Glenfinnan to A'Chuill 16th April 2010

You might be thinking 'Where is the Fort William leg'?

I decided to start from Glenfinnan for a number of reasons really. I have done that section many times before in various guises and to be honest I didn't fancy setting off and doing 18 miles on the road. It's purely a matter of personal choice and that was mine. You can make up your own route for that one...

My pack weighed around 18kgs. Whilst I have good gear I don't do strict minimalist as I often feel that the effort of carrying some extra goodies is better for me. I also carried a Hillberg Nallo as I like the extra space.

Day one was a good day. Fine weather and a gentle introduction by walking into Glen Finnan past the Corryhully bothy. Sun tan lotion was the order of the day. From the bothy it was a good land rover track more or less up to the top of the Bealach a Chaorainn and from there a steady descent on a path down to the River Pean. The picture was taken at the bealach and naturally I did walk through the gate..

Once over the river you have about 200 metres through boggy forest before you come to the good track. Turn right and walk along the track to the junction and take the left turn up the hill for a few kilometres until you come to the bothy. There is a snall cairn on the right which directs you down to it. The MBA rep who maintains it has installed an impressive water supply nearby. There is also a switch for the immersion which should be turned off when you leave. (If you go you will see)

I was joined around 2030 hours by a nice swiss guy who walked in from Inverie. He had started a couple of days earlier at Shiel Bridge and was walking out to Glenfinnan the next day.

All in all a good introductory day

Why blog about the trail?

Well I walked the Cape Wrath trail between Friday the 16th April and Sunday 2nd May 2010. I had a chance to do it having finished one career and before setting off on another. It had been a while since I had done any long distance walks. Life just seemed to get in the way..

When I first started to research the Cape Wrath trail I found only fairly limited information. I relied upon the site created by Cameron McNeish, which I utilised and compared it to the original book on the trail which is now over twenty years old. The book has now suffered as a consequence and some of the faint paths they refer to are now broad land rover tracks! Having combined the best of the two I came up with an itinerary to suit me.

The purpose of this blog is to keep a few memories alive and hopefully help anyone that wants to blaze their own trail with a few reasonably up to date tips on the route.

The photos will suggest the weather was generally excellent. That is probably because you tend to get the camera out when it isn't raining! That said the weather was pretty good for Scotland in April and I wouldn't have swapped it.

One thing I did find was that the North West mountain forecast was more often than not wrong. The North and North West seem to have a climate of their own which changes very quickly.

So here we go. Be kind to me as this is my first blog!