Oykel Bridge to Cape Wrath as a loop

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fatbikerbill
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Oykel Bridge to Cape Wrath as a loop

Post by fatbikerbill »

Oykel Bridge to Cape Wrath & Back

Plan:

To start from Oykel Bridge, do the northern loop of the HT550 with a diversion up to Cape Wrath & back, starting April 30th, 4 nights, all at bothies, about 300km, 6000m

Possibly of interest to people is the bit past Loch Dionard on day 3 as that is very lightly used.

All the photos are here
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ePhadNqiwG4kNP4s5

Who: me, Pete Gretton (a BBer), and Colin.

My bike is a cotic solarismaximus, on it's inaugural bikepacking trip and I have to say it was imo the perfect bike for the job. Climbed well, lockout on the fork for the tarmac and as for the downhills well my grin had to be removed with an anaesthetic.

Route:

Day 1: Oykel Bridge to Strabeg Bothy, 91km, 1270m
Planned: https://www.strava.com/routes/2952823483516102326

Day 2: Strabeg Bothy to Kearvaig Bothy & Cape Wrath, 55km, 870m
Planned: https://www.strava.com/routes/2952824305225145014

Day 3: Kearvaig Bothy to Glendhu Bothy, with Loch Dionard
Planned: https://www.strava.com/routes/2952825490747680438
Actual: https://www.strava.com/routes/2957732787989339256

Day 4: Glendhu Bothy to Suileag Bothy
Planned: https://www.strava.com/routes/2952826784715247286


Day 5: Suileag Bothy back to Oykel Bridge
Planned: https://www.strava.com/routes/2952827367037662902

The journey.


Day 1: Oykel Bridge to Strabeg Bothy, April 30th

Started at 9:30 am with a wet & windy forecast, fortunately a mainly northern wind.
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Overall our progress was fast (for us) averaging 15km an hour, admittedly pretty all the terrain was either tarmac or gravel roads.


The hardest part was the climb over Bealach nam Meirleach. The wind & rain made it extremely unpleasant & Pete started to suffer quite seriously, but pressed on if only to attempt to keep warm. We did have difficulty negotiating the gate at Corrickinloch. The main gate was locked & the walkers gate is not bikepacking friendly.

We left the HT550 at the 65km point at Gobernuisgach Lodge, discovering our only real mechanical of the whole trip. Pete had lost a bolt holding his front shifter on (should’ve gone single ring!), but a tie wrap fixed it & all was good for the rest of the trip.

Our route leaves the road at Castle Dhu with a river crossing that was shin deep & then two longer than expected climbs before dropping back down to Eriboll, the road & the NC500. We left the road to follow the Strath Beagvalley up to the Strabeg bothy, 2.5km of a right boggy slog with another river crossing 100m before the bothy.

But the bothy had wood, 4G & we had it to ourselves. A very very welcome site. Pete recovered with warmth & food thank goodness.

Day 2: Strabeg Bothy to Kearvaig Bothy & Cape Wrath. May 1st

Day 2 started with sunshine and warmth
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Day 2 was planned (& turned out) to be a much shorter & easier fare, but it did involve using the ferry over to Cape Wrath, a slight unknown so we had to plan & expect the worst. The ferry website said he started on May 1st, but it took a few texts to the ferry man to get a vague response that he might run at midday, weather permitting.
The 2.5km of bog was a lot easier in the morning, with fresh legs & sunshine, then the road around to Durness was absolute heaven. Image


There were a few vans & cars but their politeness & patience & attitude to bikes was vaguely exciting. We arrived in Durness, it was a Sunday, everything was shut, so no planned wine for the bothy, oh well !

So we peddled around to the ferry, no one & nothing there. A lone cyclist lady turns up & says the ferry is not running, Knowing that he said he would run we waited, others turn up, all saying it is not running you know. Then Malcolm the ferryman turns up. Whooooooooop.

No one else gets on as he is just doing the one run, for us three & a large walking party at the otherside coming back. I suspect that without them he would not have bothered.

The ride over Cape Wrath appeared to take ages, but was about 75 minutes, great views including seals on a sand back. We decided to pop down to the bothy to drop the bags off before heading over to Cape Wrath. What a place. It has to be one of the most idyllic locations for a bothy, wide sandy beach, two streams & a great sunset at the end of the day. The walkers had left a load of food but burnt all the wood & there is not a tree in sight so we were fireless that night.

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So we then set off for the lighthouse, the climb back up is steep & would be harder tomorrow with all the bags, then a good slog up to the lighthouse, only about another 10km but windy. We were glad to get there. It was bathed in sunshine & looked stunning. The Ozone cafe is open 365 days 24/7 & served us up great soup & butties & very good coffee. All very welcome. We then wandered about & laid out in the sun for a bit before heading back to the bothy.

We were just leaving & I decided to pop back in & see if they had any wine. They did. Whoop. So we bought a very acceptable bottle of red. Pricey but that is fair enough. They even take credit cards. They also sell whiskey if you want.

We headed back to the bothy, arriving about 4pm, bathed in sunshine. Heaven. We chilled & then had a great wander on the beach, still no wood. There was 4G for me on EE. The others nada. We shared the bothy with a very smelly pair that had walked in over three weeks. Fortunately there is two main rooms so they spent all the time in the other.

Day 3: Kearvaig Bothy to Glendhu Bothy, via Loch Dionard

We’d arranged with the ferryman for a 9:30 ferry, the run back to the ferry was a fast blast, with the exception of the climb out from the bothy, short & steep & a push in places with the bags on.

A short wait for the ferry, then over to Durness. A very nice coffee & croissant in the Cocoa Mountain cafe. Also sells very nice looking chocolates. Then off to the very well stocked Spar, butties, snacks & wine which Pete dutifully carried all day.

So we then followed the NC500 road until a turn off south to Loch Dionard. This was one interesting bit. Interesting because there was little to no info on how practical the route was. It is a hard fast shooting track all the way to the loch, with a nice open fishing hut on the way (with gas , kettle & comfy chair). At the loch we went on the south side because there was more traffic on the Strava heat map.

Somebody had clearly done the exact same in the previous day or so, so that was good. Around the loch is about 1.5km of pretty well 100% hike a bike, but only a couple of truely awkward spots.

From the southern end of the loch you can see a clear & good looking track heading up & up to the HT550, that joins at Lochan Sgeireach. However we did not do that as there is another track that also joins the HT550 but at the saddle of An Dubh-loch. That track required a further 1.5km hike a bike & the track is less probably 30% rideable as very steep, but it misses a lot of climbing & is shorter so we took that option. I can not compare the two options but we were all very happy afterwards with our choice.

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From there it is the HT550 until the turn off for Glendhu Bothy, so many of you will know that section well. A hard push up to Bealach Horn. Up there was mighty windy but the sun came out for that incredible descent down to Lock Stack, then hard climb again up to Bealach Nam Fiann & another great descent down to the Loch Glendhu. 4km then of lots of short steep hard climbs up to another gorgeous bothy, Glendhu bothy. We shared this with 3 French walkers & an american couple Harrison & Madison doing the HT550 on their very heavily laden Trek FS bikes. No timber again & no signal but we had wine.

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Day 4: Glendhu Bothy to Suileag Bothy

Day 4 was HT550 once we regained the road all the way to the Suileag Bothy. A very windy cold day but dry & generally a tail wind, but boy what a lot of climbing be it pretty well all on tarmac.

Breakfast at the Kylesku Hotel, recomended

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Drumbeg stores was great as was the Lochinver pie shop. The pie shop is currently outdoors only & closed at 4pm. But the Spar had wine so we stocked up. Harrison & Madison ordered 6 pies between them #respect.

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We shared the Suileag bothy with Harrison & Madison again & a great view of Suilven.

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Day 5: Suileag Bothy back to Oykel Bridge

The forecast was poor show for day 5 & was correct.

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The bonus was that it was a tailwind all the way. After a few kms that are mainly rideable it turns in to about 12 km of really tough hike a bike. I reckon the toughest 12km I have ever done. It took us 3.5 hours to get to the 15km point where you join the road.

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From there it was a cruise back to Oykel Bridge, a change of clothes & good food in the Oykel Bridge Hotel.

Lastly a little friend hitched a ride back home

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Last edited by fatbikerbill on Fri May 06, 2022 10:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Bearbonesnorm
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Re: Oykel Bridge to Cape Wrath as a loop

Post by Bearbonesnorm »

Superb Phil :-bd
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summittoppler
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Re: Oykel Bridge to Cape Wrath as a loop

Post by summittoppler »

Fantastic, bikepacking and wine! :-bd
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woodsmith
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Re: Oykel Bridge to Cape Wrath as a loop

Post by woodsmith »

Great stuff Phil and some cracking photos.
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whitestone
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Re: Oykel Bridge to Cape Wrath as a loop

Post by whitestone »

Phil or Bill?

A good trip there. A cracking part of Scotland.
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fatbikerbill
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Re: Oykel Bridge to Cape Wrath as a loop

Post by fatbikerbill »

No Phils were harmed in anyway on this trip..
slarge
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Re: Oykel Bridge to Cape Wrath as a loop

Post by slarge »

Very jealous- superb trip and write up.
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whitestone
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Re: Oykel Bridge to Cape Wrath as a loop

Post by whitestone »

We did have difficulty negotiating the gate at Corrickinloch. The main gate was locked & the walkers gate is not bikepacking friendly.
If that's the gate onto the main road then I think it's permanently locked.
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sean_iow
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Re: Oykel Bridge to Cape Wrath as a loop

Post by sean_iow »

Looked amazing, and pretty good weather wise.

It took me a while to realise you're Bill and not Phil, which might be even more embarrassing as I think I went out for dinner with you and Pete (and Andy) in 2020? :oops:
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fatbikerbill
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Re: Oykel Bridge to Cape Wrath as a loop

Post by fatbikerbill »

2020 is far too long ago to remember!

Certainly for me. Was that on the jennride or summer solstice bivvy?
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sean_iow
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Re: Oykel Bridge to Cape Wrath as a loop

Post by sean_iow »

At a pub in the Peak's, I stayed at Andy's on my way back from the Cairngorm Loop and was going to go out on a bivi in the Peak's but 400 miles of Scotland (I rode the LTL after the CL300) had done me over, would have been September time.

Of course it might have been someone completely different, I'm terrible at remembering people :lol:
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fatbikephil
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Re: Oykel Bridge to Cape Wrath as a loop

Post by fatbikephil »

Bill was there. Phil wished he was there!
Good trip and great tale and pics - looks like you pretty much covered everything there is to cover by bike. Tell Pete hi from Phil (I met him on HT'17)
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Dakkar
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Re: Oykel Bridge to Cape Wrath as a loop

Post by Dakkar »

Thank you.

Great write up and lovely pics. Inspiring.
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