For our Mum, who never got to see us do this together, RIP 14/10/2024

Friday May 9th 2025
CWT Day 15: Camp outside Kylestrome to Oldshoremore – Approx: 22 miles

A quiet night under a sultry moon and an impressive sunset. No evening song or dawn chorus, just the sound of my tinnitus. A poor night’s sleep, over-caffeinated. We are pitched on a slight incline and my night was spent sliding down my airbed and wriggling back up like a demented inchworm.

5:30 am, it’s light and my bladder urged me to move. There is a brisk cold wind, so the tents will pack away dry. I dove back into my sleeping bag and waited for the rising sun to thaw my chilly bones whilst nibbling on some ‘real Scottish Oatcakes’.

We are close to finishing the trail now, and we just want to get it done. 4×4 gravel tracks took us up and over Bealach nam Fiann then down through pretty woodland to Achfary.

Descending, the landscape opened up, with impressive views of the Assynt-Coigach region, including Ben Stack and Arkle, known for their steep, quartzite slopes.

Achfary is a small settlement within the vast Grosvenor Estate, known for its extensive rewilding efforts. It’s a haven for birds, we heard Robin, Willow and Sedge Warbler, and of course Cuckoo. The 805 bus to Inverness travels through here, but not today. We stopped at the bridge for our porridge breakfast. It’s the first river where we have seen any life, two small salmon or trout? Wild salmon populations in Scotland, like elsewhere, have been dwindling, impacted by unseasonably low rainfall affecting river levels – a pattern i’d noticed on both my trips to Scotland.

We chatted with the lovely Nick, Lynne, and Ollie, their huge black dog, part German Shepherd, and Chihuahua…. They were travelling in their van whilst Lynne walked stages of LJOG

We pondered our route from here. Our guide said “average walk: 2 days, it is a tough leg, even for the fittest walkers. The route covers some rough, trackless terrain making progress slow and at times painful. The main route deliberately steers clear of the obvious road shortcut through Achfary, but no one would blame you for taking it as an alternative“

On that note, we decided on the road variant. This leg seemed like a long, pointless drag and the road variant offered a chance to be immersed directly in the rugged, and dramatic scenery. I had driven this stretch before on the NC500 and fell in love with its spectacular landscapes. The road is quiet, but if you wanted to steer clear of tarmac, there are plenty of paths that run adjacent to it.

The hotel at Rhiconich, advertised as being ‘open all year and a friendly oasis for a bite to eat or an overnight stop to treat yourself to a shower’, was closed. As we climbed onward to London Stores, we spotted Alan drop down from the trail to the road. London Stores is a well-known small, remote grocery shop, a right of passage for hikers and often a welcome sight. It’s not quite what I expected, a small grocery store, no hydrated meals etc., but great ice creams and chocolate. Alan caught us up as we enjoyed our snacks sat in the sun.

Fortified and rested, we continued by road into Kinlochbervie. A busy working harbour, and one of Scotland’s main fishing ports, known particularly for its whitefish landings. You can also access shower and laundry facilities here. A desolate place with two main cafes, ‘Worth a Look’ and ‘The Quay House’. The Quay House is more modern, but not quite as customer friendly. After buying coffees and food, we were asked if we were just sitting charging phones… wow!!

We moved on to find somewhere to camp on the scenic shore front. But it was not a camper-friendly place either, mostly hard standings for camper vans and ‘no tent’ signs. We were refused at the hotel, then ambled toward further down the coast, the beach was a possibility.

It was early, so we headed for ‘Worth a Look’ for coffee and to consider our options. By now there was quite the party, all the gang were here, Alan, Simon, Rob, Ally and some new faces.

A stoke of luck, the lovely ‘Tanya’ our host, sorted us with a campsite toward Oldshoremore, a small crofting township on the coast, known for its beautiful sandy beach, and coastal views. Nothing was too much trouble, she closed shop and drove my brother 5 mins down the road so we could book places, he can obviously charm the birds from the trees.

Our day ended with a couple of miles walk toward the coast to Oldshoremore with a lovely baby donkey encounter on route. Running toward us, excitedly, he/she enjoyed a good scratch, under the watchful eye of his mother

The others followed suit to the campsite, like a great gathering, we were all in a strange holding pattern before the final push to the Cape. We can’t cross until Sunday due to firing times. Cape Wrath is part of a Ministry of Defence (MoD) firing range, meaning access is restricted on certain days or times due to live firing exercises. Hikers must check the firing times in advance to ensure safe passage.

Hidden in our tents from the brisk wind, we are now just killing time, and playing russian roulette with the unpredictable chilly shower, before our penultimate day tomorrow! We are now in Northern Sutherland

We are booked onto the bus from Durness Monday. So now it’s Cape Wrath or bust. We had made good time with our route choices, we were not scheduled to be here until the 13th.