Legs and Borders

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...

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...

Today was a bit of a mixed bag, weather and trail were all over the place there were some easy sections followed by hard ones but the scenery kept on getting better. It was cold and rainy since morning, first climb towards Sgurr a Chaorachain was quite tough and pathless, luckily I had to head towards the pass so it wasn't a big deal, descent was steep and muddy but once at the bottom and after doing an easy river crossing the trail followed a stone road, the weather was getting worse though and the wind was getting stronger. After two more small passes and an extremely muddy descent that reminded me of trails in New Zealand, I've arrived in Kinlochlewe, a town with a small grocery store I was hoping to buy some food in. Despite it being Sunday, the shop was opened from 12-5, it was decently stocked and I've bought a venison salami, pack of digestive biscuits, few butteries and a brie and red onion quiche. On my way out of town I've booked the hostel in Ullapool as I re...

A near perfect day on the trail, perfect weather, path was mostly straightforward and the views were spectacular. The trail was running next to two bothies or Scottish huts for hikers early in the morning, I had a peek in the first one and it kind of reminded me the hiker huts in New Zealand but a bit smaller and with less facilities, they were still much better than three walled huts on the Appalachian Trail. As I progressed down the path I've met Anja, an accountant from London who recently left her job to pursue her dream of travelling and self discovery, she has spend 15 months travelling through Asia and now was on a short hiking trip here, her plan was to hike PCT next year which I've completed four years ago, so we had plenty to talk about. Anja was finishing her walk in Morvich so I wished her good luck on her travels and carried on. At the Kintail Outdoor Centre I got offered a coffee and biscuits from a bunch of friendly horse riders who just finished their hike, I co...

Morning was very cold. Wind and rain were also omnipresent, I've put on my wet gear and carried on along the trail. The views were spectacular, heavy rain clouds gave the vast landscape a very gothic and unique look. I was sheltering myself from the wind using an umbrella I found yesterday lying somewhere in the bog, I thought I will have no use for it but it came in handy pretty much immediately. After five miles of struggle I've reached Cluanie Inn, everyone was asleep but the reception was opened so I snuck in to get some warmth into my trembling body, I had to rethink what to do next, the weather for the next week looked all doom and gloom with 10 degrees max temperatures and rain all over, I had to either abandon the trail completely or get a better gear that would keep me warm and dry in this conditions. I decided on the second option. While sitting in a bakery next door and waiting for the bus to Fort William, a couple from Oxford started chatting to me, they went to Heb...

Second day on Cape Wrath Trail and I got totally schooled by it. After a breakfast in Great Glen Hostel, I've packed and left for the trail. First part of the day was a rinse and repeat of yesterday, walking along logging roads and Loch Garry the difference was that I have not met anyone along the way. Around mile 35, the logging road suddenly disappeared along with, well any trail at all and I started my first challenging section of Cape Wrath Trail. It was running along the river bank the terrain was very marshy and uneven with long grasses and moss covering everything, few times I underestimated the depth of the boggy terrain and sunk my leg up to my thigh inside of it. Soon after came two river crossings followed by another pathless, boggy section after which the trail finally arrived at the country road. This comfortable trail only lasted for about a mile after which it turned into a muddy and wet ascent towards Spidean Malach after which it was following a beautiful valley in...

First and unexpectedly very pleasant day on Cape Wrath Trail, I was psyching myself up for a tough ride (which will come soon enough, I know it) but today was a pleasant hike along Loch Lochy and I even managed to find a decently priced hostel to top it all up. In the morning I went to Morrisons to resupply for the next three days as according to my research there was no shops until mile 65 of CWT. I had a breakfast at McDonalds where I also repackaged my food and I went to the starting point of CWT which was also a starting point of Glens Way and numerous other trails as Fort William was famously a gateway to the Highlands. The trail ran along the canal, I've seen a steam train being prepped for a ride which looked really cool, massive clouds of steam was spitting up in the air. Path was easy if ever so slightly too even which made my feet ache quite quickly. Landscape along the loch was getting more and more remote and wild, other than few timber cutting trucks and bicycles, ther...

Early start, I was trying to reach Ben Nevis as quickly as possible and see if the conditions will be good enough to climb it. Twelve miles leading to the peak were fairly easy, I've stumbled upon an injured lamb along the trail but I couldn't help it in any significant way, so I only positioned it in more comfortable way (it was lying on it's head) and hoped someone else will be able to help it. I've reached Ben Nevis Information Centre at 10am, had a snack here and started a 3 hour difficult climb up the mountain, there was a lot of other people doing it, which was encouraging. Path was steep and uneven, long and unrelenting. At around 1pm I finally reached the snow covered top, I've taken few pictures and after few minutes started the descent which took me two hours. I arrived back at the information centre just after 3pm. From here I headed towards Fort William to officially finish the West Highland Way section of the trail, and around 4pm I arrived at the end m...