Sore feet, Sunshine & Tweed

Day 7: The Crask Inn to Lairg

? 27km

? 294m

We enjoyed a lovely breakfast at The Crask Inn and a last chat with the fabulously calm Douglas. We finally left about 09:30 and thanks to the tip off from Douglas spent most of the day casually walking through the forestry track.

It started off wet and I soon discovered I had my trousers on back to front so had to do an awkward change in the rain, but we then had a lovely blue patch of sky that followed us around most of the day.
We had lunch by the river and then the hobble began, having been rather smug leaving the Crask showered, fed and rested, our feet were now on fire and the easy going road was taking it’s toll. By the time it came to leaving the forest and joining the main road to walk up the the campsite we booked for that night our feet were seriously uncomfortable.

The camp site was ok but we immediately wished we were wild camping again. There were showers available but I could not be bothered to get undressed again and 2 showers in a row seemed a bit unnecessary. ?‍♀️

Day 8: Lairg to Oykl Bridge

? 34km

? 391m

Half an hour before we were due to get up, the rain went pit pat on the tent and our hearts sank at the prospect of our long, prodominately road, walk ahead in the rain. We packed away the soggy tent and sulkily hobbled down the road to Lairg, the nearest town. Here we visited the pharmacy to stock up on protective plasters, tissues and pain relief drugs. Tom asked for “as many ibuprofen as you can give me” and got a box of 84 double strength pills! ? A bit further into town we found the visitors centre, here we had a cuppa, changed sock options (Tom) and used the toilet before starting out again, resetting our day.

The day comprised of a long stretch along road, luckily not too busy, a nice section through Rose Hall where we stopped in the forest, and had our lunch at a picnic bench, then joining the river and finished the day along a prime section of fishing estate. The setup was very impressive with lovely huts, access roads and seating areas. The river was also beautiful with dramatic rocks, waterfalls and rapids.

We headed to the hotel we had booked for the night, it was very relaxed and friendly, we had been allocated a sofa and table and chairs of our own in the lounge/bar area so once we had indulged in a shower we headed there for the evening.

We had met a lovely couple just as we arrived and explained what we were up to, how far we had walked and our plan to reach lands end. The couple spotted us again and brought over thier friends so we explained a bit more. They were well spoken, dressed head to toe in tweed and were here for the fishing.

We devoured a steak and ale pie with lots of veg, a sticky toffee pudding and a cheeky pint.

Day 9: Oykl Bridge to Strathmulzie

? 14km

? 310m

We made the most of breakfast taking it slow and eating as much as we could, we then returned to room to pack stuff up and went to our sofa in the bar to chill and do some admin.

We met Patrick and Alex who were doing the Cape Wrath Trail and chatted all things hiking. We grabbed a beef sandwich from the bar for lunch and then did a gentle 14km out into the valley, following the river then along another estate road, finding a lush spot by the river to camp. This was our first fully sunny day of the trip, Tom had his legs out and I was down to one layer. We tackled the ticks before getting an early night ahead of an early start.