Journal:
So much for a quiet night on my own at the bothy
(hut). One of the reasons I had been thinking
of camping last night instead of staying at the
bothy was that if there were already other people in
residence, they would be settled by 8:30pm when I
would arrive and I didn't want to disturb them.
Well, I had just climbed into bed to read for a few
minutes at 10:30pm when two big Scots on mountain
bikes arrived and stomped around the hut lighting a
fire and getting settled. They were sociable
and asked me whether I would like a whisky.
Although I didn't see him, a hiker apparently
arrived after 11pm to stay as well! Long days
make for late travelling. Interestingly, the
mountain bikers were wearing heavy hiking boots and
I saw more today doing the same thing. I think
that they ride on trails to get as close as they can
to mountains they want to climb, then dump the bikes
at the base and climb the mountains. I have
seen several bikes dumped off the side of the track.
Anyway, I had my stuff
spread all around the main room of the cabin (which
had three small rooms off it for sleeping) on the
theory that nobody else was coming, including some
very smelly socks (not washed for two boggy and
sweaty days). So I got up and collected
everything and dumped it into the room where I was
going to sleep on the floor (no furniture at all and
no door), and returned to bed and tried to sleep
after reading a little while. Although I was
on my ¾ length lightweight Thermarest inflatable
mattress, the floor was hard and plenty of noise was
being made by my fellow guests, so sleep was
intermittent at best.
Knowing that I had another
tough day in prospect, and wanting to get to
Kinlochewe, where I had a hotel room booked, at a
reasonable hour, I made myself get up soon after
6am. I packed as quietly as I could and left
the bothy at 7am, with nobody else awake. It
was an overcast and windless morning and the whole
vast valley was serene and peaceful. My route
was to take me first up to the pass known as Bealach
Bhearnaise, one of the two highest I will cross in
Scotland at near 600m. At first the track was
easy along the side of the long valley leading to
the pass. However, higher up, with a couple of
kilometres to go to the pass, the track petered out
and I had to go cross-country. The guide-book
recommended sticking to the higher slopes if I
wanted to avoid the peat hags (eroded canyons in the
peat) and bogs. I did this, but the going was
very slow and I had to keep descending and ascending
steep little side valleys. Higher up, I
disturbed a number of large deer who, singly and in
pairs, raced down to the lower slopes.
Finally, I reached the pass, which was pretty
spectacular. There was a small reedy lake (lochan)
at the very crest of the pass and high peaks towered
on both sides, particularly the imposing Lurg Mhor
(986m) to my right. I found a nice grassy spot
and sat and admired the grandeur around me while I
had a breakfast of trail mix and fresh stream water.
While eating, I watched some figures climbing
towards the pass along the track I would be using to
descend and these turned out to be the first of
about a score of hikers (and biker-hikers) I saw in
the next few hours all on their way to climb Lurg
Mhor in perfect clear Saturday weather.
My cross-country efforts
had again slowed my pace considerably, but the path
from here was supposed to be mostly good so I set
off down the other side of the pass optimistic that
I could maintain a reasonable pace. This I
did, though I was feeling very tired from the
morning climb, preceded by a poor night's sleep and
three tough days. Crossing the Scottish
Highlands to John O'Groats using this route is much
different to the walking I had done up to Fort
William. Additionally, the guide-book seemed
to be consistently underestimating the daily
distances for this section, and I have my suspicions
about how the distances were calculated, and it
wasn't using a GPS. I had a mild headache and
it turned into one of those days where I kept
thinking about how many days I had left, how tough
the day tomorrow is supposed to be, and how much I
would like to just get on one of the two-carriage
trundler trains that ran along the rail line I
crossed around noon in Glen Carron. However,
I'm committed to stick to my schedule, have booked
hotels and trains, and know that, putting one foot
in front of another and persevering for eight more
days will see me at John O'Groats.
I crossed Glen Carron,
which had a few houses and a main road as well as a
rail line, and then climbed steeply up to Coulin
Pass through a recently harvested pine forest on a
temporary trail that was hard work. Near the
top, I stopped for lunch and couldn't stop yawning
when it came time to continue. I think I need
a good night's sleep. The descent from Coulin
Pass was gradual along a gravel track and had fine
views. I plodded along trying to keep up a
reasonable pace and stopped at a stream for a drink
and to replenish my water bottle before I reached
lower in the valley where the water would be less
safe to drink. I had developed a sore spot
under the second toe on my left foot and stopped
twice to reposition my putrid socks and put on some
Vaseline. After a while, it settled down a
bit, but only because a small blister burst.
Note to self - wash out socks even if they don't dry
by the next morning.
At the pretty Loch Coulin
at the bottom of the descent, the guide book
suggested a direct route to Kinlochewe that involved
climbing through some forests, over a low pass, and
with some cross-country bits. There was an
alternative, possibly a bit longer, route skirting
the shore of a couple of lochs and then following a
road into Kinlochewe. I decided on the latter
which, though longer, was more time certain, and I
was very tired. Another couple of hours of
plodding, which included the rejected offer of a
lift from a guy in a BMW convertible, brought me
into Kinlochewe at 5:15pm. I bought a drink
and after dinner snacks at a service station and
then checked into the over-priced hotel. The
main store/post office in town is only open to 1pm
on weekends. I have mail to collect there (I
called ahead to make sure I could pick it up on
Saturday/Sunday, even if the PO wasn't open) and
will get it, and enough food for three days, when it
opens at 9am tomorrow morning. This is the
last village and store I will see until my
penultimate day in a week's time, although I have
booked rooms at a four remote inns/hotels I will be
passing.
The guidebook says
tomorrow is the second toughest day of the trip and
I won't be able to start walking until well after
9am, when I have collected my maps and food, so it
will be a late day. However, I should get a
good night's sleep tonight, plus have a good dinner
and breakfast under my belt, so maybe it won't be
too bad.