| Day: | 060 |
| Date: | Thursday, 1 July 2010 |
| Start: | Crask |
| Finish: | Knockfin |
| Daily Kilometres: | 46.2 |
| Total Kilometres: | 1956.0 |
| Weather: | Raining and very windy in the morning, partly sunny and breezy in the afternoon |
| Accommodation: | Free camping |
| Nutrition: | Scottish breakfast; trail mix for lunch; cheese & pickle sandwich for dinner |
| Aches: | None really |
| Pictures: | |
| GPS Track: | |
| Journal: | The Crask Inn owner agreed to a relatively early breakfast and I ate at 7:30am and was walking by 8:30am on a very blustery and wet morning. The forecast wasn't good and I had prepared myself for a day of wetness. The early route was along a little-used farm path up to Bealach Easach, a low pass which would be my last of the trip. The undergrowth was wet and soon so were my socks and boots. There was a lot of low cloud and the wind was blowing me about a bit, but it wasn't too bad and I could see a reasonable distance. The other side of the pass descended more steeply through a craggy sort of ravine down to Loch a'Bhealaich, which had a lot of white caps. The path improved as I got lower and the rest of the morning involved travelling alongside one loch after another with moderately high mountains on either side. I couldn't see the highest peaks, but the guide book says I'm also passing my last Munro (3000+ft mountain) today and my last loch of the trip. The further I went, the more the valley opened out and it became quite a boring walk along a gravel road that I could see stretching far out in front of me. The scenery was pretty enough, but more low-key and because I could see so far ahead, there was no change to create interest. However, I was making reasonable time and reached a road around 5pm in what was now quite pleasant weather. There was very little traffic, but I had about 10km to walk, passing through the tiny village of Kinbrace (no pub, no shop) on the way. The day finished with a few kilometres of difficult cross-country until I reached Knockfin, the site of a village abandoned during the Scottish clearances in the 19th century. I found a nice spot to camp by a small stream and quickly set up and had a wash in the stream whilst being tormented by midges. I hastily retreated to my tent and ate and found I had wireless internet coverage so spent the evening catching up on diary and email. I travelled a bit further today than was required and am setting myself up for an easy day on Saturday and then my last day on Sunday. |
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