Cape Wrath Trail: Part 9

Two beautiful bothies, including one you can drive to!

My Cape Wrath Trail series continues into beautiful Glen Douchary and onward to the welcome easy track towards Glen Oykle, where two beautiful bothies offer some relief from the rougher environment of the days before

Day 14: Glen Douchary to The Schoolhouse Bothy (near Oykel Bridge)

17km - 263m ascent - 6h17m (including rests)

This was a shorter day and on paper may read like an easier day, but it was anything but. Yesterday’s 30km journey probably made this feel harder than it was. But despite the almost 9 hours sleep, I still felt every step.

After the long slumber I decided to roll with the horizontal / semi-horizontal vibes and had a good long morning session in the tent with my “EZ chair” (my new nickname for the Mountainsmith lightweight chair), much coffee, and breakfast. It was nice!

I was off and away by 9:30am, and to my surprise found another camper just a short distance away (they must have arrived late and I was too engrossed in the important matter of sleeping to notice; regardless, they themselves appeared engrossed in the important matter of sleeping, as I noticed no life except for a subdued grunt).

The “path” follows the River Douchary for 5km or so to Loch an Daimh. The river valley itself is beautiful, the water having carved out a deep gorge with a waterfall to rival even the Falls of Glomach from the other day.

But if you’re going to enjoy the scenery, stop first, because the ground is super rough and easy to fall, trip, slip, etc. Attention on foot placement was a key focus of the morning.

(Another good day to pay attention to the ground below. Copious amounts of Bog Asphodil in flower should demonstrate what ground conditions were like!)

It was some relief to reach Loch an Daimh, where there’s a small rickety hut that was handy for a rest stop (the hut is owned by Rhidorroch Lodge - it’s open with a couple chairs inside, but I was content sitting outside on the small porch).

I had one of my “cold soak” dehydrated meals… a rice and lentil number with baharat, apricots, and various vegetables, with added toasted cashews, olive oil, and chilli. It was good!

After the loch, there’s a good track that goes to Ullapool in one direction, and Oykel bridge in another - folks who took the diversion to Ullapool from Inverlael would be reuniting the main route here towards Oykel Bridge. And being a fairly good track, it’s pretty popular with mountain bikers.

I met one cyclist couple from Germany at Knockdamph bothy where we’d both stopped to have a peak. They’d been all over, from Arran to Oban to the Outer Hebrides and now to Ullapool and this particular track. Enviably, they have done the Hebrian Way, something on my bucket list.

Knockdamph bothy was so nice I was tempted to stay. Very clean with good amenities, and the bonus of good lighting and high ceilings… some bothies can be dark and claustrophobic but this was blissfully airy. The only thing that creeped me out a little where the platform beds upstairs.

It was only 1:30pm, so too early to stop. So I carried on down the track. Odd that these good tracks, which at first come as a relief, eventually get kind of boring! So I queued up some more podcasts. With thanks to Feasts and Fables who recommended Strangers on a Bench!

There is another bothy on this track about 8km or down the road near Duag Bridge. It’s called “The Schoolhouse”, having once been a schoolhouse, build in the late 1800s and last used in the 1930s where there may have been as many as 25 students. The history is sketchy! But its current iteration is magnificent!

It fell into ruin until the MBA revived it into its current state. And finding it was as welcome as finding Maol Buidhe the other day. The Schoolhouse is clean, well appointed with sleeping bunks, tables and chairs, and feels homey and comforting. It even has a chalkboard and desks, donated by MBA member Jim Burgess during a 2005 work party.

I decided to call it a day here at near 4pm to rest up and enjoy the place, and also escape the showers that were now dominating the weather.

I remained here undisturbed for the remainder of the day, time spent reading the bothy book and other volumes left in the bothy, as well as writing and reviewing my pictures. I made a simple dinner, diverging from my usual plant based routine to eat my last portion of pozole with some instant mash, hoping the protein hit would help aid my recovery for the next day.

(Pozole looking more like corn flakes than a Mexican pork based soup/stew! It was still awesome; you can grab the recipe here.)

There also seems to be a lot of vehicle action - I’ve seen quite a few around the estate, and a “Highland Conservation” van just drove past the bothy from which I now write. There’s also a VW van parked next door with a bike rack - more cyclists? There is one bothy note that mentions that this bothy is one you can drive to. I’ll have to sense check that. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I had got all settled into my sleeping bag and was just drifting off when at about 10pm two aromatic dudes showed up. They’d driven that day from London all the way up here! And offered me weed.

We had a short chat about the place, their journey and mine - we really didn’t have much in common, and after so much time outdoors with just my pack, I found it hard to relate to these city folk. They were nice enough, though, and soon settled themselves into the two remaining rooms in the bothy, as far as I could tell. I was awake now so I made myself a camomile tea and read a bit of a book I have been seeing at every bothy along the way.

Cape Wrath Trail for Jamie: A bereaved father’s journey, is Pete Kenny’s story about walking the trail to raise money for Papyrus, the UK’s young suicide prevention charity, following the death of his son. It’s a somber read, but also entertaining and informative, written as both a journal and travel guide all in one. I liked reading his accounts about the trail I’d already completed (he also chose to skip the tough Torridon section and Shenevall), and bothies I stayed in (he’s been to them all!). Pete seemed to meet more people than I have - when he arrived at The Schoolhouse it was rammed. He also stayed at Maol Buidhe where grounds keepers delivered firewood to the bothy! I’ve barely seen a soul this trip. I think I am in some weird nexus in between school holidays, worth remembering for next year.

By just past 11pm it was getting too dark in the bothy for reading (just to give you a sense of how light it is here!). So I snuggled into my sleeping bag and eventually drifted off. Up at 4am to the sound of my neighbour tossing and turning in the room next door (it’s a little tiny room, obviously once a storage room, and the bed platform is more Monica-sized than adult-male sized.

Meanwhile I was sprawled out in my palatial suite of a space!