Mallaig to Sourlies Bothy
(8.7 miles/753 metres ascent)
...and then turned over and lay for a while contemplating the prospect of the adventures before me. I soon dropped off, though, and woke again an hour or so later to the sound of the alarm on my mobile phone. A quick visit to the window confirmed that it was still dry out, and so I got out of bed, pulled on some clothes and went out to stand at the side of the harbour, savouring the view (and an illicit cigarette...)
A few minutes later I was back in my room and beginning to pack my things away. After a shower I went down for breakfast, and enjoyed delicious mushrooms and tomatoes on toast with filter coffee. Yum!
The boat over to Knoydart was due to leave about 10.15am, and just after 9am I left the B&B and made my way back along the road into the village. I made a quick call to the shop in search of a cheese and onion pasty but there were none to be found, and so I went over to the harbour and bought my passport to adventure in the form of a ticket to Inverie for only £8 :-)
Challengers were already gathering in excited little knots beside the boat, and they advised me to take my pack down and stow it safely away. I did, and then I spent some time inspecting the area beneath the pier.
I was quite excited to see Lou and Phyllis La Borwit on the boat, as I'd seen Phyllis receiving an award for her 10th crossing at the Montrose bash the year before but I'd never actually met them before. Lou was on his 12th crossing this time round.
They were accompanied by their grand-daughter, Gretchen, the youngest Challenger walking, and Phyll showed me the enormous brace on her left knee necessary to enable her to do the walk this year, which was a pretty fearsome looking contraption which didn't appear to be entirely in the spirit of the lightweight backpacking movement!
A little before the scheduled departure time the boat began to move off, to the considerable dismay of a couple of young Challengers who hadn't yet got on! There was a bit of manoeuvring backwards and forwards to get back to the jetty to pick them up, but eventually they landed and then we were off :-)
It was still dry and breezy, if not actually sunny, and soon we were into the choppy waters heading over to Inverie. I love choppy boat rides, and so I managed to sneak right up to the front where the rise and fall were most pronounced and the occasional spray kept us on our toes. I was wearing my Paramo Fuera smock, which I'd 'forgotten' to wash and re-proof, and I was quite relieved to see the water beading off it!
Phyll and Gretchen came up to the front as well, and the three of us chatted as the journey progressed. The views were already stunning, and those standing behind us appeared to be enjoying them too.
On the way over we passed a couple of watery monuments, of which this was one...
...and before long we'd arrived at Inverie and it was time to jump off and unload the boat as quickly as possible.
Not far from the landing point is a lovely old pub - The Forge - and since they'd gone to all the trouble of building it right there next to the boat for the benefit of the Challengers I felt that it would be positively churlish to embark upon a crossing of Scotland without making a quick visit, for a drink to see me on my way. Besides, it was only 11am and there were less than 9 miles to walk, after all...
Gerry and Heather thought so too, and so we all went in and invested in something suitably restorative. I wasn't sure what to have, except that I instinctively felt that a wee dram of some sort would be the appropriate choice, but with advice from Heather and the helpful woman behind the bar I settled on a glass of Bowmore, an Islay single malt that turned out to be one of the great discoveries of the walk for me :-)
It was some time during my consumption of the Bowmore that it suddenly dawned on me that I'd totally forgotten to sign out from the West Highland Hotel that morning! My immediate reaction was absolute horror, since there was clearly no way that I could get back there and do it now, but then it occurred to me that if I were to ring and speak to the woman I'd met in the bar the night before, when collecting Andy for dinner, she'd probably remember me and might be willing to make a note next to my name to confirm that I'd actually been to Mallaig! I went back to the pub to ask for the number, and they kindly allowed me to use their phone to make the call. One call later I was all sorted out, as the woman did remember me and said she would email Challenge Control to explain. Major relief! :)
All too soon the Bowmore was gone, and I was beginning to think that maybe the time had come to embark upon my walk to Sourlies bothy. In the meantime, though, a few other Challengers had come over to say hello, and it occurred to us that it might be a nice idea to have a drink together before setting off, as we were all going in the same direction. Heather and Gerry got going - they weren't aiming for Sourlies - and so Mark, Lorraine, Steve and I settled back to enjoy some welcome early afternoon sunshine and chat :-) It's surprising how quickly time can just slip away on sunny afternoons in beautiful places adjacent to pubs like that, and in seemingly no time at all it was coming up to 2.30pm and I was finishing up my 4th glass of Bowmore! Hic :-)
We'd all had fun, though, and by that time the prospect of the walk to Sourlies didn't seem daunting after all!
After a last, lingering look at the stupendous view from the harbour, we gathered up our things and set off.
Everywhere in Knoydart is beautiful, and the scenery was immediately entrancing. The road turned out to be guarded by some scary looking highland coos...
...but they were actually quite friendly, and a pretty dun coo even allowed us to pet him.
It was also interesting to note that baby coos like to pull faces at their mothers when mum's attention is directed elsewhere :-)
As we continued I looked back to where we'd come from, and it was lovely.
We passed another interesting monument, this time on top of a craggy little knoll...
...and not long after that there was a loo stop.
Sadly, there was an unfortunate incident at the loo stop, which involved the accidental destruction of the cistern lid...
...Whoops! :-) Really, none of us laughed... :-)
Soon we were ready to continue, though, and after a quick stop for the first window-reflection photo-experiment of the trip we were on our way again.
It was hard to know which was more beautiful - the view behind us...
...or the road ahead,
but time was moving on, and as we descended towards a rickety little bridge we passed a group of campers some distance away, in the shadow of what looked to me like a pretty imposing mountain.
We weren't quite sure how safe the bridge was going to be...
...and so Steve was deputed to make the first crossing, and we stood with cameras poised in keen anticipation, on the off-chance that it might collapse :-)
The bridge turned out to be safer than it looked (but not to worry - there's always another!), and as we made our way over the boggy ground preceding the headland before the bothy we passed some sheep living in what looked like pretty idyllic surroundings.
Mark and Steve pressed on up the side of the hill in their final climb of the day, but Lorraine and I didn't want to get involved unnecessarily in any steep, nasty, final climb, and so we decided to check out the alternative route around the headland. The tide was in and the bothy lay on the other side of a considerable expanse of water, but it was sunny and beautiful, and the water wasn't terribly cold, and so we decided to take the more interesting option and wade round.
We packed away some more vulnerable items from the outsides of our sacks, took off our socks and set off. It truly was a wonderful experience, to be wading through the crystal, clear waters, enjoying the warm rays of the descending sun, and with the prospect of the camp lying shortly ahead of us, and on my way round I stored up memories that will be with me forever. We stopped half way to take some photo's, but it was difficult to capture clearly the beauty of the moment with the sun so bright in the sky behind us.
Not long after that we reached the beach where Sourlies bothy sits, and found Steve with his tent up, sorting out his kit. Mark hadn't yet come down - see, our way was better after all! - and just at that moment it began to rain a little.
I got out my tent - the new Terra Nova Laser Competition - and began to put it up. It's been described as a bit of a faff to erect, but Steve (who uses one) had promised to show me how to do it properly, and very quickly it was up and I was emptying my pack.
Hardly any time after that I had supper on - Batchelor's Red Wine and Mushroom Pasta: Yum, I thought - and then I was able to snuggle down in the tent and eat as I looked out onto the other tents and watched the tide begin to recede. Earlier in the day we'd made a plan to find mussels for tea, as the water round the bothy is teeming with them, but they all seemed to be gathered on the other side of the bay, and so we were forced to make to with more pedestrian fare that night. Pedestrian is actually quite a good word for what I cooked up that evening, because I'm sorry to say that it tasted much as I imagine old boots might taste if simmered for 20 minutes in boiling water. Perhaps I spoiled it by adding instant potato? Hmmm.... in any event, it's not an experiment I'm keen to try again within the foreseeable future!
Mark had arrived as we were putting our tents up, and soon after that the Le Borwits came in. There were actually quite a few tents on the little patch of grass outside the bothy, and further exploration later on revealed Tony Hardman ensconced in the bothy itself with a couple of blokes from the MBA, who were sitting by the fire and relaxing after a hard day's work.
After a chat with the people in the bothy I went back to my tent and took a picture of the little camp site.
Soon after that it occurred to us to play cards - I'd bought a pack at Glasgow train station - and so the 4 of us gathered round Lorraine's tent and played Cheat, and then a bit of Blackjack, and sampled the Ardbeg that I'd brought in my specially acquired 0.3L Sigg.
Eventually the wind got up and began to blow the cards away, so by midnight we decided it was time for bed. I made my way back over to the tent, got into my fleecy leggings, trusty old Helly T shirt and fleecy bedsocks, and settled down in my new Phd Minimus bag to wait for sleep.
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