Cape Wrath Trail - Day 2
South Laggan Locks to Tomdoun
Distance 20.5km
Sunday 11th April 2010
After packing my kit and eating half the sandwich I walked 2 miles back up the track I walked down late yesterday afternoon, back to the turn for Tomdoun I had seen the previous day. Short cut huh, what a fool I was, the 10 km was really 10 mile. This would mean extra walking on top of what I had planned. Possibly not that bad but what about the terrain?
 |
| Looking back down to the Caledonian Canal |
What was up, was up then up some more, what was flat was up and down through and around deep bog. Travelling in a straight line was impossible what was a distance of 2 - 2.5 km measured on the map along a fence line, when weaving in and about was nearer 4 -6km.
After a steep climb and weaving in and around the bogs I headed down to a stream them up into a wood. It was very warm again today and I was looking forward to getting into the shade of the trees following the forest tracks. How disappointed was I after a few km's when I found the trees had been felled and I was back in the sunshine and heat. As I passed through a farm I saw a couple of lads from the forestry commission and I had to ask why they could not have waited a couple of weeks after I had done my wander before they felled the trees. I was now on my OS select map Loch Cluanie and I was heading West. I was now in an area where the trees had not been felled and I was once again gratefully in the shade. The track crossed a couple of tracks and turned to Greenfield. Where it turned North towards the bridge over Loch Garry.
Anyway I crossed the footbridge over the narrows and could hear people talking, which turned out to be some fishermen. They sounded odd after spending all day listening to nothing than silence. The track now joined the road, I turned left, and headed West down the road towards Tomdoun.
As I walked down the road I could hear people firing guns, the shooting fraternity were out on their Sunday afternoon shoot. Hopefully not hunting Englishmen. I remembered I had heard shots at the same time the day before. Then I saw my first deer, magnificent but fortunately no where near the hunters.
When I arrived a the hotel at Tomdoun I saw a fairy. Was I hallucinating? it was warm and I am sure I must have been dehydrated. It turned out that it was a stag do and the lads had called in for a drink. I met Alex a giant of a man from South Africa who was helping out at the hotel. Sitting outside having a cool well deserved shandy Alex told me of a short cut I could use the next day. Should I trust him as the last short cut I had taken was anything but. I was still on track with my plans though. Alex showed me a place where I could put my tent. As it was dry and sunny I hung my damp kit up to dry it off.
After a short rest I returned to the hotel, for my dinner, where I met Mike the owner and the other guests. I had my dinner with one of the guests, he was a regular visitor to the Tomdoun Hotel and was very interesting. The other guests were a couple from Salisbury who were travelling round Scotland looking for places to do a spot of fishing, with a plan of returning to the suitable locations on another holiday.
Mike the owner was brilliant and entertaining. He was full of interesting local information, he took us outside to hear a snipe's courting call. Another thing he told us was that the stone that the stag stands on in the famous painting Monarch of the Glen was just down the road on the side of the loch. It would have been good to stay there a few days but I knew I didn't have the time.
Today I had travelled approx 20.5 km in about 8 hours.
More to follow
Boz North
Details correct at time of walking.
If you have enjoyed reading my walk or found it useful you may also like to read other walks I have done on The Cape Wrath Trail or other areas. Please check out the links on the right hand side.
Follow link to previous - Day 1 Fort William to South Laggan Locks
Follow link to next - Day 3 Tomdoun to Camban Bothy
No comments:
Post a Comment