| When I woke I was pleased to hear that
the rain had cleared and all sounded peaceful outside. Inside the tent my
breath had condensed on the walls giving everything a damp feel, and due
to the slight slope of the ground I had slipped down and the foot of my
sleeping bag had been wicking moisture from the back of the tent wall in
the night. Outside it was a beautiful morning, a soft light was
illuminating the panorama away to the west, here there were no trees , and
now that the rain had gone the true splendour of the wilderness to the
West could be seen. Once we were packed and on our way we soon clear of
the forest on both sides. If we had realised last night that we were close
to release from the forest and the start of the lovely Strath Vagastle
then perhaps we could have pressed on a little further. Today the weather
was much kinder and the walk through the tiny settlement of Crask and over
into Strath Vagastie was a pleasure. A sunny day was exactly what was
needed, when the sun shines the spirits soar just as they sink when when
the black clouds and the rain are dominant.
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The day was beautiful and we decided to
stop at the bridge over the burn in Strath Vagastie. I unpacked My
sleeping bag and tent and aired them off in the sun while we had a wash in
the burn, the local midge population discovered our arrival and rose in
clouds to greet us, they were so persistent that they finally drove
us back up on to the track where the light breeze was enough to
keep them at bay.
At
lunch time we clambered up the hillside onto an outcrop of rock and
enjoyed a relaxing hours rest. Not far below us on the narrow ribbon of
tarmac an occasional car crept along, the occupants turning to stare at us
on our loft perch with our brightly coloured kit spread out around us. As
we rested a shepherd that we had seen earlier went by on his three wheeled
motorbike, his two collies were perched on the back peering
over his shoulder as he drove
along.
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Altnahara, the last village before the
Kyle of Tongue (16 miles), proved to be very quiet, we walked through the
village without seeing a soul. We noticed a large sporting hotel offering
stalking and salmon fishing facilities and as we looked back over the
river Mudale we could appreciate that it would be a popular place for
'sportsmen'. After a short rest we were on our way over the hill to Loch
Loyal. The strange mountain shapes that we had spotted earlier came ever
closer as we progressed into the beautiful Sutherland landscape.
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| Early evening brought us down to Inchkinloch at
the southern end of loch Loyal where we made camp on a fine site near the
stream feeding into the head of the loch. Unlike last night we were able
to sit outside and cook our evening meal, We needed midge smoke coils
burning to keep the little devils at bay, but eventually they proved too
much and drove us under canvas at about nine o'clock. I had just removed
my boots when Paul called from outside that a large herd of deer were a
few hundreds yards away from our site. I clambered back outside and sure
enough they were grazing on the patch that we had considered pitching on
earlier. Earlier In the day while lunching on the rock outcrop near
Altnahara I had tuned into the weather forecast, there was rain promised
for tomorrow, but at least today had been splendid, by far the best and we
had been able to pitch camp In the dry. Tongue was only about nine miles
away so we were well placed for, an easy day tomorrow |
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