Day 17 - Loch a’ Garbh-bhaid Mòr to Sandwood Bay

We could not be more lucky than we are right now. We are pitched up about 75 meters above Sandwood Bay, the sun is shining in our tents (my tent doors are wide open), there is nobody on the beach anymore, and the view is stunning. Sandwood Bay is an iconic Scottish beach. It is only accessible by foot - 6.5 km by trail. My understanding is that you have to be somewhat fortunate to be here on a sunny day, as there are only a handful every year. And here we are, more than spoiled to enjoy it all to ourselves, on our last evening on this adventure. The boys are rolling their eyes at me but I keep telling them how lucky we are. I think they know though, because I hear nothing from their tent, just the odd comment.

View From Tent - Boots Off!!

Half of our walk today was on road, which is usually a little tiresome and dreary, but the scenery as we walked from Rhiconich, past Kinlochbervie, up to Blairmore where the path to Sandwood Bay starts was very pretty. Think stereotypical Scottish fishing villages, on cliffs avove the sea lochs. I would love to come back here as a tourist and stay in a few B&Bs that we passed along the way.

From The Road To Blairmore

We stopped in at Spar in Kinlochbervie to resupply for tonight and tomorrow morning, and also splurged on some crisps and chocolate bars. We ate ham and cheese buns on the front step, with a cold pop before heading out for the final push to where we are tonight. When we arrived we spent a good hour or two sitting on the beach, and walking in the surf (sorry Aberdeen gang, despite all the sun it was too cold to get motivated enough for a swim).

Picture Of The Boys Swimming As Promised

We made contact with James at the Cape Wrath shuttle van service, and we are penciled in for 14:15 tomorrow afternoon. This is the shuttle that takes you to the Durness ferry, which I think is a motor boat, that will deliver us to Durness where we are staying tomorrow night. We have heard this last leg is tough (although we also heard that about every leg), so we are going to play it safe and get an early start. We are having apples and muffins for breakfast, so no need to spark up the stove, which usually saves us a half hour in the morning.
It is hard to believe that the hiking portion of our trip is going to be over. I’ll save the sentimental thoughts until tomorrow after I’ve had a pint or two of my dad’s favourite beer - Bellhaven Best. I will say again though, that I am extremely proud of and thankful for, my two amazing hiking partners, Ben and Zach. They have been amazing company and have both shown a lot of patience and determination. I know they are excited for the Edinburgh part of our trip, but I am also sure that they will look back on the hiking portion in the future, and feel very satisfied with what they accomplished.
That’s it for tonight. I am going to go and enjoy the last hour of the sunset out of my front door, and then hit the hay for one last time in my tent. Good night, and thanks for reading!!

Sunset As Seen From My Sleeping Bag

Birdman Update - We played leapfrog with Birdman again today. I enjoyed some more PCT stories, as well as learned more about the local birds. When we met up at the beach he let me try out his binoculars (most amazing binoculars ever, later found out they are worth $2,000!) to watch some of the birds diving for fish. It was so awesome!!

Best piece of gear:
Zach - Water/windproof shell
Ben - Patagonia mid-layer
JM - Laminated maps and OS Locate app

Least used/ most useless piece of gear:
Zach - Gaters (he only used them twice)
Ben - River crossing footwear
JM - Water filter (used once on first day, Ben carried it the whole way)

Gear we wished we brought:
Zach - Inflatable pillow
Ben - Deodorant and cleansing products
JM - Magic carpet

Route notes - We followed the SNT/CWT route without any deviations.