Celebrating 70th Birthday
Date walked: 21/06/2018
Time taken: 13 days
It seemed a good idea to do a solo Cape Wrath walk to celebrate becoming old and doddery.
I won't give a full report, as I pretty well followed the basic route in the Cicerone Guide. The only exceptions were:
a) Having to spend 24 hours trying to get north of Sourlies. It absolutely belted down, all the stream became torrents and all the walkers who had left the bothy in the morning returned to the valley and camped overnight. Amazingly the streams were back down by the evening.
b) Getting confused in the mist in Torridon. It was late so I simply put up my tent and waited for a lovely morning. Followed by a wonderful breakfast in the cafe in Kinlochewe.
c) Getting scared above the Falls of Glomach, chickening out and walking North East until I found the footpath down to Carnach. Funny how a not very steep slope can spook you when you haven't seen anyone for a couple of days!
And one admission: I took a break half way. I think I drank some dirty water, got sick, took a train home from Strathcarron, and returned for the second half a year later. Fortunately, the cafe owner at Cape Wrath said it didn't matter and gave me a free meal anyway!
Best bits? Too many to describe. Perhaps losing battery on my phone and watch, having no idea what time it was, and meeting noone for days, so you got up walked until tired, camped, got up again, all with no real idea what time it was in the long summer days. Happiness.
I won't give a full report, as I pretty well followed the basic route in the Cicerone Guide. The only exceptions were:
a) Having to spend 24 hours trying to get north of Sourlies. It absolutely belted down, all the stream became torrents and all the walkers who had left the bothy in the morning returned to the valley and camped overnight. Amazingly the streams were back down by the evening.
b) Getting confused in the mist in Torridon. It was late so I simply put up my tent and waited for a lovely morning. Followed by a wonderful breakfast in the cafe in Kinlochewe.
c) Getting scared above the Falls of Glomach, chickening out and walking North East until I found the footpath down to Carnach. Funny how a not very steep slope can spook you when you haven't seen anyone for a couple of days!
And one admission: I took a break half way. I think I drank some dirty water, got sick, took a train home from Strathcarron, and returned for the second half a year later. Fortunately, the cafe owner at Cape Wrath said it didn't matter and gave me a free meal anyway!
Best bits? Too many to describe. Perhaps losing battery on my phone and watch, having no idea what time it was, and meeting noone for days, so you got up walked until tired, camped, got up again, all with no real idea what time it was in the long summer days. Happiness.
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ODavies
- Activity: Mountain Walker
- Pub: Bull, Denbigh
- Mountain: Tryfan
- Place: Oban
- Gear: Inov trail shoes
- Member: None
- Ideal day out: Half way through a multi-day trip.
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- Joined: Nov 19, 2014
- Last visited: Nov 03, 2023
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