Carlisle & District Rambling & Fellwalking Club
Cape Wrath Trip June 2013
Cape Wrath Trip
June 2013
Inchnadamph to Cape Wrath
Fred Bell, David Bulman, Malcolm McKay, John McKay.
Day 1 Saturday 22nd June
Fred, David and Me set off about 9.00 from Carlisle to drive to Kirkintilloch to pick up my brother Malcolm.
After a quick coffee at Malcolm’s we set off on the long drive to Inchnadamph, about 280 miles.
We took the tourist route, up the side of Loch Lomond, Glen Coe to Fort William. We stopped in Glen Coe to have a look at the little tree which grows out of a rock, very unusual, it’s become a burial place for dogs for some reason.
We stopped at Fort William for an “all day breakfast” in Morrison’s. We had a further stop in Ullapool for coffee before arriving in Inchnadamph about 7pm. There was no room at the hotel but we had our dinner there and decided we would camp the night just outside the hotel. It was raining quite heavily and the forecast for the Sunday was pretty awful, torrential rain throughout the day and 40-50 mph winds. We didn’t fancy camping in that and starting our walk in those conditions so we decided to drive to Lochinvar where there was a hotel available and depending on conditions we would postpone setting off till Monday when the weather was expected to be much better. We arrived at the Culagh Hotel in Lochinvar and retired to the bar to discuss the situation. It took us several hours to discuss matters.
Day 2 Sunday 23rd June
We woke on Sunday to find that the forecast was spot on, torrential rain and blowing a gale. We had a lovely breakfast in the hotel and decided we would drive to our first destination, Kylescue, pitch our tents and leave our sleeping bags there to save us carrying them the following day. We found a nice little campsite in a car park just a few minutes away from the Kylescue Hotel and set up camp. We then headed off for Richonich, our second destination, to do a bit of a recci and managed to book some rooms in the hotel there. We drove back to Lochinvar and had a very pleasant meal and further discussions in the bar.
Day 3 Monday 24th June
Much to our surprise the forecast was spot on once again, the rain had stopped, the wind had dropped and it was quite a nice morning. After another lovely breakfast we set off for Inchnadamph. We parked the car and set off on our first days walk, we had about 14 miles to cover that day. For the first couple of days Malcolm was going to take to the road on his little folding bike. We accompanied him for the first couple of miles then we parted company as Fred, David and me headed off into the hills. It was quite gentle going and despite it being slightly overcast the views were stunning. We saw several deer, in fact we saw so many deer in the course of the week we became oblivious to them. Fred spent a little time taking photos of a grouse, it must have been injured as it didn’t fly off and we were able to get within a few feet of it. We rejoined the road about 4 miles from Kylescue, Malcolm came along and we stopped for lunch. There was a nice little stream and we got the stoves out and had some super noodles and coffee. Who needs restaurants. After lunch we headed off along the road to Kylescue. David and I arrived at the tents well ahead of Fred and Malcolm, who had stopped at a tea room. David and I thought it would be a good idea if we could take all our camping gear up to Richonich the following day so decided to hitch a lift back down to Inchnadamph to collect the car. Sure enough within ten minutes a van came out of Kylescue and stopped at the junction, David quickly opened the passenger door and was gone within seconds on his way to Inchnadamph. I don’t think he gave the driver much option. He turned out to be the skipper of a fishing boat and had just finished for the day and was heading home to Ullapool. David never found out his name but by the way he drove suspected it might be Ayrton Senna. In no time at all David was back with the car. Later that evening we went to the Kylescue Hotel for dinner.
What a great place it is, everything about it was superb, the staff, service and most of all the food. A very popular place, it was packed. Fred was very impressed with the Steak, he thought it was one of the best he had tasted. We were the last to leave and made our way back to the tents. We lay in our sleeping bags and Malcolm started playing his mouth organ, for the next half an hour or so we had a nice little sing song. A perfect end to a perfect day.
Day 4 Tuesday 25th June
This promised to be our toughest day , we had 19 miles to cover. We crawled out of the tents and cooked some instant porridge for breakfast, Malcolm scrounged some bread from a couple who were depositing some bottles in the nearby bottle bank. We packed up the tents and drove off to Richonich to leave them at the hotel and quickly drove back to Kylescue. We parted company with Malcolm after a mile and headed off on a forest path through a lovely glen. We missed our turning and went about half a mile before realising our mistake and had to retrace our steps. Having found the right path we climbed steadily up the glen. It went on and on, relentless ascent for about 6 or 7 miles it was tough going. We finally reached the summit and stopped for lunch. There was a small shelter there which we were grateful for, as it was raining and had turned quite cold. After lunch it was much easier going, what goes up must come down, thank god, but we were in trouble, Fred had pulled a muscle in his leg and I had a lot of pain in my heel, we were struggling. We still had about 12 miles to go and we were way behind schedule. We came out on to a single track road, it was after 6pm and we still had 8 miles to go. At our rate of progress it looked like it would be midnight before we arrived in Richonich, if at all. David was about half a mile in front of Fred and Me. Occasionally a car came along, Fred and I tried thumbing a lift but with no success. We came to the conclusion we would have to limp all the way. We then had a real stroke of luck, a guy came along in a 4x4, he was quite loaded up, he had a big rucksack in the back seat and in the boot area there was a great big Cage, complete with a big dog. He was an instructor with the “ Duke Of Edinburgh Award Scheme” and had been out on the hills checking up on a group of teenagers who were camping out. He wasn’t going to Richonich but could take us about 4 miles, which would be a great help. We told him about David and he said we could at least squeeze in his rucksack. We stopped alongside David and got his rucksack on board, in the process the driver suggested, that if he didn’t mind, David could squeeze into a little gap in the boot, alongside the cage. David was only too happy to do this. The driver then told us he was in no hurry and even though it was out of his way, he would take us all the way to Richonich, what a great guy he was, Scottish of course. When we arrived in Richonich Fred offered him some money but he refused to accept it. Many thanks to him, he made our day. Malcolm was already there and was surprised to see us so soon. So there we were enjoying an entirely unexpected dinner and a few drinks in the hotel and an excellent hotel it was.
Day 5 Wednesday 26th June
We had intended to walk to Sandwood Bay today, about 12 miles. Due to our injury problems. we decided on another plan. The first 8 miles were on a single track road so we phoned the local taxi service. The taxi arrived
about half an hour later. We left everything we didn’t want to carry at the hotel and Malcolm left his bike.
The taxi took us to a place called Kinlochbervie, it was driven by a guy called Allan, a bit of character, a bit of a” jack of all trades” as well as being the taxi driver he was the local undertaker and he told us a few stories about various
bodies he had to collect. It’s one of the great things about my brother, he has this knack of finding out about people and getting them to tell you things. Allan also told us that of around 140 houses in the area about 90 were holiday homes and lay empty for most of the year, a sad statistic. When we arrived in Kinlochbervie we were in for a shock the taxi fare was a massive £2.80, yes Two pounds eighty pence. He had driven eight miles to collect us and then taken 4 passengers complete with big rucksacks eight miles and all he wanted was £2.80. He told us that taxi fares in remote areas, and they don’t get much more remote than Kinlochbervie, were subsidised by the Highlands Development Board. A fantastic service. Needless to say we gave him far more.
We set off for Sandwood Bay.It was easy going and a good path, Along the way Fred made friends with a big Alsation. I bumped into a young guy coming the other way. He had just completed the Cape Wrath Trail, Fort William to Cape Wrath about 200 miles, he was heading for Kinlochbervie and the bus back home which turned out to be of all places Dalston. He told me that from Sandwood Bay to Cape Wrath it was tough going, no path, rough ground and a few rivers to cross but just keep going North and you can’t miss it. How right he was. It was a glorious day the best so far, the sun was shining and it was very warm the perfect day to arrive in glorious Sandwood Bay. It really is quite spectacular a vast expanse of fine white sand. We had our lunch, more noodles and a few rolls. and sunbathed for a couple of hours.We were going to camp at Sandwood Bay but decided to push on for Cape Wrath about 9 miles away. It was tough going, you could see the lighthouse in the distance, a long way off and it never seemed to get any closer. We had to negotiate some very steep and deep gully’s and get across some fair sized rivers. At times it was difficult to choose the route to take. We got a bit strung out. I was out in front about half a mile in front of Fred who was about half a mile in front of David and Malcolm. I stopped to let them catch up. David and Malcolm appeared on the horizon but where was Fred, he was nowhere to be seen. We were now in the military zone but we never came across any unexploded bombs. By the time David and Malcolm reached me I had put the tent up, it was after 10pm. I thought Malcolm would have had enough for the day. He is 75 years old after all. He’d had enough but as we were only about two miles from the lighthouse he was determined to carry on. I quickly took the tent down again. We decided that Fred must have taken another route, if he wasn’t at the lighthouse we would have to think again. We carried on and finally arrived at the lighthouse about 11.30pm. Fred was sitting in the café eating spaghetti on toast. The Ozone Café is never closed, no matter what time you arrive you can have a meal. The owner John cooked the rest of us some food and made some very welcome tea and coffee. We then had several cans of beer and some very nice complimentary whisky. John produced some mattresses and we settled down for the night on the floor of the café. I’ve slept in some strange places in my life, under bushes, bus shelters, bothy’s, byre’s, telephone exchanges, police cells, an army guardhouse to name a few and on some occasions places which rhyme with lighthouse but not the same thing at all. It was a unique experience.
Day 6 Thursday 27th June
In the morning John cooked us a full breakfast. He and his wife had lived there for sixteen years, since the lighthouse had become automatic and unmanned. The outbuildings were to be demolished but the Highland Council wanted them preserved. They were allowed to stay provided someone was there to look after them. John and his wife belonged to an organisation dedicated to preserving old buildings and had a twenty five year lease at an extortionate rent of £1 per yea
It’s a pretty basic life they have. No running water, no toilets. They have a generator but only use it in an emergency.
They brought up three kids there but they have now flown the nest, I wonder why. We never met John’s wife she had gone off to Inverness for a few days. There’s some interesting notices pinned on the wall telling you the history of the place. One of the most interesting and amusing facts was ”hobbies”. Lighthouse Keepers were encouraged to take up a hobby to pass the time. The main hobby suggested of all things was “stamp collecting”. How weird is that. John makes his living from the Ozone Café and a great service he provides. He hopes to have a bunkhouse set up for next year. About 6,000 tourist visit the lighthouse each year most of them come in the mini bus from the little ferry about 12miles away. It is becoming more popular, more and more people are walking the “Cape Wrath Trail”, Fort William to Cape Wrath, 200 miles and it’s the official end of the “Scottish National Trail” which starts, 470 miles away in the Borders. At around 11.00 am two guys arrived having walked all the way from Fort William. It had taken them two weeks. A short time later the mini bus arrived with about 10 tourists. We had a decision to make. We had intended to spend that night at the Kervaig Bothy but the weather forecast for the next few days was very bad and the chances of the ferry running were very slim. If we didn’t catch the ferry today we could be stuck there till Sunday. We decided to catch the mini bus and be content with just seeing Kervaig as we drove past.
We boarded the mini bus and made the 12 mile journey along the bumpy little road to the ferry. The ferry is little more than a big rowing boat .The Kyle of Durness is about a quarter of a mile wide, it’s very shallow and full of sandbanks. . The ferry only runs in good weather and at high tide, it’s too dangerous at any other time. Twice a year the army arrive with a landing craft., the whole Cape Wrath area belongs to the MOD. It’s a training ground and bombing range. While they are there they take the minibus across. The Ferry man was a real character. The “Dell Boy” of Durness, the crossing only takes about ten minutes but in that short time he filled us in on most of the local gossip. He insisted that we sample some of his homemade wine when we landed, he had ample supplies in the back of his van, which was parked on the slipway. I think it gave him an excuse to drink himself. He was well prepared, quite a few bottles and plenty of plastic cups. I have to say the wine was very good. After the wine tasting we headed off for Durness, about 3 miles away. We had lunch in the pub and waited for the daily bus which would take us back to Kylescue. The bus driver was yet another character, full of chat. We stopped at the Richonich Hotel and we jumped off to retrieve the gear we left there and for Malcolm to collect his bike. We arrived back in Kylescue about 5.30 and were pleased to see the car was still there. Fred suggested we had our dinner in the hotel as he wanted to try the steak again. It sounded like a great idea. The meal was as good as the first time.
After dinner we drove to Lochinvar for our last night away.
Day 7 Friday 28th June
After breakfast we set off for Carlisle. We decided to take the tourist route via Torridon and the Kyle of Lochalsh.
It was a bit overcast but dry. We stopped off at the Corrieshalloch Gorge, well worth a vist if you are up that way.
We stopped for lunch in a lovely little tearoom which had delicious strawberry tarts. We also called in at Scotlands best castle, Eilean Donan. We stopped off to retrieve one of the food parcels I planted last year. It was still there but the mice or some other creature had got to it, all the food was eaten, the only thing intact was some bottles of Lucazade It was the same with the one we retrieved earlier at Inchnadamph. I suppose after 13 months it was only to be expected. We dropped Malcolm off at Kirkintilloch, had a quick coffee, said our goodbyes and headed back to Carlisle. A fantastic week, another place ticked off on my list of “Must See” places in Scotland. It was completely different to any other part of Scotland I’ve been to. The scenery was fantastic, the most striking thing was the lack of trees. The walk didn’t go as we planned but it was brilliant . We had a great time and lots of laughs. You couldn’t have better walking companions than Fred and David and my brother Malcolm was his usual unique self. I hope they all enjoyed it as much as I did.
John McKay
