Day 1 – Fort William to Cona Glen

Today was a perfect start to the trail, after leaving Bristol bright and early and driving for over 8 hours we parked up in Fort William and made it to the Camusnagual ferry with about 3 minutes to spare. Talk about perfect timing. There was something very amusing about jogging across Fort Bill trying not to miss a ferry, at the beginning of a journey that was to take us at least two weeks. We were blessed with a dry and mild day to get started, and were thankful for it as we boarded the ferry, fresh and full of excitement.

We’d planned to ease ourself into the trip gently, and started off with a shorter day down to Cona Glen, initially on road for 5 or 6 miles and then up into the Glen and past a big herd of highland cows, giving us a proper Scottish welcome. We gave the cows a wide berth, although I’ve been led to beleive they are pretty chill.

We met two others on the ferry planning on getting to Cape Wrath, and later that day caught up to a Dutch guy also walking the trail, he had a huge pack, carring kilos and kilos of rice and lentils which he expected to last the whole way, and seeming to think navigating the route would be very easy. He seemed crazy to us, but we wished him well, and hope he makes is through ok.

As night fell we found a nice little camp spot neside the 4×4 track and I managed to dive into my tent without being followed by too many midges. The same couldn’t be said for Ayoob who had not yet mastered the anti midge tent entry method, and spent some time fighting the little bastards. He won this battle, but the war was to be a long one. It takes a while to re-adjust to the fact that you are actually allowed to put tents up in Scotland, and I couldnt help thinking we should be further from this track, out of sight, in a little woodland. Spirits were high today, and we are both hyped for our first full day tomorrow, we are aiming to reach A’chiul bothy, which is 34 miles into the trip total.

Day 2 – Cona Glen to A’Chuil Bothy

Things really got going today, and the trail gifted us our first taste of more remote and challenging terrain. The descent from the bealach above Corryhully was steep, boggy, and pathless, I’ve opted to wear trail runners for this trip rather than boots with the thinking being that they’ll be kinder to wet feet, and wet feet are inevitable. Ayoob has gone for the opposite approach of sturdy boots and gaitors to keep the water out. Today was the first real test of my wet shoe approach and thankfully seemed to work out alright, although I coudn’t shake the fear of picking up a blister, which had the potential to be trip ending.

Every few hours Ayoob and I do a check on ‘Mind, Body, and Sole(of foot)’ to make sure that we keep talking about how we’re feeling, and to make sure we are sympathetic to each others struggles. So far all the answers have been positive but we’ll see how long that lasts. I keep reminding myself it’s early days. We’ve covered 34 miles, only 196 to go. I feel imposter syndrome when others ask if we are headed to Cape Wrath. ‘That’s the plan, but we’ll see.’ I reply. taking each day at a time, there is a lot that could go wrong between here and the Cape.

I’m writing this from A’chuil bothy, which is dark and dingey and quite busy with others this evening. I couldn’t be bothered to put my tent up but Ayoob has pitched up outside. He hates the smokey bothy smell. It reminds me of my grandparents old kitchen. I find this difference quite amusing, but completely understandable.

Tomorrow we’re going to try and reach Barrisdale Bay, which the guide book suggests is a 1-2 day job. It may be an ambitious task so let’s see how we get on.

Day 3 – A’Chuil Bothy – Near Barrisdale

Fuck, what a day. Over 12 hours on our feet, incredible scenery, vast knee deep bogs and a savage, steep pathless climb up and through whats known as ‘The Rough Bounds of Knoydart’, some of the last true wilderness in the UK. This trail is not messing about and demands respect. and I think today may have been one of my hardest days walking ever. Although I’m sure that may change in the next couple of weeks.

It was certainly ambitious to try and reach Barrisdale Bay from A’chuil in one go and we ended up making camp a couple of miles short, in Glenn Undulain. There are a couple of big rocks beneath my tent and I’m not convinved this will be the best sleep.

Tomorrow we will manage our expectations a more and give ourselves a shorter day to Kinloch Hourn. This trip is going to take over two weeks and we don’t want to wreck ourselves early on. It’s not a race, It’s a really hard gnarly holiday. It’s also 9:04pm, and I’m going to sleep.

Day 4 – Near Barrisdale – Kinloch Hourn

After the massive day yesterday we’ve chosen to take things easier today, getting to Kinloch Hourn at mid day for a cup of tea and a burger at the cafe here. We’ll chill out this afternoon and camp down here before heading to Morvich tomorrow where we are due to collect our first resupply food parcel.

The route so far has been absolutely stunning, really hard, but stunning. Today we saw an otter sitting in a little lochside stream, such a beautiful coincidence, and a nature sighting I expect to remember forever.

So far all of our kit choices are working out well, and legs, feet and minds are strong. I had been worried about the trail shoes move but so far I’ve got no signs of blisters after a couple of days straight with wet feet.

*The staff at the lovely and super helpful Lochhournhead cafe have suggested cracking on another couple of hours to some excellent camping spots, so we’ll do that, local knowledge is always worth listening to!