Category: Cape Wrath Trail

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Hiking the Scottish National Trail (part 6): the hardcore Cape Wrath trail

Last Autumn I hiked the length of Scotland on the Scottish National Trail. Read part 1, part 2,  part 3 , part 4 and part 5.

Day 29: Morvich → Maol-Bhuidhe bothy (23km)

The trail takes us up over a pass to the Falls of Glomach, a mighty 113m high waterfall. We follow a boggy, remote Landrover track to Maol-Bhuidhe bothy (section 30). We’re lucky today: there’s not much rain, so the river separating us from the bothy is an easy paddle. We’d been worried that this bothy would be closed for hunting season, but it’s thankfully open.

A weather warning tells us that 80km p/h winds are forecast the next day, so we have a day off in the recently refurbished bothy. The winds pick up to insane speeds and the river becomes uncrossable. We venture outside only to piss and to collect water from the raging river. Continue reading “Hiking the Scottish National Trail (part 6): the hardcore Cape Wrath trail”

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Hiking the Scottish National Trail (part 5): slogging through bogs on the Cape Wrath trail

Last Autumn I hiked the length of Scotland on the Scottish National Trail. Read part 1, part 2,  part 3 and part 4.

Day 24: Fort Augustus -> Mandally (18km)

It is, of course, pouring down when we begin the trail again. The SNT joins the Great Glen Way at section 26, following the Caledonian canal, before turning up into pine forestry at Loch Oich.

We find a lovely camping spot on a mossy track in some forestry, right by the tiny hamlet of Mandally. Here, section 27 of the SNT joins the infamous Cape Wrath Trail. We will now be following the CWT all the way to the top of Scotland. There is no indication that we’re now on the UK’s most difficult hike: the CWT is an unmarked trail, and is only for  experienced hikers. Continue reading “Hiking the Scottish National Trail (part 5): slogging through bogs on the Cape Wrath trail”