Day 11 - Kinlochewe to Dundonnell Forest

It is interesting how a trip like this is an experiment with fortune - some good, and some not so good. Today was a good example of this. To start off, we were about 2.5 km into the day when we remembered that we had left some fresh food in the fridge (sliced ham, cheddar cheese, oranges). This was a devastating blow. It took the wind out of our sales and put us into a bad frame of mind for this three-day stint. It sounds silly in the normal context, but for us these three items were very important. About a half kilometre later, a guy in a truck approached us so we flagged him down. He agreed to take me back to town so I could collect our items. I left my pack with the boys, rode into town, and walked back to meet them and continue on. We were back on track!
The next bit of fortune came a couple of hours later when we were about to start one of our longest bushwhacking stretches of the trip. As we started climbing to cross from Lochain Fada to Loch an Nid via Bealach na Croise we found a stalkers path which took us the first two kilometres up to the bealach. On our way down to Loch an Nid we found another one which also wasn’t on the map that brought us the last two kilometres to the path we were trying to get to. These two good strokes of luck likely saved us an hour of bushwhacking and who knows how much energy.
I guess the point is, in order to be successful on a trip like this, and maybe life in general, you need to be prepared to deal with bad fortune, and appreciate the good fortune when it comes to you. There’s my inspirational thought for the trip!

We had a long day of walking today partly due to the late start, and didn’t set up camp until after 18:00. The boys and I laughed because we are in Dundonnell Forest, but despite being able to see for miles and miles in every direction we can’t see one tree!! Hopefully one of our Scottish friends will explain this.

There was some good chatter again today. I was completely flabbergasted at the at least 45-minute bit on the merits of cake versus ice cream cake. The general consensus after much back and forth is that ice cream cake is just ice cream in the shape of a cake, and cake is the real deal. I won’t go into details as it is much too complex for this simple a blog. If you want all the info, talk to Zach and Ben. They will be happy to explain!!
The scenery was unbelievable today. The mountains are massive, and the vistas are solitary. We really feel like we are far from the rest of the world right now. I can imagine how hostile it could be to be out here in bad weather conditions. Fortunately we have been blessed again today. We had mostly cloudy with a few sunny periods, and no rain. It will for sure be cold tonight, but our sleeping bags and fifteen layers of clothing will keep us warm!

I think that’s it for today. Thanks for reading, and thanks for the messages you have all sent. They have been a real pick-me-up!! Good night!

If we could have any piece of cake right now
Zach - Ice cream cake
Ben - Any kind of mom’s cakes
JM - Mandy’s carrot cake with cream cheese icing, of course!!

Route details - We followed the Kinlochewe to Shenavall leg of the SNT as per the Walkhighlands website except for we eliminated the dog leg to the bothy by heading north at NH 090 788. We are wild camping at NH 093 810. Very scenic spot, but not the most ideal location.