Route updates - hot off the trail
As mentioned previously, one of the great things about the Cape Wrath Trail is that the route is very much down to personal choice. Access laws and the wild open places the trail traverses allow a lot of flexibility.
However, there will always be obstacles and difficulties encountered and these will often change from year to year or even month to month, making it impossible for any guide book to stay current.
With this in mind, I’ve created this thread so others can post reports from the trail of any route difficulties. If you’ve got something to report, simply add it to this post as a comment so we can keep everything together. A date would also be useful.
Other route news is occasionally posted here, although nothing has been added recently.
I’m indebted to David Albon for kicking us off with the first report:
“A friend and I very recently completed the Cape Wrath Trail (20th September ‘08). A superb, challenging walk through wonderful wild country.
But, there are a couple of sections to be aware of, mostly through forestry, that are very tricky to negotiate because of developments in recent years.
1. From Achnashellach to Kinlochewe, the forest beyond Torran cuillinn: We couldn’t find some paths and used forest rides and map & compass to find our way.
The second forest beyond it has been felled, path disappears and it is very slow going over what is left of the forestry.
2.Inverlael forest has what looks like a large hydro electric development taking place at the moment and some old paths have dissapeared. Our advice would be to get up high on forest tracks as soon as possible after crossing the first bridge so you can gain height & exit the forest (threre is now a rough, boggy path all the way from the end of forestry to the Allt na Lairige that joins the River Douchary).
3. Between Sandwood Bay and Cape Wrath someone has erected a fence (looks fairly recent) that runs as far as the eye can see and has topped it with barbed wire!”
16/11/2008 - thanks to BVE for the following
If you intend to follow the route described in “North to the Cape” (the Cicerone guide), there’s a mention of a ferry to cross the estuary just before Ullapool: this ferry no longer exists. [this was the Altnaharrie ferry unfortunately withdrawn due to the cost of running the service].
