The following morning was less exciting as we headed up the Great Glen to Spean Bridge and Invergarry. We passed Loch Garry, Loch Loyne and Loch Cluanie, and past the Five Sisters to the famous Eilean Donan Castle at Dornie on Loch Alsh.


Loch Alsh

Eilean Donan Castle
We stopped in a nearby cafe and had a good meal, as we'd only passed one house in the last thirty miles, and we were finding a distinct lack of food stops. We also had to find somewhere to stop for the night as we were not going to make Torridon, looking at the map there were lots of little black arrows on the map.
Luckily the cafe owner told us of an independant youth hostel at Achnashellach which was open all year, and when we told him we were headed for Cape Wrath he gave us some free Mars Bars to help us on our way!


John with anti-midge hat.

We stopped at the hotel in Strathcarron to telephone the hostel and it was here that we began to experience THE MIDGES! Dreadful tiny buzzy things that bit every exposed part of the body. They seemed to appear as the sun started setting and apparently are notorious in West Scotland.
Inside the hotel we appeared to have more of the local Fort William type entertainment. There appeared to be a fight in the bar, but apparently this was a mock fight, - something the local lads indulged in regularly! We created great interest in the bar, and when we told them what they were doing they had a whip round and gave us £22 for sponsorship, and told us about the hostel at Achnashellach. We were told of a man called Gerry who ran the hostel, and how we should avoid him if he'd just got back from the pub, so when we set off on the last 10 miles of the days trek we wondered what we would find.


Achnashellach - protection from rain and midges!