Glen Douchary to Oykel Bridge
The ruins did the perfect job of providing a wind break overnight, and I had another lovely sleep in my tent. It was wonderful to have the glen to myself.
The Cape Wrath Trail continues down the left side of the river, before crossing over. With rain overnight, I decided to cross over the river upstream and followed it on the right hand side. I was definitely not the first person to do this, as there was an occasional remnant of a path.
It was beautiful, crossing over the heather moorland.
One section of the path was waymarked, with little posts. The Cape Wrath Trail is a completely unmarked trail. It was nice to follow the little posts from one to another. Walk Highlands had described one section as a ravine. It turned out that these posts safely guided me there, though ravine was definitely an overstatement!
The path continued and it took me to Loch an Daimh. The Loch was vast and beautifully set amongst the hills.
I reached the tip of the Loch, then followed a track along its edge. The track took me to Knockdamph bothy, where I stopped for a quick snack. The bothy was lovely with three rooms downstairs and a fourth upstairs!
The track continued out of the glen and the fields started to get greener. I could soon see the Schoolhouse bothy in the distance.
The bothy was used as a school until the 1930s and is now looked after by the Mountain Bothies Association. Like most of the bothies that I have stayed in during my trip, they are maintained by the association’s volunteers and free to use. The bothy was lovely and I was very grateful for the shelter, especially as it started raining heavily as soon as I got my lunch out!
On the wall there was a map of the UK. It was amazing to see how far I’ve walked!
Whilst I was in there eating my lunch, I was joined by John. John was setting off on a 5-day mountain biking trip to Ullapool, then onto Fort William. It was lovely to chat about different adventures and setting ourselves challenges.
I continued along the path, all the way to Oykel Bridge. It felt bitter sweet leaving the Cape Wrath Trail. I’ve really enjoyed the trail and the challenges that it has brought, but it also means that I’m on my penultimate leg to Dunnet Head! To have reached Day 99 is just incredible, and I can’t quite believe it!
Along the way, I called the Oykel Bridge Hotel, to hopefully stay in one of their rooms, but unfortunately they didn’t have any rooms available for the evening.
Instead, I continued along the River Oykel and found myself a lovely spot by the river.
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