Day something: Kinlochbervie to Strathcailleach bothy
I was a man of leisure from here on. The army had obliged by stopping their target practice on Friday, so I could saunter across Sandwood, camp there or nearby, and make my way to the Cape on Sunday.
I enjoyed a huge breakfast, stocked up on cheap whisky and chocolate at the supermarket, and was on my way along the road to the Sandwood bay track.
The first glimpse of the bay was a real thrill. This wasn't my real destination, nor would it be the most spectacular beach I'd see, but it still felt like a massive accomplishment.
The track was great riding all the way to the beach, although it was busier than any track I'd ridden since day 1.
I planned to camp on the beach, so dropped my kit and took a wander. i quickly found a group of folk from Edinburgh Uni who I shared a drink (several) and a smoke (many) with. They were full of stories of the chinooks thundering across the bay the night before, sounds like I'd missed an interesting night!
The weather moved in though and I decided to push on for Strathcailleach bothy over the hill. Camping would have been nice but my new friends were moving on and tent was now wet and covered in sand.
Bloody hippies, ruining a perfectly good epic photo…
The walk to Strathcailleach was a sign of things to come, very wet, trackless terrain, with very little to navigate by. I could also see a couple of hikers on the horizon who I figured were headed to the bothy as well. Not wanting to be stuck outside I upped the pace a little…
The bothy was situated in a little depression amongst an endless peat bog. Inside were Bob, who maintained the bothy and lived behind it in a tent, with his cat, and Eric the dutchman. They already had a roaring peat fire going, and it turned out Bob was a big fan of healthy drams of single malt and stories about the bothy (mostly featuring a famous squatter called James McRory smith).
The two hikers turned up and decided to camp outside, but not before cooking their dinner and entertaining us with their neurotic burping collie 😀
The penultimate day: Strathcailleach to Kearvaig via Cape Wrath
So, 'only' a 9km push to the lighthouse today. The first challenge was crossing the swollen burn behind the bothy, although thankfully the bike served as a very useful crutch when crossing the burn, although my feet still got soaked. Big shout to Icebreaker merino socks here, two pairs lasted the trip, and even when sodden they stayed warm and comfy.
Which was useful as there wasn't a dry bit of ground between the bothy and the lighthouse. I stayed away from the coast as I was keen to take the most direct route, although this still involved plenty of river crossings, a couple of tiny, deep glens, and lots of interesting bog flora (and a stag wallowing in the peat, that was very primeval).
Finally though I crested a rise and was greeted with the sight of the minibus hareing away in the opposite direction, I clambered onto the road and wobbled round the corner on my bike, Salomon fell running shoes proving quite tricky on SPDs.
Thar she blew…
I didn't know what to do now I was there. It was very cold, wet and windy, and it was too early to set up tent anywhere, so i mooched around, got a photo (so i could get my "Cape Wrath Fellowship" certificate 😀 ) and set off, doubtfully, for Kearvaig.
I knew there was a workparty scheduled for kearvaig bothy, so wasn't sure if I'd be allowed in.
Of course I was! Not only that, they fed me and warmed me in front of the fire. Suitably revived I pitched in and helped hammer a few nails, and paint a few walls…
The night ended at a long table of about 15, drinking whisky and talking bollocks. Brilliant!
The penultimate day (2)
I was supposed to set off for Durness, but time was on my side, and the bothy workparty was too much fun, so I stayed. I took a break for a wander to take in some of the sights of Kearvaig bay (and have a snooze on the rocks by the sea). Kearvaig knocked Sandwood into a cocked hat for scenery, and wildlife.
Then my camera finally ran out of batteries, after about fifty attempts to catch a puffin in flight. What a day… 8)
And finally…
After another night of whisky and chat, and another lazy breakfast, I had to say goodbye to the workparty and head for the Durness ferry. I could easily have stayed another week though.
The road to the ferry was idyllic, and thankfully my mobile phone seems to take a good photo…
I'd never actually left the mainland, but waiting for the ferry was like returning back to earth, although thankfully without a bump.
The queue for the ferry on the other side had plenty of cyclists, and I must confess to feeling a bit smug when they asked me where I'd come from 🙂
All that was left for me to do was coast into Durness, book into the first hostel I found, pick up some books in the second hand shop, and sit in the pub drinking Red McGregor and reading Day of the Jackal for two days until my mates came to pick me up.
We did the reverse of this a few years ago. Cape wrath to sandwood bay wasnt fun. Apparently the only thing that my mates enjoyed was watching me getting angrier by the minute, the weather was quite misty which didnt help things.
The whole route? There were a lot of bits that would have been much better the other way 🙄
I'd got all my strops out of the way in the days before Sandwood and Cape Wrath, I'd always expected that bit to be difficult so it didn't bother me. I also seemed to be making better progress than the hikers I saw, the bike must have been keeping me afloat!
Once again, thank you so much for letting us have a glimpse of your adventure. Have really enjoyed following this and seeing the pics, full of admiration for what you have achieved. 8)
Good stuff.Ive never seen the point across balnakeil bay from that area before.You can make out A`Chleit in front of the sand dunes in the pic.I tried zooming in from Balnakeil one day in winter at a 22ft swell hitting off the reefy/rocky section and couldnt believe the tubes that were peeling off it.
Standing at the head of the point of Balnakeil and looking over to where you took the picture from.. The swell hitting into the cliffs next to the stac Na Glas Leacan was spraying water as high as the cliff itself. going by the map, 100ft?
unreal place.
The view out to sea at kearvaig looks stunning. That pic is a good example of why i dont venture out of this country. when you stumble upon places like that next to yer hometown.. you know yer onto a good thing!
martinxyz, I could spend the next ten years dicking about along the northwest coast, impossible to get bored when the scenery and surroundings kept changing the way they did.
Kearvaig was certainly the (well, a) jewel in the crown.
Nice. You're a tough bugger, a couple of times I've left my bike hidden under a tent at Sandwood and hoofed to Kearvaig. I've never had the drive to push a bike across the Parph, although I know it has been done in the past by mad feckers from the RSF. Nice to see the MBA fixing up Kearvaig, for a while the bothy was on a shaky peg as the military couldn't confirm a long enough 'lease' to make it a viable bothy for investment.
You should have a go at condensing this all into an article for the mag, it'd make a good read, hard to imagine a longer MOUNTAIN bike ride in the U.K.
Are you going to put it all together in a blog or something such like ? I'd like to pass it on to a few people to read rather than linking them to the separate thread.
Wow, that looks like a great trip!! Sounds like you had a lot of fun, I always find the tough bits make the trip more worthwhile and interesting in the end, if everything went easy I'm sure it would be boring (maybe!?). Thanks for posting it up and inspiring me (and I'm sure others), also made me quite homesick!
Quick tip if searching for Mr 13th's route on Bikely, leave the country and region sections of the search on default 'All Countries/Any Region' as if you try UK and Scotland it doesn't come up as I just found out!
Fantastic thanks for entertaining us with this for the last few weeks, take my hat off to ya, I feel like my favourite TV show has just ended and theres nothing to look forward to now, I've been hanging on your every word for weeks 😥
Goes away to plan an epic………..who am I kidding, lets just start with a trip round the woods and dream a bit.
An amazing read from start to finish, truely inspirational. I really hope this write up doesn't get lost in the forum, it definately needs recorded, even just fo you to have a wee read over it again in a years time or so.
I think you've inspired me to take my first multi day ride this weekend into the Gorms so thank you!
No didnt do the whole thing. Ended up just doing ferry, cape wrath to sandwood bay. Was meant to be part of a bigger route but the march through the bogs and marshes took alot longer than we expected do we ended up doing Ben Bhraggie the following day rather than continuing with the xc idea.