Cape Wrath part 4 – Shiel Bridge to Glenfinnan

 

 

Good weather and a week off, what else could we do, last minute, to make the most of it? We packed the tent, food for 3 days, a few clothes, and off we went to tackle one of the most boggiest sections of the trail (I lost count of how many times I said “thank goodness it hasn't rained in a while). To help with the logistic we decided to go North to South. Being the salmons worked great as there were more people around than we thought, and as Paul said, it's better to walk towards the food than away from it!

It took us 7 hours to get to the campsite in Shiel Bridge (train to Glasgow, then Citylink bus via Fort William there), and finally at 7.20pm we got dropped at the red phone box, with the puzzled look of the driver who must have felt we've gone nuts (which is not totally inaccurate really). This time we set up the tent in no time like a well oiled machine. This campsite is much smaller than the one in Morvich, and the toilets are smaller too, but a big advantage is that they had hot water, that would make breakfast preparation much easier!

Who loves camping???

Day 1 – Shiel Bridge to Barisdale – 30km and 1300 m up

Wednesday 7 May 2025

We woke up at 6am after a great night sleep (thanks to the mat and winter sleeping bag I now love camping in Scotland!) and by 7.40am we were ready to go. It was a chilly morning but the breeze kept the midges at bay, no bite yet yeah! The path was right outside the campsite on a very good path, like the path existed and it was not bog.

It was a steep start to cover the 5km up to the highest of the bealachs of this section, Bealach Coire Mhalagain just above 700m high. We were fresh and filled with energies and it was a pleasure to go up that path, the views were getting better the higher we went, we started meeting a few falks doing the whole thing and had nice chats (while checking how dirty their boots were just to get an idea of what was to come...) and slowly we reached the bealach, after passing a few false ones, and a stony path/fence that was a bit tricky and slow.

What we thought was the bealach, but still quite a bit to get there!

We rewarded ourselves with a piece of home made cake which miraculously survived the journey in 1 piece, and we then got started on what would be a long descent, at least the river crossings were easy as the water level was very low.

At some stage Loch Hourn was in sight, but it would still be a good hour before we would get there, so we stopped to get our lunch (sandwich prepared the day before, all food for the 3 days was carefully planned, I don't think I'd have managed to carry more than 3 days of food!) We now rejoined the path we took years before on out coast to coast cycling adventure, and I still can't believe we dragged the bikes up that thing. I remember it was steep and rough, but jez that's an understatement!

Back on flat ground (and tarmac!), we stopped at the café in Kinloch Hourn where we hoped to get a snack but it turns out it's closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, boooooo. We sat on the benches outside and filled in the bottles with water. By then (2pm, 6h to cover 20km...) it was very hot and we got an hydration tablet in the fresh water that worked wonder.

We already walked the next 10 bumpy km to Barisdale a few years ago and I remembered they were slow as hell (Paul didn't...). It's a lovely path by the loch, but boggy in place and the snappy climbs are on horrendous paths that slow you down a lot. At least the views were great.

We finally reached the end of the path and joined a landrover track that took us to the unmanned campsite in Barisdale. We got there shortly after 6pm, 10h for 30km, and we were fresh, and the weather was great, it was really slow going!! A few deer were roaming in the campsite, I guess they were the welcome party.

There were already a few tents there (nobody used the bothy apart from getting water and use the toilets) but we found a nice spot to ourselves, set up the tent and we ate the Firepot of the nice, Chilli non Carne, which was ok (at least it was not a farting powder) but not my top choice. Paul bought the biodegradable ones and found out there that we had to put the content on another container....good luck we bought 2 tappers in TK Maxx the day before (together with my crocs, which thankfully I didn't need to wade through waist deep bog but worked great for camping!)

As soon as the sun went down it got infested with midges (closing the outer layer of the tent DOES make a difference, lesson learnt!), the last trip to the toilet felt like a suicide mission but it had to be done, and the reward was a spectacular sunset. What a beautiful day it has been. We both slept sound.

Day 2 – Barisdale to A'Chúil Bothy– 30km and 1000 m up

Thursday 8 May 2025

Again we woke up at 6am after a great night sleep, ready for the first challenge of the day...survive the midges! We were well organised: first we packed mat, sleeping bag etc, then we moved everything to the bothy, then hanged the tent to dry on a tree and left it there while we had our gnammy food inside (porridge with trailmix and dried blueberries, warm bagel with jam (thanks Paul for secretly packing the jam :)) .

It was another beautiful sunny day and although the body was generally a bit sore (my shoulders were def on the tender side...) we were up for the challenge of what the guide book described “a strenuous section also for the most fit hikers”. It was supposed to be 24k but somehow we ended up walking 30km...

The layers came off as soon as we hit the sun, and the climb started. It was on a clear defnied path to start off with, up to the first Bealach, Mam Unndalain. It was only just above 500m but it felt it was more than that!

As usual we stopped on the top to take in the views and for a bar (the memories of the cake were long gone). We knew the next bit (used to train Commandos in the Second World War) would be challenging, and we were both scared and exited to finally test ourselves.

The first part of the descent was steep and rough, we kept losing the path (thanks Garmin!) and it was a bit tricky in places, but the views of Loch Arkaig at a distance (were apparently the French hid a treasure for the Jacobites, never found (yes yes, I'm sure they went all the way up there to hide a treasure...) were a good distraction. We finally reached lower grounds in a glen, described in the guide book “of Tolkienan beauty”. I couldn't have found better words, it was indeed a place made of dreams, so green, lush, and just surreal. The glen then twisted sharply and took us down to an infinity long and boggy glen along river Carnach. Again, it was not too too bad as it hasn't been raining recently, but I can just imagine those poor souls who did it in pissing rain...

Anyway, eventually we made it to the bridge, and were a bit worried about the next bit as it was described as super boggy (crocs ready!) but it was actually better than the one before! We reached the coast by then, the tide was low and we managed to walk on the beach to the Sourliers bothy in time for our well deserved lunch. It was 2pm and we were both starving! This time we had a pouch of grains with olives, I could have eaten 3 of them!

We kept going on a good path up to the second bealach of the day: Mam na Cloich Airde, just above 300m. It was rocky and nice, but again it was easy to lose sight of it.

The bealach, once we reached it, was actually a very long and a bumpy one, with a few lochs along it, a pleasure to walk on but after a while the length of it, the rocks and boggy bits were getting a bit too much...

Finally we got on the descent along GlenDessarry, another long one with dubious paths until we joined a land rover track (badly ruined by forestry machinery in its top part), and followed it all the way down to the bothy. We got there again at 6pm, dead tired, and were very glad not to have to set up camp. It was nestled in a beautiful location and we had the company of 4 lads who were on a weekend walk to celebrate one guy's birthday (I may have got a piece of cake...sorry Paul!!!). I can't think of anybody better to share the bothy with!

bothy in sight!

We got our dinner inside (this time it was our favourite: Tuscan Stew!) although strangely there were no midges around, and had an early night as it would be an early start the day after. I had to wake up at 1pm to go to the loo (=the forest nearby), and I'm so glad I did as the moon was huge and the sky just stunning!

Day 3 – A'Chúil Bothy to Glenfinnan– 20km and 700 m up

Friday 9 May 2025

We woke up at 5.30am with a very puffy face (me) and sore feet / blisters (Paul), and both sad and relieved to the fact that this was our last day (or few hours) in the wild.

No tent to pack meant less messing around and at 6.40am we were on the move. It was a chilly morning but the sky was clear and we knew we would warn up quickly. The first few kilometres were easy as we were just following the landrover track in the forest. We then got on another path and reached a rackety bridge by where a guy was camping. He warned us that the bit to come was awful but we played it down (the guide book did say that it was horrendous, but we thought it was the bit just done not the one to come...).

Anyway, it was indeed an endless glen all bog no mercy (but somehow I managed to get out of it with clean and dry boots, I may have the Guinness record for this!).

It was also baptised as the tick glen, as I removed something like 20 within the 5 min we stopped when crossing the river half way through the climb. The other side was remarkably better, but it started to climb very steeply, and with the rocks and bog (yes, this combination is possible), the going was really slow. At the first false bealach we stopped for a bar. Morale was really low, but we knew it was the last few ours in the wild, the worse had been done, and now we could just enjoy the views.

We then reached the true bealach, and were told the other side had a good path, but to start off with was still a boggy and rocky mess. The headwind was also quite strong and cold and we were just to glad when the path improved and took us to lower elevation where we could finally warm up.

We stopped for a ½ bagel outside the Corryhully bothy and then faced the last few km to the famous Glenfinnan viaduct. It was a bit of an anticlimax as it was packed it tourists while it looked like we came from a war...but, the sun was shining, all the rubbish was finally thrown away, and we only had to wait 20 min for the bust that would take us to Fort William.

This walk was really tough. After 2 days I still feel ruined, like nothing hurts but gosh I'm spaced out! Hats off to all those who are insane and hard core enough to do all the walk in one go. We know have just a few bits here and there to finish it off, and I don't know if we will ever do the rest as the logistics kind of put you off, but I can't recommend it enough, the places it took us to are just unimaginable, and no picture can give justice to them.

Poor Paul in his water shoes as the going was to painful in the soaked shoes...the Cape Wrath trail won!