Day 1: Friday 10 May – Kilchoan to Sanna(ish)
21 km with 464m ascent
The Tobermory clocktower woke me far earlier than was ideal, and after sitting it out as long as I could, got up and went out in search of breakfast and for a leg stretch. Back in the room, I packed, grabbed a coffee on the way to the ferry terminal and waited. And waited some more, as they’d decided to delay the ferry to accommodate a funeral party – such is island life. Stuart, Alex, and Pat (who I’d last seen in 2018) arrived and we all waited together.
The crossing was fine, passing one of my local cruise ships from home, and into Kilchoan. Feet were dipped, photos were taken in front of the Ardnamurchan sign, and the four of us walked to the Kilchoan Hotel to sign out.
Pat headed east straight away, but the rest of us were aiming for the north coast, which meant turning west. Stuart and Alex soon left, taking a more direct route to the opposite coast, while I did the “Full West” thing, and followed the road to the lighthouse, arriving soon after 1pm.
I sat writing up my notes at the cafe, with the sun on my face and a gentle breeze cooling a sweaty back. The sound of waves breaking on rocks, and I could see a patch of sand. It was a glorious day and I sat there as long as I decently could to take it in.
Back along the road a short way and a small dither between a track through a caravan park or a footpath further back, before I finally took the footpath. This was a bit difficult in places, at one point pointlessly climbing a fence I then had to re-climb a few moments later. But eventually it joined up with the track. Up and over several outcrops near Portuairk and shortly after signs with Sanna on them heralded easy walking. I collected water as there would be none near camp (a tip from Mark), then headed across boggy ground to my camp spot perched just above the sea.
Day 2: Saturday 11 May – Sanna(ish) to the singing Sands
25 km with 718m ascent
My social media was awash with Aurora pictures, most irritating of all being one from home. Yet, guess who slept through it. I’d forgotten about it entirely, and didn’t even see sunset out as it wasn’t very promising.
I was away for 09:15 and almost immediately ran into route finding difficulty. Clambering over rocks and following vague sheep tracks led me to heather bashing, bog and a deer fence to climb before I found an actual path. This brought me to Fascadale to start a 5 mile road walk to Ockle. Slow going in the heat.
A nice track left Ockle but only lasted a couple of miles before it became a narrow path clinging to the side of a steep hill. This was tortuous going through heather and boggy bits before I hit track again for the final couple of miles to my camp spot. And after the previous night’s Aurora missing, I stayed up this time: nothing.
Day 3: Sunday 12 May – Singing Sands to Gleann an Lochain Duibh
36 km with 647m ascent
With a lot of miles to do today, I was away for 08:35 and targeting being at Dalelia for noon or just after – I needed as much of the afternoon as possible for the rest of the walk.
16 km of track and road got me there and as I was the only one for ferrying today, indeed the last one to cross the loch, we went ahead straight away.
Dumped on a jetty the other side that led swiftly into forestry, I found a nice log and stopped for lunch. Then the track led to a road into Polloch and thence to the Glenhurich Forest and the sign for Ardgour.
Walking up the forest track on the south side was quite pleasant, until it started raining. Then I came to my second deer fence, which involved a lot more swearing than the first. The track then disappeared into a ford and that was that – dumped into a boggy pass with no obvious route. Cue lots of zigzagging following semblances of path, before I resorted to just ploughing through.
Eventually I reached the loch and the rain returned, turning the rest of the day’s walk into a dejected and miserable trudge. The path continued to be erratic to non-existent, energy-sapping and sore-feet-making.
To make matters worse, camping spots worth considering seemed few and far between. I investigated several dry-looking flat-looking patches but continued on each time. Eventually, with the sky darkening I settled for a miserable pitch near a waterfall. It sloped, and seemed to be a party zone of midges. One side of the tent sagged down to echo the mood, and I had to hold my stove to stop it toppling over.
Day 4: Monday 13 May – Gleann an Lochain Duibh to Fort William
8 km with 220m ascent
It was 3-something when I awoke and 4-something when I gave up trying to sleep and decided to get up. I was still really tired after (a) my long day and (b) my short night, but I clearly wasn’t getting any more sleep. If I got up now there was a sliver of a chance that I could make an earlier ferry over to Fort William and both make the Post Office comfortably (rather than it being a bit tight) and have a bit of afternoon left for chill out at the campsite.
The attraction of being able to laze in my tent for half the afternoon was decisive. I packed pretty swiftly and was walking for 05:15.
A few hundred metres from my camp spot, the path I’d struggled to find last night became clearly defined and carried me to the beginning of a proper track. If I’d just carried on a bit further last night…
I took one look at the path beside the river as the track turned to cross over and head up into a section of forestry, and decided to stick with the track. I’d much rather have a clear and easy path to simply follow even if it did involve a bit of up and down, and was not as direct. The certainty afforded by a forestry track was worth it – especially as I was on a deadline for the lunchtime ferry.
With feet dunked quite early simply getting to the good path from my tent, the hard track underfoot started to make its presence felt and I stuck to the grassy middle wherever possible. Eventually the track descended and stayed alongside the river all the way to Inverscaddle.
A fair bit of road walking now lay in front of me, just like when I was here on my 2022 Challenge. By now my feet were really feeling the pounding from the hard surface and I limped along, albeit at a reasonable enough speed. I finally slogged into Camusnagaul at 11:45 for the 12:30 ferry. I was the only passenger.
In Fort William, I first dealt with my parcel – some things I used mainly on the journey to the start and that I might want on the way home – which was going to Montrose to join the parcel of fresh clothes I’d already sent from home.
Then to Morrisons for lunch in the cafe, due to other choices in the high street not appealing or looking too packed. That meant I could also pick up some shopping: I bought far too much as I usually do at such times, but that was always going to happen as I’d thoroughly depleted my treats over the last 4 days.
The final 4 km up Glen Nevis to the campsite was slow, laden with shopping and with feet still smarting. When I’d checked in and chosen my pitch, I then had some mopping up to do – I’d packed the tent away sopping wet in my haste to get going, so first needed to soak up the water pooled on the bottom of the inner, and generally air it through . A shower and then I settled in to have a lazy evening and a bit of reflection on how things had gone so far.
