Weekend walk in Knoydart

 

The weather this year has been rubbish, can't believe it's June and I'm still wearing my jacket. The cycle/hike trip to the Cairngorms the week before was good but somehow disappointing as we haven't managed to do the long hikes we planned. Still eager for adventure, and obsessed with the Cape Wrath route, as soon as we saw a few days of heatwave forecasted in the Highlands somehow I managed to persuade Paul to pack the rucksacks and head off.

Paul checked a few blogs and was a bit sceptical about the infamous Cape Wrath trail, me I just wanted to go and get lost in the hills far away from people, so we compromised on a mix route that would take us through the remote Knoydart Peninsula.

On Wednesday he came up with the route, bought the bus tickets, packed the rucksacks and we went to buy some food for the trip. We were meant to drive up to Fort William on Thursday at 1.30pm, and at 12.30pm he secretly went to Tiso and bought a bigger rucksack... At 2pm we left Edinburgh and at 5pm we were parked in Fort William. Heavy showers started to pour down as soon as we arrived. The Citylink 915 to Portree was due at 6.50pm so we had some time to kill and went for some quick food (vegan burger of the worse kind, calories 1200) and then a bit nervous we waited at the bus stop. The bus arrived a bit late, then he went to refuel and finally we left 15min late. Not that we minded the lateness so much since the northern we went the more the rain...we hoped the journey would last all night!

After an hour looking outside the window and thinking “what about the heatwave?” we were dropped in the middle of nowhere...not a single tree, just the Cluanie Inn and the wild. In case of temptation, the Inn was full and even if it was not they were charging £190 a night. We thought we would rather camp in a bog, which is what happened really...

Someone is exited, someone terrified...

The only flat place for wild camping was slightly out of the road, on the path we would follow the day after. I couldn't believe how many cars and tents were there, and me thinking it would just be the 2 of us! We didn't have many options left but finally we found a flattish spot right when the rain started again. That would do even if it was on a kind of bog. Thank goodness we upgraded the tent, from the Coffin used in the Divide to a Big Agnes, the advantage being: 2 persons instead of 1, bigger, with a ground sheet, and most important it can be built from the inside once the outer layer is on, oh yes! We haven't used the tent in a year and our memory was a bit blurred, but necessity makes master and in 5 min it was up, badly but it did the job. Glad we ate before as no way we would have had a warm meal there. We shovelled everything inside and hid in disbelief...but what about the heatwave?!

Thank you Big Agnes!

All wet even before we got started...

Day 1 – Cluanie Inn to Kinloch Hourn– 31km and 1200m

02 June 2022

The night was cold and we both slept miserably. We woke up surrounded by clouds in a bleak landscape. Me I was very optimistic and still believed the heatwave would show up at some stage, Paul was thinking of getting the bus back... But life is once and with a lot of doubts we packed all our soaked gear in the heavy rucksacks, said goodbye to the bog and we hit the trail.

 

 

It was cold but I was feeling good. The path started gently, first on a paved road then on a gravel road, going up gently until we got on the proper path which climbed steeply. We couldn't see anything and reached Munroe number 1 - Creag a' Mhaim, 947m – surrounded by clouds. We kept going on the ridge, and occasionally the clouds would open up to a glimpse of stunning views. We reached the second Munroe – Druim Shionnach, 987m in 30 min and finally the clouds lifted and we could enjoy the best views ever, back to the West Coast we thought! There were a few people around but it was certainly not crowded. We met a man who slept up the hills and showed us the amazing sunset pictures he took the night before, such a shame we were in the ditch then! 

 

Munroe number 1 - Creag a' Mhaim

Paul got long compression socks for the ticks, they would turn black soon

Second Munroe – Druim Shionnach

Munroe n.3 – Aonach air Chrith, 1021m, took longer to reach but despite the heavy rucksacks it was a pleasure to walk up and down that ridge. The descent was a bit sketchy at times and demanded a lot of attention, especially with the rucksacks playing with our balance. By the time we reached the bottom it was past noon and we still had 4 Munroes left and a long way to destination. We could have made it, but not used to the extra weight, and knowing we had another big day coming, we decided to take another path and headed down the steep hill. The path was close to invisible but we found it by a stroke of luck and zig zagged all the way down to a beautiful glen where we met absolutely nobody, just a herd of cute Highland Cows. 

 

The sun was strong (finally!!!) and we needed a good break. We had lunch in an idyllic place, by a stream and in the shade of a tree. Lunch was a pouch of rice and quinoa (500gr less in my bag oh yeah!) and went down very well. From there we joined the long dead end road to Kinloch Hourn, the one we cycled the year before. I'm honestly in love with that part of the world, so peaceful, beautiful and remote. It was still 14km to get to destination and the heath and weight were taking their toll but still, it was a privilege to be there again.

Kinloch Hourn had a tea house and we had great memories of the place so we were keen to get there. This time we were not as lucky as the people running it were on the cold side, but we got our cold drinks, filled up the bottles and went to set up camp. That will be remembered as the best camping spot we ever found. By a stream, with trees sheltering us from a light breeze (= no midges oh yeah!!), and with nobody else around, what a treat! We had a gnammy dinner of noodles and then laid down in the sunshine listening to the river and the birds, life couldn't be any better.

 

Day 2 – Kinloch Hourn to Inverie – 30km and 1000m

04 June 2022

Paul finally managed to sleep like a log and woke up at almost 7am. Me not as well, but better than the night before. There was a bird (would love to know which species it was) who must have been on amphetamines as he started singing at dinner time and went on all night to the morning no stop, must be the spring time! When we woke up we also had the company of 2 cute (and horny) Ponies, who thought that the porridge Paul was cooking was for them...he made 2 friends but they soon lost interest after the porridge disappeared in our bellies. The sun was out and we managed to dry everything. What a dream camping experience we had there, we felt we were back in the Divide!

 

Cleaning the tent Rayner style

 

 Reluctantly we departed from our beautiful spot and followed a tiny path along Loch Beag. It was not the best of the trails (bog or stones badly placed, tiny and full of vegetation) but we were in great mood. The sun was out again, everybody was chilled out, inclusive a stag who didn't even bother to move from the path, and I was longing for more views and paths.

The bird on amphetamines was somewhere in this tree

 

 

 

 

 We had 3 little climbs before reaching Barisdale, kind of half way through the day. That bay was really peaceful and we stopped for some dry mango to take in the views, surrounded by sheep who were also on a pensive mode staring at the sea. We kept going and met 2 ladies on a bikepacking trip and stopped to see where they came from and were going to. I understood nothing but the gist was that they were crazy, even Paul admitted that it's not cycling territory there, glad I didn't find out the hard way! We passed by the bothy/campsite in Barisdale (this was packed with tents, can't believe we were alone the night before in that idyllic place!). It was noon, the sun was high, but we pushed on as we knew we had a 448m climb coming to go through the Mam Barrisdale Pass.

This was truly a magnificent Scot Pine

The cycling ladies overtook us before the climb started. The shortly after we overtook them as they were on the push the bike section (me I would have given up way before they did...). The climb was relentlessly steep but we were gaining elevation fast. The sweat was pouring down no stop and I was longing for a tree or a cloud but we got nothing. Then finally we reached the Pass (where someone was camping) and the wind was quite strong there. We stopped to enjoy the views, check out were we came from (always rewarding!) and going to, magic!

With the wind we were getting quite chilled and moved on quickly. It was 1pm and I was getting hungry but we decided to head down and look for a sheltered place, ideally in the shade of a tree. The path on the downhill was not as good as the one we took going up. Mostly bog, we had to make up for a collapsed bridge, and boggy really, with water coming down from every side. We found a tree and stopped for lunch, which was another pouch of rice and quinoa, whose dryness was enhanced by the addition of olives (another 500gr off the bag yeah!). The cycling ladies overtook us again and they never looked happier, off to the pub!

 

 

We could basically see our destination but it took ages to get over the Dubh-Lochain Loch. While in the morning I could cope well with the rucksack, after 2pm it felt double weight and I had to get a wee break at every hour. The sun was still strong but the breeze cooled us down. Finally we passed by the monument and I thought Inverie was just round the corner, but disappointingly it was still a walk (uphill!) to get there.

We finally arrived at 4pm. Wstopped at the shop/post office to get a cold drink and to figure out the plan, like what time the ferries were and where we would sleep hat night. There was some wifi, but because we were not sure of the train situation to go from Mallaig to Glenfinna, we decided to sleep there at the campsite and get the 9.30am ferry the day after.

Inverie is a nice little hamlet with a pub, a post office and a few houses. The road is like 7km long, but we saw so many cars that we thought wtf?? Anyway, slowly we walked the km or so to the campsite via the beach. Being in the campsite felt more like being at a festival as it was packed with tents and there was a big group of youngsters. We set up our tent close to the cabin and toilets, a d far away from the party animals. The location was truly spectacular, and there was also a strong breeze which meant no midges! We had another dinner of noodles and then went to the pub. Everybody was drinking outside on the grass looking at the sea, we camouflaged with the youngsters and had a lovely time there.

 

I put on all the clothes I had (which means no pillow but oh well, you can't have everything!) earplugs and I slept decently. The next morning we woke up with no wind which meant the midges were out but not as ferocious as usual. We packed and went early to the harbour to wait for the ferry (and to use the much better loo there with no queue).

The ferry was packed full of people and rucksacks, everyone seemed to have had a great time. Back to the civilization in Mallaig we spoiled ourselves with tea/cappuccino and fruit scones, went to buy a couple of books at the second hand book shop, and spent 4 pleasant hours sitting at the harbour reading them in the sunshine, while waiting for the 4pm train to Fort William. We could have spent another day hiking, but we were both quite tired, in need of a shower and not sure I could have faced another 2 wild camping nights. We got the most of a beautiful weekend and have absolutely no regrets!