We had our first ‘zero’ today in Fort William and had a few tasks to complete in town. We were staying at a campsite out of town so we walked about 3km, taking the scenic route rather than the road, and arrived just as the post office opened. I collected our packages whilst Katie grabbed us a coffee and we found a spot to sit in front of the cinema to sort a few thingsout. First, new shoes for both of us. I was pretty sure mine would fit as I have had the shoes before (New Balance Fresh Foam Hierro Trail) and they popped on like slippers, no worries! Katie had also ordered the same and seemed happy but kept her old ones on for now as we had to visit a few shops and she wanted the opportunity to look at other options. We also had a package from Katie’s parents with some new bag liners, maps for the next part of the trip, and a new water container to replace one of mine which was leaking. Lastly, an Amazon order containing a small cork massage ball to help deal with foot issues. Bam! Post office sorted, we started hitting up the outdoor stores for various things including a puncture repair kit for Katie’s sleeping pad, a couple of tent pegs (we left one somewhere so are one short, plus one spare), gas cylinder, a new Buff for me, and a few other bits and bobs. The only thing we didn’t find were some more injinji toe socks. I’ll have to order online to get delivered further up trail.
In between some of the outdoor stores we ransacked Boots for some supplies and last of all Morrisons for food. Our first resupply shop. We only needed 2-3 days worth of food. Not sure what happened but an hour and a half later it seemed like we had come out with a ton! To be fair, I don’t think we really went too overboard in the end, certainly more than we needed, but not a silly amount. And although we have to carry it, shopping some bulk things in Morrisons here will be cheaper than on trail.
Shopping done, we had pizza and beers, at the Black Isle Brewery bar here in Fort William. We stayed in the Black Isle Brewery bar/hotel in Inverness the night before we started at JOG so seemed fitting, and their pizzas, ciders, and beers are spot on! We both got the chorizo pizza and packed a couple of slices away for tomorrow’s lunch. The final task was to post a few things back home including the shoes I’ve been using this far (they have plenty of mileage left in them) and, of course, my antler!
With all of our tasks complete, we grabbed an ice cream and headed back to camp. By the time we had both sorted out our food and things for the next stint of the trip, it was about time to get dinner going. The same as last night, it was real nice. I took care of my feet and we got our heads down excited to start the next chapter on the West Highland Way tomorrow! Today was another beauty so really hoping that the forecast rain isn’t too much over the next few days and we still get some sunshine! ☺️☀️?
I opted for a waterproof shoe to begin with, and after extensive testing of a few options, went this the Free Hiker. The Hoka Speedgoat GTX failed the waterproof test, the La Sportiva option failed the comfort test, and another, more walking boot style Adidas option had a sole that slipped around in the shoe way too much!
So the Free Hiker, in summary;
Positives
Really appreciated having the waterproof shoes.
Waterproofing really did work.
Soles held up well – around 420km on varied surfaces – tarmac, gravel, soft ground, bog etc.
Negatives
Laces need changing. They are quite fat, round, and hard. There is little cushioning in the tongue/around where laces are positioned. This resulted in bruised ankle bone area on left foot and aggravated/bruised bone (Accessory Navicular) in right foot. Lace change could help.
Laces became undone easily.
Probably half a size too big, thought I would be wearing for more time.
Why change now?
Aside from issues with laces causing significant discomfort, in heat (it’s summer, should be getting warmer as we head south!) they will be too warm and just end up wetter in than out! Also expecting ground conditions to be drier in general so less need for waterproof.
Shoes (Katie) – Inov-8 something or other –> New Balance Fresh Foam Hierro Trail
Katie’s shoes had done a few miles before we started and were falling apart a bit so she opted for the same New Balance as I did. She also had some heel pain so hoping that subsides with a change of shoes and more cushioning/padding.
Socks
I tried a combo of an injinji toe sock inner with a stance outer. Didn’t really work for me and unlikely to need that thickness going forward. Will replace stance socks with a second injinji hiking sock (to rotate wear, wash/dry, each day), and keep inner for evenings/night (as had forgotten socks for evenings and the toe socks go well with my sandals. ☺️. Have ordered a pair to a campsite we are staying at this Friday.
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.
Views across to the Cluanie Estate
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. ?
River crossing and feet fence stiles
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.
Midges
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!
Leaving camp
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.
Looking back at the mountains we had travelled through
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.
Snail dodging on the Great Glen Way & Caledonian Canal
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!
A well earned Sunday roast & drinks ??
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.
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.
Coulin Pass viewsSpot the tent
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. ?
The point were I was the right way up
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.
Antlers still attached, bothy in the distance
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.
Paul (left), Simon (right)
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.
Falls from above
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.
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.
Shed antler win and the way to Ullapool
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.
Trail silliness
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.
Blue sky day
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. ?
Trail Magic!
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.
Enjoying the waterfalls on the gorge walk
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!
The last End to End trail hiker to pass through
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.
Drone shots at Loch an Nid
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.
Beaut of a morning
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!
Loch an Fada
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.
Nice trails
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!
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.
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;
We need to take a few wet weather alternative routes due to the high streams.
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.
Taking our pace into account and how we can logically break up the route.
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!
We woke early at our favourite Inverness overnight stop off place, the Black Isle Brewery & Bunk Room. We showered for the final time in a while and walked the 3 minutes to the train station, sad there was no coffee to be had but excited to board the 07:00 train to Wick.
The four and a half hour journey was spent ticking off the last of the life admin jobs, ensuring everything was charged and downloaded and I finished my book just in time.
We took a taxi the last few miles up to Lands End and enjoyed lunch at the Northern Point Café. After the mandatory photos at the John O’Groats sign we joined the coastal path and started walking.
The weather was kind but the terrain underfoot was not and a few miles in I immediately regretted not wearing my SealSkinz waterproof socks as there were some pretty soggy boggy sections. The Geo’s (a long, narrow, steep-sided cleft formed by erosion in coastal cliffs) although frustrating to navigate at times as you have to come quite far inland to then go back out again, were gorgeous with beautiful flowers growing and thousands of birds nesting in them.
We very simply kept the sea on our left and made our way towards Keiss. We crossed a gorgeous white sandy beach with turquoise blue water, and Tom could not resist a cheeky dip. We met a couple of gentlemen on our walk along the rest of the beach but apart from that it was deserted. We continued on to Keiss and camped just after the ruined castle but before the little harbour.
The first night in the tent is never a good sleep despite the beautiful location but it was a nice feeling to be back on the trail.
Day 2: Keiss Castle to Talbech Farm
? 33km
? 259m
We rose early to get some easy miles in, the first part of the day’s trail was down a quiet country road, we then tackled the first marshy bog of the trip navigating through about 3km of marshy pond land; it’s safe to say the waterproof socks were on. We then continued through to Watten and were disappointed that the Brown Trout pub was not open until 5pm, but we stocked up on water and Tom’s worries that we were going to run out of food meant he also came out of The General Store with ham and rolls for lunch. We spoke to a lovely local gentleman who must have been in his 80s and had moved to the area 15 or so years ago.
It just started to rain so we made a move out of the village but not before we used the PC. ? We followed the river out and were supposed to join a forestry area where we were hoping to camp but sadly a huge area of the forest had been felled and in its place were huge wind turbines so instead we walked for several boring kilometres through a wind farm.
The rain was on and off and we started to worry about finding a suitable place to camp, but as always a spot always turns up so we pitched up in the rain next door to the sheep and the sound of the wind turbines not really in the distance.
Day 3: Talbech Farm to Dalnawillian Lodge
? 26km
? 307m
We left a bit later from camp today but still in the rain, we needed to cross the river but it had swollen to high levels so we made our way up the road to the farm house to take their bridge over the river. Here we met the farmer and his son who were very friendly and pointed out the bridge we were after, they were the first to guess we were going all the way to Lands End, thought we were mad, apologised for the wet May weather and wished us luck.
We followed the river before joining a track and walked along the grassy and beautifully wide marked track through a quarry and before rejoining the river. We bumped into some anglers who were scouting out some good spots to fish, ate our lunch of peanut butter wraps in a small car park in-between rain showers and filled up on and filtered water from a nearby stream. The final section of the day was along an estate road, it was relatively easy going so we tried to get some distance in. We passed several very remote cottages to rent and spotted our first herd of deer. We settled to camp high above the river next to an abandoned lodge, it was quite eerie but a perfect sheltered camp spot. The lambs were not too impressed we had pinched their spot but we enjoyed a dry evening with a great view. The temperature plummeted in the night to 0⁰C so a few extra layers were put on early in the morning.
On Wednesday 19th May 2021 we will begin a thru hike that will take us from John O’Groats to Lands End, following a primarily trail based route mapped out by Andy Robinson, published by Cicerone. The route published actually takes you from bottom to top but our desire to avoid the worst of the Scottish midges was enough to tackle the extra challenge of following the route back to front.
The 2,000 km (1242 miles) journey will take us remotely across the north of Scotland from John O’ Groats to Fort William where we will pick up the West Highland Way. From here we will make our way down the country linking national trails such as the Pennine Way and Offa’s Dyke Path before joining the South West Coastal Path at Barnstaple taking us all the way to Lands End.
We expect the hike to take 2.5 to 3 months but with the luxury of time and the intention of camping and eating cheap most of the way, our current attitude is to be relatively unplanned and let the journey take as long as it needs to and we hope to bring you along with us.
