Er ist kein offizieller Wanderweg und nicht ausgeschildert. The redcoats used mortars to shell a combined force of Highlanders and Spanish troops, which caused the Scots to retreat and the Spaniards to surrender. Am Ende des Tages finde ich einen traumhaften Zeltplatz an einer Ruine mit Bach. Als wir schließlich an der Glendhu Bothy ankommen, ist diese mit etwa 15 Leuten, Wanderern und Radfahrern, ziemlich voll und wir schlagen lieber unsere Zelte auf. I could imagine hunter-gatherer people living down there in ancient times. Irgendwie zieht es mich im Urlaub meist nach Norden. You can follow the boundary fence around it if you want, but there is now a clear, if rough and semi-bulldozed track through the middle of it that comes out just south of Kinlochewe. Home. Nevertheless, this pathless route had its compensations including plunging waterfalls and passing among grazing horses in the later afternoon sun. The path finally delivers you at Sourlies bothy. It goes through ten places that could loosely be termed towns or villages in its entirety, but few of these will coincide with the end of a day’s trekking. But another reason for writing this is the sense that some strange stuff is being talked about the CWT. Ich erreiche die Maol Bhuidhe Bothy. No, the bridge is right there. But that seemed miles away. Auf dem letzten Stück wird es nochmal richtig sumpfig und geht dann an einem See entlang. Since there is nowhere to stay there they must assume that walkers will wild camp. Nach meinem Verständnis sollten hier eigentlich die Tourberichte von einem selbst verfasst werden und nicht von anderen. The Cape Wrath Trail (CWT) has a deceiving name: it is actually not a trail, but a route, running the length of the Scottish Highlands between Fort William in the south and Cape Wrath in the north. B&H here suggest that CWT walkers follow the path upto and around the Falls of Glomach a few miles to the east, returning down Glen Elchaig. Viel mehr ist es ein Netzwerk an einander gereihten Wanderstrecken (durch teils wegloses Gelände) mit vielen Alternativrouten, die dich über 370 km durch die nordwestlichen Highlands von Fort William nach Cape Wrath führen. The route is unmarked and there is no official line. I rationalised it as a scouting mission and an opportunity to follow an old track up to the Coulin Pass which Gerry told me about with the aid of one of his old 1:50,000 scale maps. I took their advice and soon started to rue the decision since it entailed a two-hour plod over rough ankle-breaking terrain. Ein paar Tage später laufe ich wieder in eine Nebelwand und freue mich, dort ein vom Trail schon bekanntes Gesicht zu sehen. Der Cape Wrath Trail ist ein ca. (Post-script: one walker I met recently said she had got lost on this part of the walk and spent an hour fruitlessly chasing tracks along the river rather than going up the glen. Nebel auch. This is true, but I could see vehicle tracks heading up and down the burn on the far bank. 320 km langer Weg durch die nord-westlichen schottischen Highlands von Fort William bis nach Cape Wrath ganz im Nordwesten. Whatever the case, the track marked by the big green sign on the A890 is a short cut to the Coulin Pass if you decide to stay at Gerry’s Hostel. I moved to the  left and stumbled across peat gullies to another mound. Aber eigentlich fühlt sich das hier wie das Ziel an und wir beschließen, dass das Cape noch einen Tag warten muss. B&H’s comical advice at this point is that you should turn left at the burn ‘at a point identified by a tree on a rock’, walk upstream for about 1km and then head NW up the side of the glen. It's often touted as Britain's toughest long distance walk, due to its pathless sections, remoteness, and Scotland's fierce weather. I'd read tons of trail descriptions and copied multiple ones to my kindle. Am Morgen des Abflugs schlafe ich immerhin bis halb vier (der Wecker geht um sechs). In Schottland gilt das Jedermannsrecht und abends vor einer Kulisse wie am Lochan Fada das Lager aufzuschlagen und die Highlands (fast) für mich allein zu haben, ist ein unglaubliches Gefühl. As I had lunch by the unruffled black water the silence was broken by a startling eerie cry. Der Trail Der Cape Wrath Trail ist kein offizieller Fernwanderweg. When planning my Cape Wrath Trail trip this year I expected to walk it ultrapacking-style, going for long days with no stops at a steady 5km/h pace. Und irgendwie ist es spannend, dass so bewusst wahrzunehmen. The outdoor centre, by the way, is owned by the National Trust for Scotland. It was a peculiarity of British weather systems  that while the rest of Britain was suffering heavy rain and floods, the North West Highlands were in a prolonged dry period that had left many springs and mountain burns completely dry and reduced rivers to shallow trickles. I had brought two trekking poles to help negotiate these rivers and it was now apparent that they were unnecesary – which was a good job because by this stage I had broken one of them and lost the other. Profile views - 153 Since there were a multiplicity of steep surfaces and rock faces I went for the nearest slope I could scramble up, the one covered in bracken, and hoped I would find the path eventually. Did he know what they were for? Despite completing several other long-distance walks I fell into this category and I can happily report that if I can find my way for over 100 miles across Britain’s last wilderness (despite losing my compass at one point), then most people can. Sheil Bridge to Strathcarron. I followed the detour and joined the vehicle track to Benmore Lodge. For a while, you may feel like you have entered a forgotten world. Day Three: Strathan to Sourlies bothy at Loch Nevis –  nine miles (or thereabouts). The route I followed was based on the somewhat eccentric trail described by Denis Brooke and Phil Hinchcliffe in North to the Cape (Cicerone, 1999), which starts at Fort William and immediately heads west to Glenfinnan before turning north. As you come up from the loch there is an awkward split in the path. Because while there are no little signs sticking out of the ground marked ‘Cape Wrath Trail this way’ – yet – this is a trail that long-distance walkers, searching for something different, are evidently tackling in increasing numbers. As long as you walk most of your chosen route, most people would say you have earned the right to say you’ve done it. Wir beschließen, direkt am Ufer auf den Steinen weiterzuhüpfen. When B&H wrote their book there was a foot passenger ferry service to Ullapool operated by a hotel. Wikinger kehrten hier oft zurück in ihre Heimat. Mit einem kleinen Umweg beheben wir unseren Navigationsfehler und als ich mich am späten Nachmittag gegen Windböen stemme, würde ich die gern wieder gegen den Nebel tauschen. At this point I did wonder if I could I just follow the glen north all the way to the loch. However, you surely won’t have forgotten that somewhere up ahead B&H will ask you to exit the glen in a dramatic and tiring fashion. The body of water I had seen was the secluded Lochan a Mhaim and spending some at its side, enclosed by mountains, should be an occasion you tell yourself that following the CWT was a very good decision. Nach der zweiten Nacht am Strand setzen wir den Rucksack zum letzten Mal auf. I was planning on completing the West Highland Way, which I did, and then hoped to do parts of the extremely difficult Cape Wrath Trail. Und das natürlich an einem der regnerischsten Tage. But this is plain rubbish, since most of the Brooke/Hinchcliffe route is on tracks along moorland, glens and over passes which have been formed over generations. Klar laufe ich noch bis zum Leuchtturm. Schottland ist im Vergleich zu meinen letzten Trekkingtouren in Polarkreisnähe dabei schon fast südliches Gefilde. B&H recommend you skirt around the edge of the woodland en route to the pass but, having already missed that path at Upper Glendessarry, I decided to go through the forest on wide tracks and paths which ultimately join up with the ‘official’ path. This is a good location in which to contemplate Cape Wrath Trail’s tough reputation. A burly bloke in a pony tail ran past and spat at the ground near my feet. The reason why I missed it was because I was following another track through the pass; the reason I found it was because I had a sudden feeling that I was in the wrong pass and walking to the wrong loch. On the way down to Corrie Hallie and the road there were several people coming up, including an undergraduate geologist. July 30, 2012 by Mark Patterson 4 Comments. Mein fester Vorsatz vom Vorabend für ein Hotelzimmer hat sich bei dem passablen Wetter tatsächlich in Luft aufgelöst. Im Spätsommer soll es losgehen – aber leider macht mir der Job zunächst einen Strich durch die Rechnung. B&H’s end point for this stage is the hamlet of Killilan. Yes, the people at the B&B had a room. Der Weg entlang der Steilküste gibt einige beeindruckende Ausblicke frei. Er gleicht vielmehr einem Flickwerk aus Straßen, Pfaden, Weiden, Hügeln und Flüssen.Während einzelne der Pfade zwar an menschlichen Siedlungen vorbeiführen, befindet man sich größtenteils im schottischen Nirgendwo oberhalb der zivilisatorischen Grenze Fort William – Inverness. After breakfast and a good rummage  through Gerry’s piles of yellowing outdoor magazines, I was back down to the road to find the old track up to the Coulin Pass again. Nanu, wartet der auf uns? Or, you know, get a good GPS device. 2013/10/18 Outdoor. This was a nice change from the standard advice never to hitchhike that is published by Lonely Planet etc. The way ahead from Meallan Odhar. Share . Coming down from the pass, heading over the round top of Meallan Odhar, I met three English walkers coming up – the first people I’d seen since leaving the B&B that morning. The end result was that I backtracked, and it was only by backtracking that I saw the iron gates and the cairn, which confirmed I was where I should have been. Wir nähern uns langsam dem Cape. DEN CWT gibt es nicht. Er ist kein offizieller Wanderweg und nicht ausgeschildert. Karte und Kompass oder GPS-Gerät sollten unbedingt dabei sein. This kind of thing is great for those who don’t want or need exact directions; it’s not so good for those who, unlike Ranulph Fiennes, do not have 100% confidence in their navigational abilities. To me, the reputation can’t be due to the length of the daily sections;  many long-distance paths have much greater daily mileages. The view from Loch Eil. I kept walking to the nearby Kintail Outdoor Centre, which is marked on OS as a place of tourist interest. The evening before I’d camped beside the river within sight of An Teallach, at the point where the path to the bothy at Shenevall splits from the path to Little Loch Broom. B&H suggest you can stay in B&Bs on the southside of Loch Eil. Our favorite bothies along the Cape Wrath Trail, from the cozy to the absolutely epic. At the tip of the loch you turn right and enter a wood via a gate, walking uphill on a rough boggy path that may be hard to find. “People always talk about Knoydart being the last wilderness,” said Willie. No, it was a private hostel only open to groups. B&H state that they didn’t test the “viability” of this route; well, it is viable and a little further along it delivers you straight to the White Falls Retreat bunkhouse and cottages at Camas-luinie. Aber ich habe ja ausreichend Zeit mich vorzubereiten. But, for now, Shiel Bridge was important because of several outstanding attractions – showers at the campsite and a shop at the nearby filling station where I restocked with food for the next leg. Welcome to WordPress.com! After a spell of road-walking on the A87 down to Loch Duich, the path turned north east past the busy caravan site at Morvich. Die Sonne bessert zwar die Laune, aber trägt ihren Teil zur Erschöpfung bei. “But it isn’t, the real wilderness is the land around here, it’s just that there’s nothing specific to attract people there.”. Since there are no fiddly navigational problems between here and the main road on Little Loch Broom, I took a leisurely pace across the moorland on the top and lazily filled the water bottle at springs and little water falls when it pleased. I’m confused by this sign because the ‘Ettrick Shepherd’ and Scottish writer named on it was known as James Hogg, not Thomas (there’s also a framed extract from James Hogg’s writings on the wall of the Kinlochewe Hotel on the route ahead).