After a somewhat gentler middle section of the trail our final section has more big days and long climbs. From Ullapool we spend a day walking east and then turn north again, first past the imposing Ben More Assynt and then past the last three mountains - Ben Stack, Arkle (above)and Foinaven. After them we are clear of the mountains and have more gentle hills and heather to cross to reach the lighthouse at Cape Wrath.
One of the challenges of the CWT is leaving the cape when you get there! One option is to walk east to the Kyle of Durness and then catch a ferry across to Durness from where you can get a bus out. The catch is that if you miss the ferry or if it is not running then there is another 11 miles to walk to Durness. We decided to retrace our tracks back to Sandwood Bay and Kinlochbervie and to get a lift out from there.
The AirB&B in Ullapool that David booked is a great success despite John and I sleeping in bunks. We can shower and wash our clothes in a machine. A change from washing clothes in basins and lochs. We can also replenish supplies as this is the first place after Kinlochewe with a shop.
David cooks a great breakfast including bacon and eggs and black pudding which sets us up for a 33km walk. The weather is good so we set out in shorts and turn off the road by a quarry. A blacktop road continues past a loch. We climb in the hot sunshine to a second loch in a fertile valley full of sheep with lambs and cows with calves. The big brown puddles in the track are filled with tadpoles and water skimmers.
We stop for lunch by a stream just after the Inchnadamph bothy where a solo walker is resting. We continued to meet him along the trail including at Cape Wrath! Lunch is cheese, ham and tomato rolls rather than the normal cup-a-soup and nuts thanks to David's purchases at Tesco in Ullapool. The path continues, contouring at about 250m eventually reaching the schoolhouse bothy before a Birch Wood and finally winding round to Oykel Bridge. We booked into this fishing hotel and find other Cape Wrathers drinking beer in the sunshine. A class system appears to operate at the hotel with walkers fed in the public bar while the dining room is reserved for the fishing parties!
From Ullapool to Oykel Bridge
Day 12 takes us right up the River Oykel and then over the bealach below Ben More Assynt and down to Inchnadampf - 33km in all. As we walk up a good road we watch the fishermen setting up for the day. David doubts that they wil catch anything - it is hot and sunny and the fish will see the fishermen coming! We see lots of birds today including housemartins, swallows, chaffinch, wheatears, kestrel, grey heron and the beautiful black-throated diver higher up on the loch. And of course we hear our cuckoo. When the road runs out the path becomes boggy. We lunch by the river and see the by now familiar other CWTers. As the path slowly rises, Ben More Assynt comes into view getting bigger and bigger as we approach. The path climbs the side of the valley and after a few river crossings and a waterfall we go 'off piste' and traverse up over heathers and boulders. We finally reach the bealach, a narrow pass under Conival with good views to loch Assynt. The descent down a river gorge is initially tricky, then we meet peat bogs and steep river crossings before an easier path leads down to Inchnadampf.
Great geology on this leg with the 'Assynt window' exposing some of the folds of the Moine thrust including Durness limestone, quartzite and Lewisian Gneiss. John was unamused by the quartzite under foot - "It's doing my knees in" he tells us. It is John's last day with us and he has booked us a hotel in Lochinver. The Culag Hotel has definately seen better days (as has the whole of Lochinver) but its staff are very friendly.
Black-throated diver (not my photo). Following the Oykel as Conival and Ben More Assynt come into view
Descending from the bealach with Loch Assynt in the distance
On day 13 John's taxi drops David and I back in Inchnadampf before speeding him off to Ullapool to catch a bus to Inverness. We planned another shorter day and head up the hill that we came down the day before before swingly left and climbing steadily. We cross some ridges and pass lochans before reaching the bealach below the summit of Glas Beinn at around 640m. We descend under the slopes to our right through a rocky landscape scattered with lochans. Then we swing back leaving the path to drop down a glen towards Loch Bearg with a big waterfall above on our left. We pick up a boggy path which frequently crosses an annoying fallen down wire fence. At the loch the path climbs over a promontory and round to the Glencoul bothy which is attached to a larger, but boarded up house.
This was quite a big, wild climb for a short day. With thin cloud and a north wind it was also much cooler. Oystercatchers are patrolling the shore of the loch when we arrive and a group of greylag geese fly in to visit. The bothy is very comfortable and David gets a good fire going. A young couple arrive and are very jealous of our 'Real Turmat' freeze dried meals!
Glencoul bothy
On what is supposed to be a short day we head up the hillside opposite the bothy with fine views, blue skies and a wind to keep the midges away. The path gets rougher when we round the headland until we find a better one higher up. We gradually reach the end of the loch and cross a bridge to the Glendhu bothy. From here there is a good track along the side of the loch all the way to Kylestrom. The gorse is in full flower and the skyline is dominated by the two big rocky buttresses of Ben Strome above Kylescu.
We have booked into Newton Lodge on the other side of Kylescu and the walk there brings us back in sight of Glencoul! At the halfway point we cut into Kylescu and have lunch at the very smart Kylescu Hotel. A group by the window is washing down huge plates of seafood with pink champagne - very different from our dried meals last night. When we get to the hotel they agree to ferry us back to the same hotel for dinner as they don't currently have a chef - another example of the difficulties of hiring staff in the Highlands.
Looking back to Glencoul bothy and the previous day's route
Day 15 is a big day. We can feel that we are almost at the Cape and today we get to the end of the mountains. Our friendly hotel manager gives us a lift back up the road to Kylestrom at 7.30 when she goes off duty. We follow a good track up the hill and as we get higher we get our first good views over the coast. The path gradually swings north and meets another path that comes in from Glendhu for those CWTers who went without expensive hotel meals in Kylescu. Ben Stack comes into view and stays there for the rest of the morning. We leave the main track by a ruin and follow a fainter track up onto open moorland. The track runs out at a great lookout spot where we can almost see Cape Wrath. Then follows quite a long cross country section aiming for a small lochan. Fortunately the ground is fairly dry otherwise this would be really tough and boggy. Beyond the lochan we pick up a track which takes us past Ben Stack and Arkle comes into view (page header). As we start to drop towards a road we chat to a hiker and watch a fisherman in the loch.
After lunch by a bridge near Lochstack Lodge our track swings round under Arkel and from here we head in pretty much a straight line on tracks and open ground to Riconich. On the way we pass two lochs and have another 'boots off' river crossing. An Englishman repairing his boathouse near Riconich tells us of a good place for a meal as the Riconich hotel is shut for repairs. "Keep going up the road and it's just after a scrap yard" he tells us. We do keep going for miles, wondering at the amount of scrap dumped outside houses and farms. Eventually we get to the Old School House at Inshegra. This added 4km to our day's total but was worth it for excellent fish and chips and Skye Gold beer.
Looking north with Ben Stack on right and the Cape somewhere in the distance
Crossing the Garbh Allt river. Fish and chips at the Old School House
After our fish and chips we walk further up the road and find a camping spot off a track near Badcall. By now we have almost covered half of our planned day 16 so perhaps we can go for the Cape a day early? We decide to start early and are back on the road by 7.30. Even this early there are a lot of vehicles with camper vans and kids going to school. We skirt the loch at Kinlochbervie and follow a rolling road and then a good path to Sandwood Bay. Walkers and cyclists are making their way to the beautiful beach. Several tents are already pitched in the dunes when we put ours up at about 10.30. After a decent lunch (Real Turmat pulled pork and rice) we set out for the cape with light packs. We take an inland route as the guidebook tells us it is less up and down. The ground is good under foot - springy and dry with only a few boggy sections. We look in to Strathchailleach bothy, home for forty years to James (Sandy) McRory Smith, who lived a hermit's life and painted some fascinating paintings on the walls. We continue to work inland using compass bearings until we can see the cape road from a ridge. It is still a long slog across bogs and heather, then up the road past the MoD gate and on 2km to the lighthouse. The Ozone cafe, amid a jumble of crumbling buildings, was friendly but chaotic with repainting going on. We chat to tourists and other walkers and enjoy a cup of tea with lemon drizzle cake before turning around and walking back another three hours to Sandwood Bay! It's great to finally see our tent and settle down to another meal and a beer bought from the cafe. Skylarks sing above us and one noisy one keeps me away half the night.
Sandwood Bay
Strathchailleach Bothy, outside and in. The skylark that kept me awake half the night
On day 17 we walk back out to Kinlochbervie. When we can't find anywhere for lunch a friendly local gives us a lift back to the Old School House - her cousin works there! After a welcome burger and beer we walk back to our campsite from two nights ago to read and relax. We can't avoid the London Stores - a well known shop in the area that is crammed with provisions. The rather eccentric proprietor asks us if we are enjoying our holiday about three times! We are a day ahead of schedule and have arranged for a lift the following morning so settle down for the rest of the day. As we turn in it starts to rain. We have hardly heard rain on canvas since we started and enjoy lying in our bags feeling snug as the heather turns to bog again outside.
At Cape Wrath
We will remember the CWT for a long time. Broken nights under canvas in perpetual daylight. Watching our feet as we hop through bogs or around scree slopes and watching the landscape change as we walk on good paths and tracks. Grazing on nuts and raisins and heating up cup-a-soups for lunch. Bothies. Hot days and cold baths in lochs. Cool water on our feet crossing rivers. Cuckoos. Vaulting bogs on our walking poles. Sliding on wet moss. Amazingly friendly people everywhere we went. We will have to do another walk soon...
| Time | 6 days |
| Distance | 178 km |
| Ascent | 4,666m |
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