25 April - Fort William Bunkhouse Hostel to HOME

Day 18:    25 April 2011

Fort William Bunkhouse Hostel to HOME

(several hundred miles          12 hours on 4 trains)

Today I caught 4 different trains to get from Fort William to Salisbury in Wiltshire.

According to AA Routemaster this journey is 512 miles.

Train 1: Fort William to Glasgow. (30 minutes to complete a mad dash across Glasgow to change from

Glasgow Queen Street

to Glasgow Central)

Train 2: Glasgow to Crewe (8 mins to change here)

Train 3: Crewe to Newport, Wales!!! (Yes, but anything rather than go through London and face the underground on a Bank Holiday weekend….) (10 mins to change here)

Train 4: Newport to Salisbury

Miraculously, none of the trains were delayed enough for me to miss my connections. So good old British Rail I say.

I left FTW at 07.42 and arrived at Salisbury at 19.32 Andrew met me there.

A few final thoughts about the Cape Wrath Trail

Good things:

1. The weather was brilliant and I was extremely lucky. I only experienced steady rain on 2 days of the entire trip.
2. The scenery was awesome. Stunning. Epic. Beautiful. Comforting.
3. I had no blisters and no health problems (apart from a slightly dodgy knee)
4. I met some wonderful, like-minded people and felt part of the way of life in the highlands.
5. I like porridge more than when I left.
6. PPPPPP (Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance). It all worked out.

Bad things:

1. Tics
2. Knockdampy Bothy
3. Lack of phone reception
4. Tics

Other things:

1. The lack of people walking at this time of year surprised me. It is important to remember that you are on your own, with no phone reception, and the chances are that nobody will pass you by chance for 24 hours (or more). So it is really important not to get injured.
2. It is foolish to attempt to walk more than 17-18 miles a day and complete such a long walk unless you are seriously fit. I averaged less than 2 mph most days, with fair weather. The ground was boggy, the going hard, the terrain steep and the pack heavy. I met several people who had overestimated the distance they could happily walk in a day. 10-15 miles a day is enough for most mortals.
3. I drank happily from the smaller streams but know not everyone did that.
4. Travel light. Be obsessive about it. It really really works. I carried 13 – 16 (max) kg and that was enough. I am 5’ 4” and average height/build.

So it is finished. Words are not enough really. An experience like that takes some assimilating. I think it has changed me in a small way and I believe I must do this again. I want to go back to Knockdamph Bothy and hope to go the right way off Conival next time. I will certainly go back and when I do the CWT again I will go from south to north and get to Cape Wrath.

The Gods really smiled on me and I know I have been in many people’s thoughts and prayers. I am very grateful for that.

 

Sent from my phone:
I have been very lucky and my 4 trains have been on time. So it looks like i will have to go to work tomorrow after all. Surreal. The real world was waiting for me all the time.