4th August to 29th July   |   251 miles

The 250-mile walk from Fort William to Cape Wrath on the north-western tip of Scotland, makes a truly awesome 21-day grand finale for my 1250-mile long walk across Britain. My route on this final leg is largely based on Cicerone’s excellent guidebook, The Cape Wrath Trail, following Iain Harper’s more westerly tack.

After crossing Camusnagaul ferry over to Ardgour, I head into the stunning remote wilderness of the Knoydart Peninsula and over to Barisdale. This is followed by a challenging walk over to Shiel Bridge, passing below the Forcan Ridge during a surprise onslaught from Hurricane Bertha.

After pausing to dry out and allow the worst of the storm to pass, I climb on past the Falls of Glomach to Strath Duilleach, heading over to Maol-bhuidhe and Bendronaig and on to Strathcarron. After sheltering from more stormy weather at Kinlochewe, I make my way over to Strath na Sealga and Shenevall – a wonderfully wild country that is followed by a dreadful 9-mile night-time road-slog in driving rain to Ullapool.

After dawdling for a day to recharge batteries and stomach, I head eastwards to Bridge of Orchy followed by a magnificent climb over to Inchnadamph under Conival and Ben More Assynt - a land of  head-scratching geological complexity. Here I meet up with schoolmate Bob Peckham who joins me to complete the final leg to Cape Wrath via Glencoul, Loch Stack and Rhiconich.

Reaching the Glencoul bothy after a pathless and particularly knackering leg of the walk, we meet up with a German couple whom I met two days earlier.  Bob and I continue to the Strath Chailleach bothy - a lonely, eerie place, surrounded by peaty moors and guarded by swarms of unbelievably aggressive midges, possibly alerted to the fact that this is their last chance to have a go at me.  The saving grace of the bothy is an abundant supply of peat.

Cape Wrath’s forlorn lighthouse and headland, surrounded by treacherous swirling seas, provide a fitting end to the walk - but leave me wondering what to do next. Writing A Cape to Cape Walk was part of the answer!