Day 13: Kinlochewe to Allt a Chonais
? 22km
? 752m
We woke a bit later than normal, treated ourselves to a campsite shower and headed next door to the garage and cafe for 08:30 for a breakfast bap and coffee in the sun. We headed out about 10:30 with the intention of making it to Craig about 17km away. We were both in shorts and t-shirt, sun creamed up with fresh smelling clothes on. Within minutes of turning off the road and onto the trail we were back in the bog, my shoes and socks were soaked through and there was mud all up my legs, I was fuming.
We continued on through a narrow path of bracken and young forest and by the end of the 5km stretch my bare legs had been annihilated. We then hit a wide forestry road and the huge valley opened out in front of us, it was very impressive and beautiful. Although there was some up and down the path was wide and easier to navigate, with the sun blazing and a cool breeze it was perfect.
We passed a man who was doing the Cape Wrath Trail and had come from where we were going. He said the river further on from Craig was perfect camping so we decided to head there. We took the donkey track down to Craig which got my feet wet all over again and was tough on the knees as it was steep. At the Craig railway crossing we met a lovely lady, probably in her late fifties, who had camped by the river the night before and done a Munro on her own during the day. She was very excited about our adventure and encouraged us to continue on to the river to camp. We joined an estate road and climbed for quite a bit, collecting and filtering water from a stream on the way.
It was a beautiful evening, I rescued my feet by cleaning them off in the water and drying them out. Tom and I both agreed as we had made a bit more progress than planned we would push on a bit further the next day meaning the day after would not be quite as long as planned, making our four hot days in the wilderness a bit more manageable.
Day 14: Allt a Chonais to Maol-Bhuidhe Bothy
? 21km
? 692m
We left camp early and made our way out the valley on the estate road that then cut off right on a marked trail to go up and over Allt Leathad an Tobair.
We crossed a rope bridge, which went hilariously wrong for me and I ended up hanging with my backpack in the water and had to get my feet wet to recover. ?
As we were making our way up we saw a guy practically running down a Munro on our left. He was so lovely and excited for us when we told him of our trip. He had got up early to do the Munro that his wife had done the day before and was trying to beat her time. He pretty much emptied his bag and gave us a handful of goodies, our second dose of trail magic!
We then came off the path and headed cross country, traversing along the side of Bealach Bhearnais staying quite high. We finally hit a better path, which turned into an estate road, and got a few fast KMs in. As we approached Bendronaig Lodge we stopped for lunch on a couple of nice rocks before heading Left on an estate road that took us around Loch Calavie. We could smell something dead and just around the water was a deer that didn’t make it. At the top end of the loch we ran out of path and headed up and over before we saw the beautiful white bothy which would be our home for the night.
The bothy was a family home to the shepherd of the estate in the 1800s, at least 3 families would have lived there over the time, with at least 10 children born in its remote location. The families would have lived off the land and spent some very cold winters in the house with 3 rooms. We headed down to it, finding the best place to cross the river and when we arrived had a quick look around, then started washing feet etc in the river.
Soon after, Simon arrived, he was on annual leave from the Army doing the Cape Wrath Trail and was wonderful company. Simon and Tom went bog wood hunting so that they could get the fire going and they came back with some decent wood and some dried peat. We ate together with a successful fire going. Just as we were finishing up Paul arrived, another fantastic human being with lots of thru hike stories. They were both fabulous company to spend the evening with. Tom and I slept in the attic space of the bothy which was lovely.
Day 15: Maol-Bhuidhe Bothy to Glen Affric Youth Hostel
? 28km
? 671m
We packed up and left the boys early, making our way out the back of bothy along a fabulous path. The views forward and back were stunning and the valley sides were more green rather than brown. We met a few people out for Munro’s, and an Australian lady on a bike, and before we knew it we had smashed 10km. We then turned off the estate road up the gorge, with two giggling mountain bikers coming towards us hysterical that Strava had told them they could bike the route. Biking the route would have been mad as it started steep and gradual but as we hiked more into the gorge it turned into huge steps up and more of a scramble so much so that we ditched the poles. It was different to any of the hiking we had done previously and certain muscles were struggling to get into gear, some of the steps were really high and with the pack it was quite an effort.
The Falls of Glomach, 113m high,were impressive, despite the dry days we have had recently, and we enjoyed lunch at the top.
We then followed the river that fed the falls on a pathless 5km through bits of bog and the shores of lochs, by the end it was quite tedious but probably the best section of pathless hiking we have done.
We then hit a better path and headed down for the final 7km or so. We reached the youth hostel which we knew was closed, but had good camping, and bumped into a couple of young boys who were exploring. A few minutes later their dad came to find them and we shared our trail stories, they were out for a 3 day hike wild camping for the first time with Dad, and seemed to be loving it.
We pitched the tent by the hostel building and washed feet in the stream next door, a quad bike then pitched up with a guy dropping some bags off then he headed straight back out to pick up 3 other lads. They were living in the hostel whilst they replaced the deer fences that had come down in the winter avalanches. They work long days, getting through 200m of fencing a day between the 4 of them all done by hand and at serious height and gradient. They showered from boiling pots of water which was bailed from the stream just like us, they were fun to have around in the warm evening.
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