We wake and the rain is sluicing down, as it has been all night. This is a bit of a concern as we have three rivers to cross today with no bridges. One of Richard's friends, Patrick, sends us the shipping forecast: reasonable until midday then a bit of deterioration. Still, that's out at sea rather than on land. At least it's not too windy. We have breakfast then set off along the road. As we leave Kinlochbervie Hotel, I notice the trees, obviously battered by the prevailing winds. Thankfully, the rain is now only a light mist.
We follow the road upwards, passing some highland cattle and pigs next to a charcuterie, until we reach Blairmore. Here, we turn off the road along the track towards Sandwood Bay. The track soon becomes a path, as we weave between lochans and heather, and the weather steadily improves.
As we approach Sandwood Bay, I can see a mast in the distance at the headland. It doesn't look too far away. The path becomes sandy and difficult to walk along but the sun comes out just as we descend to the beautiful bay, with the sea stack of Am Buachaille (the shepherd) off to one side. As we walk along the sand looking for a spot to have a break, three people wave to us: it's Jackie, Steve and Adam (who it transpires is Slovakian) who we first met at Shenavall bothy. We have all come different routes, with Jackie and Steve having camped at the bay, but it feels right that we are all together again. Steve has written their names in the sand, so I add ours and Rich does an arrow to Hockering.
We all then set off across the bay to our first river crossing. The river is deeper and wider than usual, but we make it across with relatively dry feet. We then separate from the others, as they plan to follow the coast and we are going further inland. We follow the path up on to the headland, then the paths disappear for good and we have to find our way across the trackless, boggy landscape. At least the visibility is now good with cloudy sunshine: perfect weather for walking. The long promised high pressure has finally arrived, just when we need it.
We plot our way inland and up and down hill, bog-hopping as we go until we reach the next river crossing. This river is also full and we have to walk further inland to find a suitable crossing point. We achieve this by following the rapids diagonally upstream and, this time, we do get wet feet. Then it's over a couple of fences, up a hill and down to the third and final river. This one is much easier to cross and we soon approach the fence to enter the military zone. It's clear that people have crossed the fence here before, and there is even what looks like CCTV, as well as an ominous warning sign.
We make our way up to a rocky outcrop and stop there for lunch. We see the others crossing the fence below us: there now appear to be four of them. They don't stop, but then they did not walk seven miles to Sandwood Bay before starting this section, although they did sleep in a tent, which is probably worse.
After lunch, we skirt the hillside to a bomb-cratered bealach. There is now a determination in our step that we have not had for some time. As we summit the bealach, we can see the lighthouse but it soon slides out of view as we descend back into the peat hags. We use the mast as a marker and make our way over the final boggy, peaty marshland to reach the track that we can see in the distance.
We climb up a heathery bank to gain the track, then it's two kilometres or so to the lighthouse. There is a definite spring in our step as we walk to the lighthouse and check in at the Ozone Café, our stop for the night.
The Ozone café has no electricity or hot running water and no phone signal or internet connection but it has tea, food, a sink and a bunkhouse in Norwich City colours. We pass through an apparently chaotic indoor garage area and settle into the bunkhouse then have a very welcome mug of tea.
After the tea, we walk out to the point before meeting up with Jackie, Steve and Adam for dinner. The fourth person is Sebastian from Stuttgart who they met en route across the cape. The proprietors provide us with chicken curry for dinner complete with wine, candles and a paraffin heater. It is cold here, with our breath condensing as we sit and eat while discussing literature and film.
Then it's time for bed: after breakfast tomorrow, the minibus will come to take us all back to the real world.
So that's it. All done. I will write an epilogue for the website and some other bits after I get home, but the walk blog itself finishes here. I'd just like to say thank-you to you all for following us on this journey. You kept us going when we were feeling down and knackered. You can't imagine how much that knowing you were there helped us on our way.
Finally, I hope this inspires you to have your own adventure. If we can do it, you certainly can. There's one thing these last few difficult years have taught me:
You only have one life: live it.
Total distance: 901 miles
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