Day 12 - Dundonnell Forest to Strath Nimhe

Well it was bound to happen... We had to pull out our waterproofs for the first time this trip. Gators, shells, and rain kilts served us well for more than half the day today. We had a fairly wet pack-up this morning as it was raining on and off for most of the night. It continued on and off for most of the morning and part of the afternoon also, with varying degrees of severity. We did see some blue sky, and even had 20 minutes of sunshine near the end of the hike. We had a dry but windy and chilly dinner, and are having a rest in our tents now before hot beverage and night-time snack. We have running water again tonight in the form of Allt Raon a’ Chroisy. Last night was our first wild camp without a burn beside us, so it is nice to have one back tonight. I might have to get an app when I get home with the sound of a stream playing all night since I have gotten so used to it!!
We played leap frog with a hiker today, and finally lined up for about an hour of hiking together. He was very interesting and we had a very nice chat about hiking. We didn’t get a name other than “Birdman”, which was his trail name from doing the Pacific Crest Trail last year due to the fact that he brought binoculars with him and was always stopping to birdwatch. He is from the Netherlands, but has lived in Southampton for the last 12 years. He was an engineer who managed to figure out a way to retire at 40 - sorry I could not get that secret out of him! We discussed different approaches to hiking. His preference is slow but steady, on his own, with no time constraints or end goal. When he set out on the PCT he had only planned to do a month, but he was enjoying it so much that he decided to spend five months doing the whole thing. Good for him, but I think this is not a luxury many of us have. I really enjoyed hearing his stories, and learning a little bit about birds. The diversion was a welcome one, allowing us to forget about pain and fatigue for a while. Thank you, Birdman!!

We had some amazing views as we descended into Inverlael. It seems to be a small sheep farming area with huge green pastures nestled into the valley, just below Loch Broom which is a sea loch. Ullapool, is a bigger town further up the loch, which is probably a bigger center for the area. Zach commented that this is the type of scenery he had pictured before coming to Scotland.

It feels like it will be quite chilly again tonight. Zach has the worst sleep of his trip last night, so hopefully he has a better one tonight. Tomorrow night we’ll have another bunkhouse night, which means showers, bar food, and a warm room to sleep in. Hooray!!! I think we’ll all be looking forward to it as we walk tomorrow.
Pre-Bedtime Update: We decided to do snack and hot beverage in Ben and Zach’s tent tonight. I brought the dice and we had a quick game while we enjoyed our hot chocolates. Highlight of the night - Ben rolled a 1,1,1,1,1,5 = 4050 = really good roll!!! It made us think of Jenni With An Eye’s 1,1,1,1,1,1 = 8000 = best roll ever. It also made me think of the rest of the Friday Night Dice Crew (Coach Mr. Dungpile, Audrey-Shops-A-Lot, Ger-Bear, and Maheed). Hope everybody back home is doing well. I miss all of you!!
That’s it for now. Off to our freezing cold beds. Good night!!

Route notes - We followed the SNT/CWT route from our camp spot, but deviated at Inverlael as planned. We walked a few kilometres up the road towards Ullapool, then took a trail up the hill near Leckmelm, into Strath Nimhe. We are wild camping at NH 192 902.