Glenfinnan to Cape Wrath part 1 – The Rough Bounds

So this was it, this was the trip that all my other trips had merely been practice for.

Meticulously planned, thoroughly researched, and endlessly talked about (by me, to anyone who would listen).

Glenfinnan to Cape Wrath via as many of the northwest's best trails, most exciting hills and bothies as possible.

Or so I'd hoped.

Day 1 – Glenfinnan to Kinbreak.

So off I set. I had originally hoped to be leaving in time to catch the Jacobite steam train passing over the viaduct. I figured a good self-timed shot of me grimacing up some gnarly climb with a steam train and the viaduct in the background would guarantee a magazine cover, if not on Singletrack then at least National Geographic.

The end result wasn't quite what I'd hoped for.

The road, then trail, stayed good all the way to the top of the bealach.

…at which point it disappeared, leaving me a very soggy and rocky trudge down the other side. This was to become a recurring theme for the next two weeks, so I won't labour it. I had been warned by several people (on here and elsewhere) that a lot of my routes were a bit shady, but I wanted to find out myself.

Oh how I found out.

^ Streap, Strathan, part of the quad track out of Strathan, and two TGO challengers.

^ Kinbreak bothy, where I met Cameron McNeish, and more excitingly the guy who produced "World's rarest funk 45s" for Jazzman records. True celebrity.

Day 2 – Kinbreak to Suardalan bothy.

Undeterred by falling 30km short the day before, and the shocking wetness of the trails, I set out the next morning, immediately faced with a big river to ford and a stiff push to the track on the other side of the glen.

^ Thankfully I'd just descended that, scattering TGO challengers like skittles chatting with my drinking buddies from the night before as I passed them.

I climbed out of Glen kingie after the Lochan ruin and headed north to the eastern tip of Loch Quoich, where I sat down for my lunch of oatcakes, cheese and salami. Luxury (and about a billion calories. Sorted).

After Loch Quoich it was straight along the road to Kinlochhourne, passing/being passed by several TGO challengers, lots of motorbikes, a classic VW camper, and a parade of very sexy sports cars (too slow with the camera, d'oh!). The final descent into Kinlochhourne has to be seen to be believed.

Kinlochhourne.

Looking for the tearoom…

The climb out of Kinlochhourne, through the Eucalyptus trees (menthol fresh, to help counteract the effects of all smoke from the bothy fires!)

The view from the climb.

…and the view back down it.

Kinlochhourne singletrack.

Gleann Dubh Lochain

Following the pylons out of Gleann Dubh Lochain and into Bealach Aoidhdailean was tough. The track was very good for most of the way, but steep, and a bit loose. I was knackered.

The view back from Bealach Aoidhdailean.

A very small, and very bleak looking, howff set high up on the slopes. I was tired, but not that tired. Suardalan awaited, but not after pushing down another descent…

Just above the bothy; the trails from this point on were great, and mega-hikes can be quickly forgotten with a good descent to the front door of a bothy!

Suardalan, with extra mice 8)

This had just been the prologue of the trip, I was now heading into unfamiliar territory, and bigger hills. That said, nothing was likely to be as wet (I'd hoped) as the famous rough bounds of Knoydart, but I was already beginning to reconsider some of the more ambitious diversions I'd planned for later in the trip…

Part 2 to follow, featuring: Allt Beithe hostel, the Falls of Glomach, hysterical women, motorbike impressions and one hundred sizzling gypsies Robgarrioch 😀

Epic stuff! This looks fantastic. 🙂

sweet

This is what STW is for!

Roll on part 2…

why not write it up for the mag ian – you write well and the photos are good representation of what you saw 😉

Nice one, another post to join the collection of inspiring trip reports you've put on here. Looking forward to part two…

nice trip

Top stuff. I await the falls of glomach with bated breath

Terry, I spoke to Chipps a while back who suggested more shots of me riding and less empty scenery. Problem is I just couldn't be arsed stopping and fannying about with the self timer, especially since there were constant showers blowing in!

Plus once I'd dripped sweat onto the lens a few times the quality kinda dropped off a wee bit 😳

I'll just need to get my ego fix from the forum as usual 8)

haaha . you need a photographer …. next time ian – next time ….

I would love to do something like this…..but would need to have someone who could read a map with me as i get lost in my own bedroom.

Epic, Glad to see your Scuttling walkers now rather than cyclists 😆

Lovely shots, sounds superb. Definitely looking forward to the next post.
(Any chance of a rough map in part 2 for those of us who are only vaguely familiar with the area?)

Nice one, that's a good scoot, I MTB'd into Suardalan last week the same day as doing the Glen Sligachan loop – bit of a drag from Camasunary bothy to get there, luckily the technical fun came early in the day. Nice country, have to say I'm glad I didn't bump into McNeish. No time for celebs………seems like the exact opposite of what the sticks is for to me.

MrGreedy, I'll try to work out a map of some sort, MemoryMap doesn't make for very good jpegs though. Its quite good fun trying to link it all together on a map though, most of my routes are marked on OS maps so if you find some online you could probably figure it out from there.

Waderider, that sounds like a huge day! How far was that? The climb up to Suardalan must have been a bit crap, I could barely ride down it!

Mr McNeish is very quiet and not really a typical celeb. Also, while I like the wilderness stuff to a point, I am drawn to a crowd if there is one 🙂

Mr Monk, it was a push to Suardalan if I'm honest, 96km for the day. The first bit of the effort to Sligachan was high quality, the rest tedious road. Until the push.

Anyhow, the point of the exercise was to off road to Kinlochourn….I'd never done that before. Was a good last day to a weeks MTB tour dedicated to breaking in my new MTB.

The crowd thing rarely works for me, but each to their own…….. 🙂

Excellent 😀 More of this kind of thing! Also looking forward to the next episode.

stunning tail and what it is all about…………………next

Fantastic!! Great Epic..

Keep me posted with what you have planned next in case you want some company.

paul.e

Tremendous stuff! Well done fella. Looking forward to the next episode 😀

Now that is proper Mountainbiking!

Not a berm or North Shore in sight. Plenty bogs though.

Brilliant 🙂

Good stuff.

Superb. Looking forward to part 2.

If you do write it up though, be prepared to see it again in a few years time but with McNeish labelled as the author. 🙂

Great stuff as usual. How long are your days in the saddle/hiking?

Firstly, looks like a great trip.
Looking forward to seeing how oyu got to alt beithe as i am thinking of reversng that part of the route in the summer. I take it you wouldn't recommend going along kinlochhourn and over to knoydart then? I would mind seeing some mapping for this either to be honest 😀

Cheers
Dan

For the mappers, I think I can drop my route straight onto Bikely or something, will try it later.

Dan, I think there are plenty of good routes in the Knoydart area, I just picked some of the wetter ones!

I wasn't doing massive days in the saddle, didn't want to turn it into a death march (ha!) so on average would be leaving my campsite/bothy at about 10/11 in the morning, and would usually get to my destination in evening, 6 or 7ish. I had aimed for 50km a day average, haven't yet sat down to figure out what I actually did..

I couldn't afford to finish too early in the day as I could only carrying one book and had to make it last!

Inspiring stuff Monk! looking forward to part 2.

13thfloormonk – Member

I couldn't afford to finish too early in the day as I could only carrying one book and had to make it last!

Ha – I know that feeling. Used to rip out the pages already read in cheap novels and use them to start the evening campfire. Means the book gets smaller and lighter as the trip goes on 🙂

Yeah… my book was too new for that sort of thing.

I had to ration whatever reading material was in the bothy when I got there, even read the bothy books cover to cover in a couple of instances (Synopsis of any bothy book: "Lovely bothy, weather is foul/fine, climbed XXX, there are lots of mice").

On that note, I left a copy of "The Omen" sitting in the bothy near Suilven, if someone could nip up and return it to the Ullapool Youth Hostel that would be much appreciated 😉

Great pics and great commentary. You should definitely turn this into a magazine article. The bike mags should pull your arm off for something like this.

Here is the pic you didn't get – the steam train on the viaduct, with taken from just over the loch with the Glenfinnan monument in front. Can email the big version if you want it

Did you think about the following as a possible start (I've been meaning to do it for a while now)?

Mallaig, along the north shore of Loch Morar to Tarbet, ferry to Inverie (big meal in the Old Forge obviously), up Mam Barrisdale and down to Barrisdale (big push up, great descent down), track along the shore to Kinloch Hourn.

The last bit (Barrisdale to Kinloch Hourn) is the only section I haven't walked or biked at some point, so I'm not sure how rideable it is.

Looks like an ace trip. Off to Knoydart mit bikes on wednesday. Waaay excited now.

The bit from Barrisdale to kinloch hourn would involve a fair bit of hike a bike if memory serves me correct.

Thanks Cap'n, I've got similar shots myself, just not with me riding the bike in front of them!

KennyP, I had considered that, can't actually remember why I'd settled on the Glenfinnan route, probably because I wanted to get the photo above.

DavidM, was it you discussing the old pony track that heads from Glen Barrisdale to Loch Quoich? I had meant to scout it out for you but decided not to stop in Kinlochhourne after all.

Yeah – Don't worry about it, looks like a beast of a ride without any extra bits added on. Was the Kinlochourne tea room open? I am mentally preparing myself for the crushing blow of finding it closed.

The word epic is often bandied around inappropriately, but in this case I think it fits.

I'm just back to work after a week of (comparatively tame) walking & biking in the highlands and I'm wishing that I could head back right now 🙂

Inspiring stuff, looking forward to seeing more of your big adventure.

Thank you so much for this – it looks truly amazing. 8)

Will look forward to reading the next instalment and admiring the scenery.

If only I was 20 years younger and was able to MTFU …

😥

*is not jealous, is not jealous, is not jealous*

(No really)

As in the words of my late Uncle Peter who was a Fleet Chief Petty Officer in the Royal Navy…'OFF CAP!!

Cap off to you indeed Sir! Didn't you grab any mussels from the rocks at Kinlochourn though? Best I've ever had!! Well done, I await part 2.

Great stuff mate – didn't quite realise the scale of your preceding days. Pic 1 13 must be a blower-upper-printer-off-er…