Nancy has been writing a newsletter home as her journal of the trip. It is always interesting to me to see what she includes and what I forget to put in. Today she has an extra one about how we find our way and how we deal with COVID. I’m copying it because it is so succinct.

Intricacies of the Trail

How do we find our way?

Finding the way is difficult. Not impossible, but difficult. These are strategies I have used.
Each day, I tear out the relevant pages from the Stedman Guide Book and place them in a plastic bag. The plastic bag is in either my hand or my pocket all day long. I have used the same freezer weight plastic bag since a particularly skinny stone stile scraped my totally cool zipper bag map holder out of my pocket. (Only discovered much too late.) (I also was tearing out the pages, but when I saw Adrian had taken photos and was using his phone, I adopted that way. No more fumbling with papers and glasses. As far as battery power on the phone, I’ve only had to use my power pack for extra battery once. I love technology!)
Carla also has a Garmin and an Ordnance Map app. She can find most points we need. If I am relying on her, I lose my place on the guide page. I have been trying to be more diligent and stay exactly on the place we are at on the page. Between the two of us, we have managed to keep on track. Whew!
Another strategy we have used is to latch onto another walker and let them do the guiding. We have actually only done that with Bonnie and Adrian. (Mmm…I think Nancy’s forgotten about Allen and Susan.)

Each morning, I review the pages as far as I can stand it. I try to figure how to get out of the village. That is often the most difficult figuring. Then, I pick the next two relevant points to study. That is how it goes all day long.

(I’ve been trying to keep track of where we are on the guidebook pages and rely on the GPS for confirmation, but I’m not always successful. Nancy usually gets me back on the correct page. Finding our way is definitely a case of two heads are better than one, and in some cases, it takes four heads.)

How do we deal with COVID?

Flying and public transport feel the most risky to me. I wore a mask during the whole flying experience, except for eating. I sat next to Carla in the little bit larger seats so didn’t have to directly breathe anyone else’s air.
In Glasgow, very few people wore masks. I always wore one in situations I didn’t feel comfortable. Going into stores brought out the mask. The hotel seemed safe enough because I hardly interacted with anyone – check in, an occasional passing by in the hall. When we ate breakfast, we were well-spaced from others.
On the train, I wore a mask, particularly if there were many passengers, which there were not.
I haven’t felt too concerned with the B&Bs. We have little contact with others, mostly when we check in and during breakfast. We are never around a large number of people and are always well-spaced.
I have worn a mask whenever I feel I am too close to others or the space is too small. In stores, shops, etc.
Most of the time we are outdoors. Or in our rooms, by ourselves, sprawled out in a tired heap. That feels the most safe to me.