13 April - Oykel Bridge Hotel to Knockdamph Bothy

Day 6:      13 April 2011

Oykel Bridge Hotel to Knockdamph Bothy

(9    miles         5 hours walking)

I got up at about 6.30 and had a fabulous breakfast of porridge, kippers and toast, all in the company of Lords. I would recommend this hotel to anyone. (But not if you want phone, T.V. internet, facebook....)

Then I went to my private television lounge and watched an episode of Star Trek (Deep space 9) while the Eton boys read the Daily Telegraph. It was a very peaceful start to the day. Everyone else was going fishing and wearing knee-length pantaloons and socks, with ties with strange insignias a la mason. The whole place was very strange and I felt right out of place in my trekking garb.

I left Oykel Bridge Hotel in drizzle but the weather forecast said the weather would get better from tomorrow.

Once again I met no walkers all day and had no phone reception whatsoever.

I walked through the Einig Wood, a traditional Scots Pine Wood, for a few miles before coming into the open.

I was surprised to come across loads of potatoes which had been dumped on the track. Sadly I had left my peeler at home. Anyway a farmer told me later- the only person I saw all day - that they are for the deer.

While I was still pondering the potato mystery I arrived at the Schoolhouse Bothy. This is a really tidy little bothy and I stopped here to have a ‘cap-a-pasta’.

There are no fireplaces but it is described as "surprisingly warm" in the Bothy book.

 

 

 

I really enjoyed the message I read in the Bothy book. It could only have been written by Germans and I wondered if they were ‘taking the mick’. It wouldn't have surprised me to read "Don't mention the war" (in the style of Monty Python) somewhere in the book

Very close to the schoolhouse Bothy – which was a functioning school until the 1960’s (with a dormitory for the children who lived so far from home) – I met a ‘kind’ farmer who gave me some ‘seasoned’ wood to take with me to Knockdamph Bothy. I carried about 8 kg of wood for a further 4 miles to the Bothy, and only later realised the wood was quite green and completely useless. Thanks Mr Farmer. (But hey what a muppet I am not to know better...)

After another hour I came to a crossing described as a ‘Ford’ (on the map) near the junction of Rappach Water and Abhainn Poiblidh. The water here was so deep I was required to don my rubble sacks and string in order to cross a fairly quick-flowing stream. There was nobody around to take a photo unfortunately. But I thanked my husband whose idea it was to carry the sturdy rubble sacks. They were used on several occasions.

Then I staggered on to Knockdamph Bothy, with the logs getting heavier by the minute.

The night in Knockdamph Bothy was, for several reasons, the worst night on the trip.

It was very quiet and it felt colder inside than outside.

It really felt like the middle of nowhere, and I have never felt more solitary. It was quite an experience. I was out of phone reception and apart from the farmers I didn't see anyone for 36 hours.

I tried for ages to light a fire in one of the two downstairs rooms - I used hexamine blocks, meths, cotton wool, newspaper, twigs, dried peat, prayer, you name it. After 2 hours I had filled the room with smoke and it was so cold I could still see my breath. Not my idea of a good time, although it took my mind off the fact that it was a really remote place, there was no phone reception, and I was all on my own. As time went on it became more and more apparent that nobody else was going to turn up and relieve the loneliness, and I tried to read a book.
Supper was fish and dried pasta. Lovely. It cheered me up for about 5 minutes.There was an upstairs bedroom in the bothy with two ancient wooden beds and massive mattresses. It looked relatively comfortable but I couldn’t help wondering what other wildlife was inside the mattresses and the thought of sharing my sleep with spiders and other nameless beasties didn’t tempt me at all.

I had some fantasy that I would be able to heat up the downstairs room and make it ‘cosy’ but all it became was smoky, dark and cold.
The experience certainly made me realise that I don't really dislike company as much as I think I do.
I tried playing my tin whistle for a while - the acoustics were good and it sounded better than normal - and went to bed at about 9 p.m. not expecting to sleep at all.

I wrote a poem a few days later, inspired by my experience and thoughts at Knockdamph Bothy. It is another place, along with Inchnadamph, that I shall have to revisit in order to banish the ghosts from my memory

Surprisingly I slept well, and woke at 5 a.m. with a sense of relief that I had survived the night. I left before it was properly light. It still felt warmer outside than inside the bothy!