A tale of Lodges, a Bothy, and an Inn.

Day 4: Dalnawillan Lodge to Knockfin

? 22.5km

?447m

Weather wasn’t too bad today, on and off sun/showers all morning then the afternoon was mostly sun/cloud with the odd light sprinkle.

The track passed a couple of derelict lodges before leading us past the Glutt Lodge by Glutt Water (a tributary from source that feeds the Thurso) where we filled up. Water from the tap was straight out the burn, bits and all, we filtered and it tasted pretty damn good!  A good track continued past a cosy walkers hut maintained by the keeper at the Glutt Lodge and we sheltered there for an early lunch, avoiding a short shower.

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A couple of km after the hut we left the track and headed over the desolate bog that is Knockfin Heights, following Glutt Water to its source before locating the trig point atop the bog which involved picking our way through a boggy maze.  Unfortunately, during this tricky ascent, I slipped and broke one of my trusty trekking poles ?.  Some in the field DIY has done a reasonable job recovering it for now, until we reach Fort William an 10 days or so.

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We then picked up Knockfin Burn at its source and followed it down into the beautiful flat area looking across to Lochside and the Loch an Ruathair where a sheep fold provided the perfect camping spot (aside from the zillions of ticks -. No camp spot ticks all the boxes ?) near the ruins of Knockfin.

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Took the opportunity to wash my feet in river, stretched, ate, reviewed our route for the next two days and and we indulged in watching the Monaco F1 Qualifying Highlights courtesy of 4g ?. 

Day 5: Knockfin to Loch Choire

? 37.10km

?432m

After a cold night, knowing we had more than 30km to walk today, we were on our way by 0700.  We had a day of dry weather to look forward to and we were somewhat disheartened to only cover about 4km in the first 2 hours, picking our way through some boggy terrain alongside Bannock Burn, climbing a deer fence, and eventually meeting the road to Kinbrace.

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We had decided to take the wet weather option rather than trying to cross the river on the main route, and that meant walking the road down to Kinbrace, past the train station, where we stopped for second breakfast snacks, then a few km more before turning off onto a gravel estate road which was in good condition and meant we started knocking off the km’s a little more quickly.

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The estate road continued for around 20km through stunning Highland scenery and we saw so many deer is not even that novel anymore!  Loch Choire eventually came in to view and we passed the hunting lodge, then taking the South East route alongside the side of the Loch, through first and past small sandy beaches.  We eventually reached the proposed camping spot around 1700 to find it didn’t look great, not to worry though as we discovered there was a Bothy we could stay in.

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A quick foot wash in the loch (considered a quick dip but my god it was cold!), arranged ourselves in the bothy and dinner before an early night, dreaming of just 10km tomorrow to get to The Crask Inn. ??? 

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Day 6: Loch Choire to The Crask Inn

? 22.5km

?447m

The rain arrived just as we had gone to bed last night and was still coming down in the morning when we woke so we were very grateful to the Bothy for keeping us warm and dry.  We were disappointed not to have seen the resident Pine Martin in the night as advertised!

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We took advantage of our accomodation to have a hot porridge brekkie before tackling the inevitable wet walk up to the promise of beer and a warm fire to dry off by at the Crask Inn.  We followed a good track around the head of Loch Choire, crossing two rickety bridges on the way, and started the climb up over the pass.  Despite the rain, the cloud had lifted a little and an occasional glimpse behind us was rewarded with views of the loch.

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After heading over the pass the path became less obvious in places and it was much boggier.  It was a rather bleak section and we were heads down with the Crask Inn in sight for what seemed like an age!  With all the rain, the rivers and streams were high and we had a fun leap across to avoid getting soaked, think junior school standing long jump style.  Eventually we arrived and had made good time to get there by 1100.  Our room was ready so we promptly emptied our bags, dried things off and enjoyed a hot shower.

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We had sent a package to the Crask with our food for the next 9-12 days as far as Fort William so we organised it all between us and then relocated to the bar for tea (Katie) and beer (me) whilst we set about planning our days to Fort William, chatted to Douglas, the owner, and other guests, and were entertained by Brandy.

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Having got used to the guide we are using for the route, and our pace over the first 6 days, we had a bit more information to base our next few days plans on.  With the recent rains the rivers are also quite high, so we may need to look at some wet weather alternatives in the next few sections.

We revised our route and timescales a little and will now take 13 days to Fort William, instead of our original 9 days guesstimate.  There are a few reasons for this;

1. We need to take a few wet weather alternative routes due to the high streams.
2. The wet weather route doesn’t include the Crask Inn so tomorrow we will walk to Lairg via some forest tracks, to a campsite near Lairg where we can pick up the wet weather route on to Okykel Bridge.
3. Taking our pace into account and how we can logically break up the route.
4. Whilst our legs seem to be adapting ok now after the first few days of aches and strains, our feet are taking a little longer so we are taking a few shorter days. It’s a marathon, not a sprint!

We also booked a few accomodation options for locations because with some of the revised stops along the route, wild camping spots aren’t too easy to find.

That all took about 5 hours so by the time we were done it was about dinner time and we were excited for some fresh vegetables!