Author: Tom

Day 16: Glen Affric to Cluanie Inn

? 11.34

?242m

We left Glen Affric knowing that we only had 10 or so km to cover, with not too much ascent, to get to our overnight stop at the Cluanie Inn.  I was looking forward to a beer! ?  The route, for some unknown reason, took a marginal short cut through a fenced off area where some re-foresting was being attempted, rather than taking the river trail, which the route met with later anyway.  Perhaps the woodland area wasn’t there when the route was created.  After making slow progress through tufty ground, around and through trees, and stepping into a covered hole, around knee depth, I had a bit of a sense of humour failure!  We should have just followed the river path.

Once we had joined the marked path, we made better progress but it was still tough going underfoot, and as we walked over the pass, a visible path was intermittent.  Things improved on the other side and we were soon on a vehicle track heading down to the main road (A87).  Only 2 more km along the road and we were there!  It was a busy road with fast moving traffic and not too enjoyable to walk along.  We were thankful for a good verge and even more thankful to reach the Inn.

We were early so our room wasn’t available yet and so we sat in the bar for a couple of hours.  I had the beer I had been looking forward to, and we ate an early lunch from the bakehouse over the road which is part of the Inn.  Unfortunately both Katie’s salmon and cream cheese baguette and my cheese and ham toastie were underwhelming at best.  The ginger cake upped the game a little but the lemon drizzle needed both more lemon, and more drizzle.

The service was a bit strange so far at the Inn, whilst done up to try and be authentically Scottish, lacked soul.  I guess I was expecting a traditional Scottish Inn as we have experienced elsewhere so far.  Things improved when they made our room available around 1300 and within a few minutes the contents of our bags were strewn everywhere, clothing had been washed and was drying on radiators which had been whacked up to max level.  Katie showered and then I had a bath since there were some bath salts ?‍♂️.  Strangely I had to fill it with the shower since there were no taps.  And to be clear, the shower was over the bath. ☺️

We returned to the bar and I had another beer whilst we planned the next part of our route from Fort William, along the West Highland Way.  It’s a busy route so we opted to book some campsites which wasn’t easy as some were full, but we got there in the end.

Things started to get a bit busier around dinner time and it was entertaining people watching.  At one point the staff tried to sit two parts of separate families on one table thinking they were together.  This caused much confusion.  The food was decent, Katie had a beef burger and I had a chicken burger.  We had some fries and stir fried Asian vegetables on the side (the burgers came with crisps! ?‍♂️).  Then chocolate ice cream for Katie and Scottish Bread Pudding with extra vanilla ice cream for me.  It was good, I slept well on a well fed tummy. ?

Day 17: Cluanie Inn to Glenn Garry (Loch Poulary)

? 16.89

?524m

I took full advantage of the mornings breakfast offerings at the Cluanie Inn and had some cereals, fruit salad, full cooked breakfast with toast and the good bits from an almond croissant which I’m sure was a leftover from yesterday since the rest of it was tough as old boots.  The coffee was surprisingly decent filter coffee, and strong, so I had a few refills.  Ultimately this resulted in a pee stop every 5 minutes throughout the rest of the day.  We had a good giggle when I realised I had sprinkled Demerara sugar over my breakfast too, I hadn’t read the packet or paid attention, thought it was pepper. ??

After checking out we hung out for a bit in the lounge before getting going about 11.  We only had around 15km to go today and mostly on marked paths, so no rush.  There was also uncertainty over the camping spot with no obvious nice location as we’ve had previously so didn’t want to arrive too early in the day.  We had allowed for the possibility of having to cover 25-30km today, mostly along the busy A87, should the river Loyne have been in spate and un-crossable.  To our relief, about a week now of dry weather meant we could avoid this hellish prospect and take the shorter, cross country, route.

We made good progress on a tarmac road initially, through the Cluanie Estate, before branching off to head south over to the river Loyne valley and we crossed the river with ease.  We didn’t need to stop for lunch as such today after a big breakfast, just grazed on snacks.  Climbing again to walk over to the next valley, we passed through a fenced re-forested area, then on over and descended, filling up on water from a stream along the way.  Across the valley, the hillside was deforested and heavily scared by tracks used by the machinery.  Thankfully we were heading east for a couple of km to take a path south that looked like it headed into some of the remaining forest. ?

Reflecting on the Cluanie Inn as we strolled along today made me think of Fawlty Towers and made me want to watch an episode.  I wonder it it’s as funny as I remember it being when I watched it as a kid…

It was about 1630 when we found a camp spot just by the river and got setup.  There was a good breeze when we arrived, but as soon as this dropped shortly afterwards, the midges were on us.  Not too many, but enough to make us dive for cover.  Things soon got fruity in the tent as the midges prevented me from heading down to the river to wash my feet and I had to have a wet wipe wash in the tent.  We played ‘squish a midge’ with any midges than managed to wiggle their way in whilst the doors were briefly open, and set about our usual routines.

Only two evenings of Firepot dehydrated meals left now, Orzo Bolognese for me tonight.  They are good and I’ll miss the ease of them.  From Fort William in a couple of days time we pass shops frequently so will get whatever we need as we go.  I was also thinking today of a hiking blog I read last year in which a hiker’s top tip was to always eat the thing in your pack that you fancy the most.  So with that in mind I polished off the rest of a Ritter Sport marzipan chocolate bar that I had been saving.

Day 18: Glenn Garry (Loch Poulary) to Gairlochy

? 24.61km

?746m

We woke up to a damp tent, and there were still midges everywhere.  We packed up and made ready to jump out and pack up the tent as quickly as possible.  We did pretty well but it was horrendous, they get right in your face and I had given up on the head net which seems to be about as much use as a chocolate teapot.  We got moving sharpish as they can’t keep up if you’re walking.  Peace at last!

We were climbing from the start, gradually up through (de)forest, then up onto the open country.  There was a decent track to follow and the higher we got the better the views got behind us.  Weather was perfect, big fluffy clouds and sunshine casting cool shadows over the landscape.  When the trail ran out we bee-lined for the pass, the Bealach Carn na h’Urchaire, which, at 648m, was the highest point of the trail.  The views were stunning and in front of us the first view of Ben Nevis.

The descent was.steep at times, following a stream to begin with where we topped up on water, then joined a path continuing by the stream and later a gravel track down to the road along the northern shore of Loch Arkaig.  After a couple of km on the road heading east, we turned south again and joined the Great Glen Way as far as Gairlochy where the Caledonian Canal begins.  There is a spot here where camping is permitted by know of the lochs.  I guess it’s ‘semi-wild camping’, there are no facilities but it’s quiet and we are the only ones so far.  Plus the midges don’t seem so bad so far, winner!  Just as we zipped up for the night the rain started.  The first significant rain in about 10 days, we’ve been so lucky with the weather recently!

Day 19: Gairlochy to Fort William (Nevis Campsite) 

? 19.95km

?61m

A lazy start this morning, we set off around 0830 for the last stretch along the Caledonian Canal to Fort William.  The canal was nice enough, lovely views and a flat gravel path.  Not much more to say than that as it changed very little for about 12km to Lochyside. We played dodge a snail to pass the time. ? We reached the edges of suburbia, skirting it at first alongside the river, until we entered Fort William, conveniently right by Morrisons where we picked up some food for dinner.

Continuing through town we arrived at our Sunday lunch stop.  We were an hour early after making good time along the canal path and so sat with a drink for a bit, celebrating reaching Fort William, our first big milestone.  We both had beef brisket with veggies and a Yorkshire pudding, then the sticky toffee for pudding.  It was really good, as were the beers.

We made our way out of Fort William to Nevis campsite, found a spot and did some clothes washing whilst also scrubbing ourselves.  When you only have one set of clothes, you don’t have much choice but to sit there in your waterproofs whilst things wash and dry.  Luckily it wasn’t too warm a day.  Chores done we enjoyed a dinner of broccoli, garlic, lemon and parmesan pasta.  I followed up with custard and ginger cake.  Gotta get those calories in!

Fort William concludes the first section of our journey, and possibly the toughest.  Certainly the most remote.  We should only need to carry a couple of days worth of food at a time now, since there will be shops, pubs etc. throughout most of the rest of the trip.  Tomorrow we are having a ‘zero day’ in terms progress on the route.  We need to go in to town to collect and post some things at the post office and do a bit of shopping  to top up on snacks and other essentials like sun cream, insect repellant etc. 

How things add up so far;

• We’ve walked a total of 430km (265 miles) and ascended 8250m.
• We averaged 22.64km per day.
• Our longest day was 37km and took 9 hours 48 minutes.
• We’ve wild camped 10 times, stayed in 2 bothies,  2 campsites, 1 hostel and 3 hotel/pubs.

Day 10: Strath Mulzie to Inverlael

? 13.85

?310m

We woke in a cloud filled valley and packed up a very wet tent and donned full waterproofs before setting off.  The cloud lifted with us as we climbed out of the valley and we were soon stopping to peel a layer off, then stopping again to peel another layer off…  After descending to cross the river in Glen Douchary, we were just about to leave the main track when I spotted a deer antler!  Not the full shebang, head and two antlers deal, but a decent single antler.  Pretty darn lucky to find it right by the track like that and a great souvenir, so I strapped it to my pack and will post it home from Fort William.

The second climb was on difficult terrain without much of a path for most of the way.  Occasional vehicle tracks helped pick a good route over the flat boggy pass and we eventually picked up the gravel track on the other side which took us steeply down towards Inverlael Forest.

Along the way we met Adriene and Peter who were out on a day hike, the first hikers we’ve met whilst it walking so far, after almost 350km!  We also met an geologist who was going up to check on some peat restoration work that was going on.

We then had to walk a few km along the busy A835 which is part of the popular NC500 route, to our accomodation for the night at the Forest Way Bunkhouse.  We were a bit early arriving so took advantage of cafe just nearby.  An can of orange San Pellegrino hit the spot on such a hot day and both the ginger and courgette cakes were delish!

At the Bunkhouse we meet a group of four hikers who were in the area climbing a few Munro’s.  They very kindly provided us with a glass of red to go with our bolognese Firepot camping meals, which we ate al fresco since the weather was so warm and no sign of midges yet.  We also received our first ‘trail magic’ from the group in the shape of a couple of Tunnocks bars, and some skittles. ?

An alternative route for tomorrow was suggested by Iain who owns the Bunkhouse, which would save us walking back on ourselves up the busy A road, so we will take that to tomorrow’s camp spot at Loch an Nid.  The only downer was realising that we had planned to get to Fort William on a Sunday so the Post Office will be closed. Will need to decide how we can revise our schedule to fix this as we have a package or two to collect there.

Day 11: Inverlael to Loch an Nid

? 18.88

?452m

We set off this morning in just shorts and tops.  Following the route suggested by Iain the previous evening, we were soon walking along a lovely river side path which soon began climbing the gorge that the river flowed through and there were many waterfalls and pools.  We crossed a rickety old bridge above one of the falls and climbed a bank to emerge on a B road which we had to walk a couple of km along before taking a path that leads to Loch a’ Braoin.

We had misheard or been misinformed about a new path the opposite side of the Loch to the one shown on the OS maps.  At some point in recent years, the water level of the Loch had been risen a couple of meters in connection with a hydro power project, and the track alongside the Loch had been moved too as some was flooded.  We realised after not seeing a track on the other side of the Loch that the new track followed the same (northern) shore which we followed and eventually came to Lochivroan bothy where we stopped for lunch, sat on a bench outside in the sun.

Continuing, the path deteriorated but was easy to follow round to Loch an Nid and we arrived around 1430. After setting up camp in the shadow of 3 Munro’s, I went to collect some water from a stream fed by the waterfall we can see.  It’s crystal clear, not like the peat filtered stuff from earlier on in our journey, and tasted so gooood!

With extra time after a shorter days walking, I did my usual thing and had time to get the drone out, then do some photo management and backups.  An early night ready for smashing it over to Kinlochewe tomorrow morning.

Day 12: Loch an Nid to Kinlochewe

? 18.61

?403m

After a slightly disturbed night with us both waking around 0200 to the sound of what I think was a rock tumbling down one of the nearby steep sides of the valley (and had thought about this when pitching the tent but figured we were in a reasonably safe place, not that it helped in the middle of the night!), we woke to clear blue skies, the sun already glowing on the surrounding mountain tops.

We got an early start and set off to find the path that would lead us up to the Bealach na Croise, a pass with a small loch at the top.  There was a good path most of the way but for about 3km at the top it was a matter of finding your own way, again around a few boggy areas, but much easier than some of the previous missions.  We were rewarded with views of Loch an Fada once we were over the pass and I couldn’t resist a quick dip once we got down to the loch.  It was fricking cold and I didn’t really do it justice!

From Loch an Fada we followed a nice undulating single track trail down to the valley of Kinlochewe Heights, picking up the estate road through the valley, then tarmac into Kinlochewe.  Easily three busiest day in terms of other hikers on trail, and even a couple of bikers, with it being a bank holiday.  We made it just in time for the village store which closed at 1300 on a Sunday, I grabbed an ice cream, we each guzzled a fizzy pop, and topped up on a few snacks.

We checked in at the motorhome campsite only to find that their tent pitches are a bit of turf on top of the gravel laid down everywhere so you can’t actually stick any pegs in the ground properly. This really ground my gears. Luckily it’s not windy.  We spent the afternoon relaxing, did some clothes washing for the first time on the trip and had a wicked Sunday Roast at The Gorse Bush to finish off the day.

We have had a few easy days recently and I’m feeling a bit frustrated that we aren’t doing longer days, partly because I’m not very good at not doing nothing, so arriving at camp early afternoon like we have recently seems weird to me.  We needed to rearrange our schedule to be in Fort William when the post office is open so this either meant having a big day tomorrow, or having an extra day in Fort William and having a rest day.  In the end we chose the latter.  Although it means our next two days are again a bit on the short side, we are also in the heart of the Scottish Highlands now and there is more climbing to be done in terms terrain, not to mention it’s a nice place to hang out. ?  We are both still nursing foot issues that we haven’t seen before on such trips which is frustrating, but we need to manage them and not rush it!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. ??? 

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!

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.

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.

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.

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!