Day 210: Culnamean to Carbost
Distance: 20.02 miles
Ascent: 3198 feet
Weather: Cyclic Heavy Rain then Sun
Accommodation: The Old Inn, Carbost (kindly Complimentary)
I woke up to the sound of rain on the tent, but by the time I was packed up and ready to leave the tent it had stopped. On opening the flap I once more admired the Cuillins and as I was a little short on food I waited for the café to open which was meant to be at 8am. But at 8am no one had turned up and by the time any food stuff was ready or tea/coffee stuff was ready it was gone 8:30, this was a bit annoying as it put my day back but it was no big issue.
From the campsite I headed back up the road a little before crossing a footbridge onto the other side of the River Brittle, and then joining a path that joined onto a gravel forest track. It was at this point that my first heavy rain hit, and it became a pattern for the day with 5/10/15 minutes of heavy rain followed by 5/10/15 minutes of cloud/sun but always with a fairly strong wind. I had been slightly worried about the path that headed steeply up the slope not existing but when I reached the location a path was clearly signposted with ‘Link loop’ and it took me up to another forest track which eventually led me all the way to Eynort.
I had made quick progress so far and from Eynort my route took me up a single track road which steadily climbed in altitude becoming more and more exposed, before I hit a sort of plateau. At the first junction I turned left and headed towards Talisker and back to the coast. There was a very petite runner who overtook me on this part and it was mighty impressive she was going as fast as she was because she was being blown all over the place.
I was hoping to have my few bits of food I had managed to get (a demi baguette with butter and apricot jam, snickers and coke hardly a healthy or filling lunch) at Talikser but it was raining heavily at this point and I could not find an unused barn or similar to shelter in so I carried on. I took a quadbike track up from Talisker Farm, which had several switchbacks before reaching a beautiful plateau and the track itself made for very good walking all the way until it re-joined the road just shy of Fiskavaig. I was now very hungry and it had just started raining but I spotted a derelict looking hut and on getting to it there was no door so I used it for my lunch stop, and it sheltered me from a particularly heavy 10 minutes of rain.
From here I followed a mix of paths, tracks and road up to Rubha Ban point. At this point the rain showers were still coming but after passing Portnalong I had my last one and I slowly started to dry out as I followed the road all the way to Carbost. Just shy of Carbost I came across something intriguing a ‘take what you need, leave what you can’ food box and at other times on the walk when I was struggling with shops I would have taken what I needed but with Carbost just a half mile away I didn’t take anything, though it was quite well stocked.
The road then dropped steeply down to Carbost and passed the large Talisker Whisky Distillery, and with the air smelling of whisky I made it to The Old Inn in Carbost. They had kindly provided me with accommodation for the two nights of my rest day, and obviously being Skye and a nice place they are busy so I am in the bunkhouse (though a luxury one at that) tonight and then into their B&B tomorrow. On top of this they waived the fee for my dinner. It appears a perfect location for my rest day and I am extremely grateful for the kind offer.
So bar the weather, a simple day and today I did over 20 miles in not much more than 6 hours which is a complete juxtaposition to my 11 miles in 10 hours yesterday.
