Journal:
The Crask Inn owner agreed to a relatively early
breakfast and I ate at 7:30am and was walking by
8:30am on a very blustery and wet morning. The
forecast wasn't good and I had prepared myself for a
day of wetness. The early route was along a
little-used farm path up to Bealach Easach, a low
pass which would be my last of the trip. The
undergrowth was wet and soon so were my socks and
boots. There was a lot of low cloud and the
wind was blowing me about a bit, but it wasn't too
bad and I could see a reasonable distance.
The other side of the pass
descended more steeply through a craggy sort of
ravine down to Loch a'Bhealaich, which had a lot of
white caps. The path improved as I got lower
and the rest of the morning involved travelling
alongside one loch after another with moderately
high mountains on either side. I couldn't see
the highest peaks, but the guide book says I'm also
passing my last Munro (3000+ft mountain) today and
my last loch of the trip.
The further I went, the
more the valley opened out and it became quite a
boring walk along a gravel road that I could see
stretching far out in front of me. The scenery
was pretty enough, but more low-key and because I
could see so far ahead, there was no change to
create interest. However, I was making
reasonable time and reached a road around 5pm in
what was now quite pleasant weather. There was
very little traffic, but I had about 10km to walk,
passing through the tiny village of Kinbrace (no
pub, no shop) on the way. The day finished
with a few kilometres of difficult cross-country
until I reached Knockfin, the site of a village
abandoned during the Scottish clearances in the 19th
century. I found a nice spot to camp by a
small stream and quickly set up and had a wash in
the stream whilst being tormented by midges. I
hastily retreated to my tent and ate and found I had
wireless internet coverage so spent the evening
catching up on diary and email. I travelled a
bit further today than was required and am setting
myself up for an easy day on Saturday and then my
last day on Sunday.
