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A new Cape Wrath Trail route alternative for Assynt

As followers of this blog may be aware, I’m currently working on a replacement for the venerable North to the Cape to be published by Cicerone next year. As part of the writing process, I’ve gone back to first principles, looking at the whole Cape Wrath Trail route and its many variants and trying to find places in which it can be improved without losing the sense of “tradition”.

One of the things I’ve been most keen to do is suggest an alternative route option that traverses the heart of Assynt for those that choose to detour via Ullapool. The alternative to re-join the main route is an easy and somewhat uninspiring trundle from the back of Ullapool along the Rhidorroch River via Knockdamph bothy to Glen Oykel before reaching the stupendous Ben More.

A route through Assynt was also suggested by David Paterson in his original book on the Cape Wrath Trail, so I was also keen to include something that paid homage in this new version.

Make no mistake, this is a route only for the most experienced walker and crosses some of the most wild, remote country in Scotland, including several potentially treacherous river crossings before rejoining the main route at Inchnadamph.

Nevertheless, my feeling is that this alternative should be included in the final book, for those that are seeking an extra element of challenge. However, I’d be really interested to hear the views of others both on the route itself and whether you think it is suitable for inclusion in the final guide.

Cape Wrath Trail Guide - April Update

It’s fantastic to see spring finally arrive here in the rolling Cotswolds after another cold winter. It was the first Christmas in two years that I haven’t been in the North West Highlands and I think my wife would have divorced me had I even suggested it.

So I’ve been using the dark winter days to chip steadily away at the new Cape Wrath Trail Guide and most of the practicality type text is now pretty much finished and I’m pleased with the way things are shaping up.

That leaves the route and I think I have finally decided what the main one will be and which variants to include. I’ve gone back to all the original routes (Paterson, McNeish, Brook & Hinchcliffe) to try to produce something really definitive. All have their merits and weaknesses and there’ll be some completely new sections and variants where I feel that none of the previous routes is really adequate.

One thing that has ben troubling me is what to do around Ullapool. The demise of the Allt na h’Airbhe ferry across Loch Broom to Ullapool has robbed the route of a vital transport link. Ullapool is such a convenient and obvious stopping point and now the only way to reach it is a long slog along a busy road.

Another conundrum has been whether to include a route variant that crosses Assynt. Paterson included a rather strange one in his original book, but subsequent authors have shunned Assynt which seems a shame. So I have resolved to try and find a route that connects Ullapool to Inchnadamph via some of Assynt’s highlights. At least this might offer some consolation for those that endure the trek into Ullapool.

My next expedition will be in late May when I’m combining a recce for the West Highland Way race in June with some research of the CWT route from Fort William to Strathcarron via the Great Glen Way (the main route alternative from the outset).

Other than that I’ll mostly be writing and running, haven taken on a challenge to run three of the UK’s toughest trail races in 3 months (more of that here: http://www.justgiving.com/iainsultrachallenge ).

There is now a Cape Wrath Trail Guide on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/groups/capewrathtrail/) and there are already some beautiful shots on there that are well worth checking out. If you have any picture of your own that you’d like to add then they’d be most appreciated.

Enjoy the weather and as ever, keep me posted about your adventures out on the trail…Iain

Over to you!

Over the last couple of years, I’ve done my best to gather together much of the information you’ll need to plan an attempt on the Cape Wrath Trail. In the process, this blog has become rather big and unwieldy I’m afraid, and some of the useful info has been posted by others in the comments on various posts. Eventually, I may try to marshall it into something a bit more user-friendly.

And of course things change all the time on the ground. Bridges fall down, forests are felled and new establishments and facilities open. So if you’ve got a report, pictures or information about the trail, please put them in the comments of this post so others can benefit.

Good luck!

Day 14 - Srathchailleach bothy - Cape Wrath (11Km, 200m ascent)

Day 15 - Cape Wrath - Strahchailleach bothy

Day 16 - Strahchailleach bothy - Kinlochbervie

Christmas Day dawned much as Christmas Eve. Cold, bright, with a heavy frost on the ground. At least that meant one thing - the deep bogs for which this stretch is infamous were frozen solid. We still had to tread carefully and could have done with crampons, but I’ll take frozen heather over bogs any day.

As a result we made pretty quick progress and were soon at the relatively new boundary fence that delineates the Cape Wrath range. As it was Christmas Day we passed through with no problems, the only interruption being me managing to rip a good sized hole in the seat of my trousers on the barbed wire fence!

The day to the Cape doesn’t really offer too many navigational challenges other than the rough going, so we revelled in the bleakness of the landscape and the sensation of being utterly alone. This is wild, desolate country of the finest order and something we both loved.

Eventually we reached the 4x4 track that leads up and round the final hill to find that too was frozen solid. We inched forward along the sides, skating along the ice in places and trying not to break our necks so close to the final prize. One of the final teases of the Cape Wrath Trail is that although the lighthouse is visible from Sandwood Bay, you don’t then see it again until you’re almost upon it.

So it was with a mixture of relief, happiness and excitement that I finally turned the bend in the track that let me glimpse the lighthouse just a couple of kilometres away. As we approached we could hear dogs barking. In Kinlochbervie, the locals had told us about a cafe at the Cape which we had assumed was a joke at the expense of visitors. But after we had done the obligatory picture stop and decided to head back to find a nicer camp site, we encountered a lone man and a pack of springer spaniels.

This was a slightly surreal sight at such a remote point, but it turned out he did indeed run a cafe at the lighthouse. He was waiting for his wife who had been cut off by the ice we had encountered on the track (we didn’t know it at the time but this was a story that subsequently made the national papers - complete with a cameo from ourselves as intrepid walkers).

Feeling slightly ill at ease with company, we said farewell and headed back to a spot a few miles back that had looked perfect for camping. And so it was, we pitched the Akto’s in the weak winter sunshine and sat brewing tea and contemplating what we had just achieved. The Cape itself had been the ultimate goal, but it had been all about what we were now doing - sitting, nestled in one of the country’s most far off wildernesses watching the sun dip into the North Atlantic, stretching far off towards Iceland.

And so, our journey was almost complete. We’d made the Cape, but being winter, we had no option other than to re-trace our steps via Strathchailleach to Kinlochbervie. With the conditions underfoot this was far from straightforward and at Sandwood we even resorted to lashing old rope to our boots to try and get some more purchase on the ice. It was therefore with considerable relief that we returned to the road at Blairmore and plodded slowly back to Kinlochbervie. 

The next day, almost defying belief, the postbus arrived out of the frigid dark to pick us up and wound its way precariously to Lairg. Here the conditions were even colder and we endured an agonisingly cold half hour wait for the train to Inverness where we spent a snowy afternoon browsing the shops before boarding the sleeper south.