotland from coast to coast, offering views of lochs, bens, and the Caledonian Canal. It passes beside three major lochs: Lochy, Oich, and Ness. Aside from the hopes of spotting the legendary cryptid, why take on this hike? And, more importantly for the purpose of this blog, why am I doing this with Multiple Sclerosis?

Scotland has always had a special pull for me. My maternal grandmother grew up just outside of Oban. She came to Canada as a war bride, having met a handsome young mechanic deployed with the Royal Canadian Air Force during WW2. I was brought up on a healthy dose of Robbie Burns poetry, shortbread, bagpipe music, and tales of tartan-clad heroes. My grandma had fierce Scottish pride, and she passed on her love of Scotland to her Canadian children and grandchildren. The Scottish highlands are wild, weathered, and breathtakingly beautiful. The slopes wrapped in heather turn the land into a sea of purple in late summer. I am an avid hiker and outdoorsperson. I’ve always been a person who says “yes” to big adventures. Climb “the world’s deadliest small mountain”? Absolutely. Canoe and portage across Algonquin Provincial Park and back? Sign me up. So, when my mom asked if I would do a long distance hike with her in Scotland, it didn’t take much twisting of my rubber arm to get me to agree.

We considered a number of Scotland’s long distance trails, but arrived on the Great Glen Way because it seemed to strike the right balance between challenging and manageable. There are enough character-building climbs to make you feel accomplished, but not so many that it’ll have you questioning your life choices.

We are setting out on our grand adventure this August. Challenges like this one matter to me. Not because I have anything to prove to anyone else, but because I have something to prove to myself. When I was diagnosed with MS in 2021, I fretted that my world might get smaller. I worried that my adventuring days were over. I still worry that the day might come when MS takes away my ability to say “yes” to big adventures. But in the meantime I want to keep pushing the boundaries of what I think I can do because sometimes the line between “I can’t” and “I did” is just a willingness to try. When I was diagnosed with MS, I didn’t think that I would be signing up for an over-100km trip through Algonquin with our 4 year-old in tow three years later, but I did it and we made fabulous memories together as a family. I wrote a blog post about this trip: Needles and Nature: Backcountry Camping with MS.

I want to feel strong, even if I’m slow. I want to curse at midges. I want to fall into bed at the end of a long and hard day exhausted but proud. And I want to show both myself and others living with MS, or any chronic illness for that matter, that it’s okay to dream big, to plan trips, and to do things that scare you a little but excite you a lot.

I look forward to toasting a successful hike with my mom over a fine single malt Scotch and some shortbread when we reach Inverness.

The 2025 MS Walk is less than 2 weeks away. If you are able, I would so appreciate your support of my fundraiser for MS Canada. To donate: https://msspwalk.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donordrive.participant&participantID=69102