Day 9 – Kinlochewe to Corry Hallie

Today flew by, and generally it feels like days on the trail are going more quickly as we get well into the swing of things. Churning out the miles and doing all of the smiles!

After a slow, foggy start to the day we bumped into Rebecca, the first and only person we would see all day long. She was a runner and also attempting the CWT, but with an ultra-light weight set up. She’d reached the same point as us in three less days, was sleeping in a bivvy bag, was absolutely plastered in midge bites, and aimed to complete the journey in an impressive 9 days. We were both in awe of this performance but she modestly put it all down to the light pack weight.

We walked with her for much of the day and it had a huge impact on our pace, we thanked her and said it was akin to being paced on a bike ride. Eventually we said our goodbyes while she marched on into the evening, and we assumed our usual more leisurely pace with a tea break or two and some time to air the feet out. We sauntering down into Corrie Hallie where we pitched up for the night.

I thought a lot abour Rebbeca and her approach. It’s impressive to cross such ground with such speed, but I couldnt help that feel that our way of doing things was prefferable. Swimming in every loch, taking time to pause and reflect, drink tea and soak up the scenery. Adventures like this can feel over so quickly when they’re done, and I’d hate to feel like I’d rushed it.

Ayoob got his first blisters today, and I lost one of my two pairs of pants.

Day 10 – Corrie Hallie to Knockdamph Bothy

The heavens opened on us hard last night ready for our first proper day of hard weather. All the paths were rivers, and my feet were freezing. All the ‘not paths’ were squishy bogs, but these we were getting used to.

I tried out a pair of Sealskinz socks in the morning but concluded they are a complete waste of money, they let water in after a while and when wet are much less warm than a nice pair of Merinos. I sort of knew this from trying them on the bike in the past, but thought they might perform better hiking. Nope.

We had our first ‘proper’ River crossings today too, with knee high freezing water and stronger currents. I’m actually learning to love the wet boggy sections of this trail and find the stoney 4×4 tracks a bit mind and foot numbing.

As mentioned earlier Ayoob isn’t the biggest fan of bothies, but seemed a bit more comfortable at Knockdamph. It’s an odd place and even has a huge wooden double bed frame upstairs. We gave that room a miss. I admitted to Ayoob at this point that I’d seen a massive rat outside the Bendronaig bothy when we were there, but hadn’t told him at the time, just gave some cautionary advice about hanging food bags. He seemed greatful for me not sharing about the rat and letting him sleep in sweet ignorance of our nearby rodent pal.

Day 11 – Knockdamph to River Oykel

This days stage was almost entirely on 4×4 tracks. A blessing in some ways as they offer easy milage, but a curse in others as they seem to take more of a toll on my feet, and are a bit boring. Still, this may be the easiest section of the whole walk, and we knew to appreciate it. Our breakfast came at the amazing School House Bothy, a building from way back when education became compulsary in Scotland. This posed difficulties for very remote areas, and resulted in teachers having to live in these tiny remote schools, one of which is now a bothy.

Day 12 – Oykel River to Inchnadamph

We’d been steadily adding a couple of extra miles to each day with the goal of making this day a tad shorter, allowing us an easier time of things before our one and only luxury stop at the Inchnadamph Explorers Lodge.

Our Oykel River camp spot was beautiful, but also by far the coldest night yet. We woke to frost on the grass and were wearing all of our layers to pack down, pacing off down the trail at almost running speed to get warmed up. This was a stark contrast to the heatwave vibes of a few days before when I’d been wishing for a lighter sleeping bag. Packing sensibly is a real challenge on a trip of this length, and I found myself wondering how Rebecca the ultralight German would be getting on in her bivvy bag and pair of running shorts now that it was mega cold. Fingers crossed everyone on the trail got by alright.

We of had one bealach to cross today before arriving at the hostel, and have spent all afternoon getting our kit washed and dried, drying out tents and sleeping bags, and sorting our next food supplies for the final push to the Cape. I’ve also taken the time to type up these updates rather then subjecting my beloved readers to my handwriting. We had Lochinver pies for lunch with beans and gravy, and three pizzas between the two of us for dinner. I’ve been told I normally eat like a small bird picking at seeds, but this was not the case today!

Our stop here was well timed. It’s blowing a gale and pissing down with rain outside, and I’m sat here in an actual bed for the first time in 12 days. Even better news, I’ve found (and laundered) my missing pair of underwear.