Legs and Borders

Last day of my version of the Snowdonia Way,  it was mostly easy road walking with few hiking moments thrown in the mix today. First I've walked to Bethesda and I arrived here at breakfast time, the town itself was a bit run down and somewhat empty, I've bought few things to eat at Tesco and carried on to Bangor. Bangor turned out to be almost complete opposite of Bethesda, there was a festival in town, there was music everywhere, you could buy every plastic thing ever produced from the street vendors and Postman Pat's and Batman's vehicles were parked just outside the cathedral. Families were enjoying crazy golf, bubbles and a dance show set to some 90s music. I've soaked in the atmosphere for about half an hour and carried on hiking. An hour later I've crossed the bridge to Anglesey Island and arrived at my final destination of  Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch the longest town name in the world (there were few things with longer name...

I've made a decision to ditch the plan of following Snowdonia Way and decided to create my own version of it. Why you might ask? Well the map provided by the app "Hiiker" was severely outdated (the bridge in Trawsfynydd has been decommissioned four years ago and it was still part of the path) parts of the trail were severely overgrown and non existent and the final straw for me way that Snowdonia Way did not include climbing up on Snowdon and instead it was meandering around it. What's the point coming to Snowdonia and not climbing it's premiere mountain? I've packed my gear in the morning and had quite a traverse though an overgrown bog until I've reached Penrhyndeudraeth and had a lovely bagel with a latte at a Gorilla Cafe, from here I've mostly road walked to Nantmor and took a Snowdonia Slate Trail (to which I would comeback later on that day) along the river to a pretty village of Beddgelert, here I've had another coffee and cake and got few ...

Hot day, I actually arrived yesterday just in time to take a picture with the partial sun eclipse (12th of August at 19:12) above me! It turns out that you can see it in the shadows cast on the ground or any surface for that matter. I've hiked about 5 miles and stealth camped by a little stream, unfortunately it is not legal to wildcamp in Wales but apparently farmers typically won't make a trouble if you're being respectful. Either way, I'm planning to spend those few night as away from human eyes as possible. Following morning I broke camp at about 7am and carried on along the stream, a sheep tangled itself in a blackberry bush and I managed to cut it out using a sharp stone I found in the stream, it hopped away happily few minutes later with a fair bit of the bush still attached I hope the farmer will spot it and trim it before it becomes a problem again. Just before midday I've arrived at Dolgellau, a pretty historically looking town, I've ate a breakfast at...

Amazing day of hiking, it's almost like Isle of Skye Trail had two faces, one before and one after Portree, the second one was why I came here for! Trail was following cliffs for first few miles until it reached the road and first outstanding part of the trail Old Man of Storr rock formation, place was teeming with tourists and with a good reason, the mountain was beautiful. From here path followed a ridge and then an endurance rollercoaster commenced of climbing cliffs, the view on both sides of the island was great and well worth the effort. I've seen quite a few hikers going south as well. Finally the Quiraing revealed itself, an otherworldly landslip at the end of Trotternish ridge, an absolutely spectacular rock formation with hundreds of tourists walking it's 4 mile circuit. It was truly worth to hike across the Isle of Skye to see this and I hope I will one day return and explore this special place again. From here trail dropped to the sea level and followed a coasta...

Big day, I used up the only sunny day best I could. To be fair trail all the way to Sligachan was very straightforward, a lot of roadwalking, no climbs at all but the surroundings were very charming. I had a quick coffee at Sligachan and carried on through surprisingly muddy track along the Loch Sligachan it was only an hour though before the trail was running along a perfectly dry and even road again. I've arrived at Portree just after 5pm, had a portion of chips, resupplied at a Coop and hiked out of this extremely busy but very beautiful place, it was my last shopping before the end of trail as there wasn't any more towns along the way. Trail leading out of Portree was surprisingly tough, after walking along the coast there was a long climb up to the top of a cliff followed by a windy and boggy walk on top of it. I've managed to find fairly sheltered spot here and decided to call it a day with nearly forty miles covered today my legs were not having it any longer. Good n...

After finishing Scottish National Trail I've had a week to spare, and what was better to use it on than another hike! A friend of mine recommended me to walk Isle of Sky Trail, a fairly new and unofficial path in Scotland. It span for 80 miles across the Isle of Skye. Many other people I knew has recommended me to visit the island before so I took this opportunity. Durness where I was staying last night wasn't that far away, plus Scottish government released new bus tickets discounts, so you could get a bus across Scottish Highlands for £2! Because I had to change at Inverness, I paid £4 for a five hour journey, that was nuts. I've arrived at Broadford at 4pm and after a quick coffee I've jumped on the trail. I've met pretty much straight away a dentist from Germany called Henrietta also hiking the trail, she did some hiking in New Zealand before so we had plenty to talk about, she also showed me a cool video of a kiwi bird she took while hiking in Stuart Island. I...

Last 8 miles of the trail went fairly well, it was basically a pathless cliff walk across military shooting range but luckily the soldiers were off duty. I said goodbye to the Sandwood Beach in the morning and proceeded through the grassy and uneven landscape towards my final destination. Lighthouse would make an occasional appearance along the coast as I progressed. About four hours later I've arrived at the end of my journey! Johnny the lighthouse keeper was there prepping breakfast for other three hikers who stayed in the bunkhouse last night, I've joined in and had some eggs and beans in roast and a white coffee. The sea was too rough this morning so the boat back to Durness got canceled, Johnny offered us a lift as far as the road went (there was no road connection from Cape Wrath to mainland) after which we had to walk our way back to civilization. It took few hours but at 1pm I've crossed the last bridge leading to a road towards Durness, after 15 minutes I've ca...

Big day, I've placed myself strategically for the last push, in the most remote beach in UK (apparently). First few miles in the morning were an easy road walk. The stubborn horses were gone, perhaps they went back through the same hole in the fence they escaped yesterday. Cape Wrath wouldn't be itself if there wasn't a pathless section every now and then and soon enough there was one, soon after climbing Ben Dreavie, next four miles were a boggy, shaggy, inarticulate mess (still beautiful though). Gradually it became a road and then the process repeated itself along the lake with super complicated name: Loch a' Gharbh-bhaid Mhoir, very heavy metal sounding name indeed, I loved it. After hiking in deep mud along steep metal sounding lake for few hours, trail eventually surfaced at Rhiconich, small village with police station at which I've been told by Dave I met yesterday, Cape Wrath Firing Range report was posted and indeed there was!  Basically, last 8 miles of th...

Amazing day with the most unexpected ending. I started early and did the first pass next to Conival and Ben More Assynt mountains, it was find your own way kind of ascent, both gps apps were showing different paths one left the space blank at the top with the line suddenly ending. It took me good hour to get to the other side, descent was steep but at least the trail was there to follow, on my way down I've met few people going to climb mentioned above Munros, they didn't realize CWT was running along their path. Second pass of the day just after Ichnadamph was massive, way to the top though was fairly easy as the trail was visible, view from the top was simply spectacular and well worth the climb, I've seen a female Ptarmigan with few tiny yellow chicks on the way up, a lot of birds were raising their young now, they were mostly ground dwelling and they would raise the alarm every time I was passing near their nest. Descent from the pass was long and muddy, so was walking ...

Surprisingly good and straightforward day, it felt almost like I wasn't hiking Cape Wrath Trail at all. I've left the hostel at 7am, headed straight to Tesco to resupply and bought way too much junk food as per usual. My next stop was "Bothie Coffeeshop" just around the corner, where I had "Scottish breakfast" it was pretty much all meat with a slice of toast and an egg thrown into the mix, but I wouldn't be complaining as extra protein at this point was appreciated, overall it was very tasty and the coffee was big and hot. Hiking out of Ullapool was fairly easy, I've taken an alternative route going along Loch Achall and after few miles I was back on CWT, for pretty much rest of the day and to my great surprise trail was a nice gravel road running along rivers and lakes which allowed me to hike way further than I anticipated. I've passed two nice bothies along the way, second one was converted from an old school building with a blackboard, chair...