Author: DanielleWatson

A Rest Day in Rogart

Today is my last rest day! I’ve spent the day relaxing at Waggy and John’s house and catching up on my blogs. With having very little signal and wanting to preserve phone battery along the Cape Wrath Trail, I’d fallen quite behind. I managed to catch up within the day, and fitted in an hour’s nap too!

For my last rest day blog, I thought I would show you everything that comes in one of my supplies parcels. I’ve had one posted to each of my rest days, and I really don’t think my walk would have been such a success so far, without them!

As soon as I open the parcel, I look for my favourite part – a letter from my sister. As Head of Zigzag Realisation (we tried to come up with the most pretentious title that we could 😆) she has posted each of my parcels one week before I’m due to get there. Before posting the parcel, she writes a letter for me. It has been so lovely to read them and they will be something lovely to cherish and look back on. Included in the letter, is also a photo of our teddy bears, up to some mischief! These have made me laugh so much.

This parcel also included someone extra special. The little bear in the middle of the top row is Barnaby. For our bronze DofE expedition, we documented Barnaby’s adventures along our route. Since then, he joined all of our DofE expeditions and then has come on my adventures too. I toyed with bringing him on this trip, but felt he was too precious and I didn’t want to lose him. Well, my sister added him into the parcel, so he can join me for my final week! It was such a special surprise and made me well up.

My sister also adds a little treat for me. In this parcel, I had some mint chocolate and some chocolates from one of the chocolate shops in town 😋

She then adds any last bits that I might have requested, and a change of clothes, so that I can wash everything that I’m carrying (without needing to walk around naked!).

All the other bits were prepacked before I left. Here’s the complete list;

• Extra badges to give to people or units that I meet enroute
• Insect repellent to fight away the Scottish midge
• My toothbrush charger. I decided to carry my electric toothbrush. It’s a bit heavier, but I didn’t want to go four months using a manual toothbrush. Every two weeks my parcel includes the toothbrush charger and some more toothpaste tablets.
• Iron tablets
• Washing and waterproofing liquid for my waterproofs
• Extra newspaper and toilet paper
• Nivea hand cream. I’m carrying a little pot, which I top up from this bigger one.
• Electrolytes
• The maps that I need for the next section.
• My daily overview sheet for the next few days. This document tells me where I’m starting and finishing each day, where the shops are, the distance and height climbed that I’ll walk, how long I expect it to take, the contact details of where I’m staying and the sunrise and sunset times.  I’d made the document before I set off so that I had everything in one place and it’s been really handy to have whilst I’m walking.
• Bran flakes for breakfast
• Kendal mint cake – a hiking staple
• Dehydrated meals and soup for the next section. I’ve loved having my dehydrated meals. It has meant that I can eat properly each evening and I’m not relying on what I can get in the small local shops. I’ve eaten really well with options including mushroom risotto, lentil dahl, curry and rice, pasta and sauce and bean casserole with rice or pasta. They’re all veggie as I didn’t want to risk an upset stomach from dehydrating meat, but I’ve supplemented my protein intake by having meat, whenever I’ve eaten out in an evening.

At the end of my rest day, I then post things that I don’t need to carry, such as the maps from my previous section, my extra clothes and toothbrush charger back home. I brought postal bags with two seals on them. So the same bag is resealed and sent home.

I’m so glad that I put the time into organising my supply parcels, and I’m very grateful to my sister for posting them!

Oykel Bridge to Lairg

Day 100 – can you believe it! It feels like such a milestone to have made it this far and to think that it’s just one week to go!

The Scottish weather really came out for Day 100 and it started with a beautiful morning along the river!

I set off bright and early. Last night the land owner had spotted me and checked that I would be leaving early, as “some very rich people would be coming to fish in the morning”! He was very kind and offered to get me anything that I needed, and I was very happy to leave early (as already planned). The fishing is his livelihood after all.

The track continued along the edge of the river, and then turned into a little path.

I passed a suspension bridge, but kept on the left hand side of the river.

The path continued and I crossed a little footbridge, where it met some woodland and abruptly ended. I tried to find the path, but the land next to the river became steeper.

Instead, I decided to climb up the bank and make it to the road. I would have been joining the road in another 500m, so just joined it slightly earlier.

The road would take me all the way into Lairg.

The road was lovely, with trees either side and the sun was shining.

The road continued along the River Oykel. It was interesting to read the information board about the Atlantic Salmon that live in the river, and the ongoing conservation work.

I made it to Rosehall, there was a lovely little tea room, but unfortunately it doesn’t open on Mondays. I did however borrow their picnic bench, to have a snack of my own.

The road passed fields before going into woodland. The A839 is one of the routes used to transport timber. A sign at the start of the road, asked cars to allow timber lorries to move through, using passing places where needed. It was a lovely and peaceful walk. It was nice to just enjoy putting one foot in front of the other and enjoy the surroundings.

I soon arrived in Lairg, where I finished for the day. I went to the Pier café, whilst I waited for Waggy, who I’m staying with for a couple of nights. Waggy is a friend of one of my mum’s friends and I’m very grateful for a bed for two nights!

I can hardly believe tomorrow is my last rest day. Then it’s the final stretch to the finish line!

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.