OSGB GRID REF. NC747079. NR. ROGART

SARAH AND LOCHY AT HALKIRK

WOULD YOU EAT THESE BEANS?

TRIG POINT ON CNOC AN EIREANNAICH

TEA IN THE BOGS

Whilst clearing my gear from Mick's garden, Sarah, who works for him, prepared me coffee. She lives to the south of Halkirk and invited me to stop by her house on my way. I did, and was treated to another hot drink, a Penguin (the chocolate version) and a banana. She would be dog walking by Loch More later that day, a place I would be passing, so she offered to bring my rucksack along in her car later, enabling me to travel light for a while. With aching shoulders and feet, this was not an offer I was inclined to refuse.

We met again mid-afternoon, ten miles further on. After parting and with my rucksack restored to my shoulders, my pace slowed, and it was 8.00pm before I reached the sporting lodge at Glutt. It was raining heavily by now. I knocked on the Lodge door and Freddy Mackay, the Gamekeeper, offered me the use of the barn for the night. The temperature had dropped so I slept fully clothed, but enjoyed a comfortable night, to be woken by the continuing loud roar of heavy rain on the tin roof.

I took my time getting ready to move on, repairing a tear in my rucksack liner and attending to the well-being of my sore feet. Eventually I gave up witing for the rain to stop and started my way across the wetlands to Kildonan.

Initially I took a compass bearing south to the footbridge at Gobernuisgeach via Cnoc Loch Mhadadh. There is an old house by the bridge which is maintained by the estate as an emergency shelter and bothy for walkers. I stopped for a while, cooking and consuming the beans and sausages found in a rusty tin left by previous walker and enjoying tea made with Berriedale river water.

After making my entry in the bothy log-book, I continued across the bog towards Kildonan via the 517m Cnoc an Eireannaich. Crossing the bogland was not just wet, but totally exhausting. Huge concentration was required to avoid putting a foot wrong and ending up thigh-deep in gooey black peat. Also, circumnavigating the water pools that I couldn't jump doubled the 'as the crow flies' distance. If anyone wishes to look at the area south-west of Glutt using Google Map, it is every bit as bad on the ground as it appears from the satellite image.

My aching feet eventually brought me to the unmanned railway station at Kildonan at around 8.30pm. The flat grassy area behind the platform looked such a temping camping ground that I phoned Scot-Rail, who said 'fine'. What a nice company! However, I had forgotten about the dreaded Scottish midge which swarmed around and started to eat me the moment I stopped moving. The tent went up in record time and I bolted inside, quickly falling asleep to the rhythmic throbbing of my feet.

I awoke to a sunny Sunday 19, and cooked the dehydrated rice supper that I hadn't the energy to prepare the previous evening. More bogs to trot today, but the more clement weather made the experience less onerous. There were occasional dry bits of ground where I could sit down to rest unlike the previous day, and I found the time to appreciate the wonderful diversity of the bog-land plants.

The rain returned later in the day, but by then I had reached the road at Balnacoil along which I had a miserable trudge west until I'd had enough some 4 miles north of Rogart. In the rain, I erected the tent at the edge of the tarmac drive to 'Banscol Dog Kennels' and was howled to sleep.