I left Strathchailleach Bothy fairly late. With only a few kilometres to my final destination I knew it would be an easy day. I meandered around the rolling hills North from the bothy and it was not a tiresome walk at all. By now, my mind and body had been shaped by the landscape. After I rounded …
Cape Wrath Trail
1st March 2017
Cape Wrath Trail 19: Escape from Cape Wrath
After meeting John, the sole occupant of Cape Wrath lighthouse, I had slept at Kervaig Bothy by the bay. I woke up to the dawn light and snuggled into my sleeping bag for another couple of hours. This was the first night I had slept that I didn’t feel cold. The fire had worked its …
Cape Wrath Trail
27th February 2017
Cape Wrath Trail 16: Night Hike To Strathan
I had walked from Loch Stack and it was an arduous road walk towards Kinlochbervie which I don’t care to remember. I got to London Stores by 17:30 which is one of the very few shops on the entire route. I picked up some food and chatted to the owner. He was an elderly, stout …
Cape Wrath Trail
25th February 2017
Cape Wrath Trail 14: The Wish That Came True
It was a wet rainy morning and I woke up from my restless sleep. It was about 9:00 and I should have been up an hour ago. The condensation inside my bivvy had made my sleeping bag wet. I was cold and wet and didn’t want to go outside to get any colder and wetter. …
Cape Wrath Trail
24th February 2017
Cape Wrath Trail 13: The Secret Bothy
I had slept about three hours in The Schoolhouse Bothy. The wind was incredibly loud and rain lashed at the windows. The wind was so strong against the West-facing wall I really thought it might blow down on me. So halfway through the night I moved to the smaller central room to sleep. It was …
Cape Wrath Trail
23rd February 2017
Cape Wrath Trail 12: The Schoolhouse
I had a nice breakfast with Bubbles who was by now becoming my hiking companion. She had turned up at the same B&B the morning before. She was having some problems back home and was considering discontinuing the Trail. I sensed she needed someone to lean on so I offered to go for a coffee …
Cape Wrath Trail
21st February 2017
Cape Wrath Trail 10: Shenavall Bothy
Day 10 (I think): Shenavall Bothy Some of the wettest days have gone and now I am being shot full of hail stones with what feels like a machine gun. Shenevall Bothy was great. I made a fire with some bog wood which must have been hundreds of years old. There are no trees here, …
Cape Wrath Trail
18th February 2017
Cape Wrath Trail 7: Wet, Wet, Wet
To Shiel Bridge I woke up at 5am atop of the spur. It was the only place I could have camped. Truthfully, I didn’t wake up because I didn’t really sleep that night. The wind was howling around me and it was raining buckets. The water was beginning to permeate my bivvy so I just …
Cape Wrath Trail
17th February 2017
Cape Wrath Trail 6: The Big Bealach
This day would be the highest and longest day of the Cape Wrath Trail yet with a coverage of well over 30km distance and an 800m ascent. A total of 12 hours work. I started at Barisdale Bothy and the path alongside the sea loch to Kinloch Hourn was surprisingly tiring, as it undulates up …