A Journey for Wildness
Tackling the Cape Wrath Trail
On 17th July 2021, two young hillwalkers will leave their car in a Fort William carpark, don two heavily-laden rucksacks, and take their first steps on a 230-mile trek through the wildest, remotest terrain the Northwest Highlands has to offer.
It has been a long time since my boyfriend, Chris, and I took on a serious expedition in remote mountain country – a time which has been filled largely with working at a laptop in a bedroom in Cheshire through the grim winter of lockdown. Neither of us are as fit as we once were, and the endless isolation and monotony of the past 18 months have taken their toll, leaving a persistent fatigue and strange apathy towards things that once brought joy.
But life has begun to open up. Spring has bloomed, restrictions have eased, and excitement at the possibilities life holds have begun to stir once again. In an attempt to shake off the lockdown cobwebs, Chris and I made the perhaps questionable decision to take on the UK’s toughest long-distance trek – the Cape Wrath Trail.
The Cape Wrath Trail runs from Fort William on the western coast of Scotland, crossing the wild lands of Knoydart, Torridon, Assynt and Sutherland before reaching the storm-wracked shores of the northern coast at Cape Wrath. There are few outposts of civilization along the route for resupply, requiring walkers to wild camp and carry several days’ worth of food at a time. Due to the rough terrain and heavy loads, the entire route takes 2-3 weeks depending on how fast you walk (we have opted for 3 weeks to avoid destroying ourselves too thoroughly).
So why the Cape Wrath Trail? It is a huge challenge, both physically and mentally, and represents an incredibly special opportunity:
- To push yourself and find out what you’re capable of;
- To immerse yourself in some of the most beautiful wild landscapes in the country;
- To live simply, without the pervasive distractions of normal life;
- To be self-sufficient and live outdoors in the elements, close to nature, for a sustained period of time.
In the aftermath of the pandemic, all of these reasons have taken on a heightened importance. For us, taking on this challenge means the chance to rebuild fitness, rediscover our love of wild places, and reconnect with the natural world after far too long spent indoors staring at a screen.
This goes to show that lockdown has shown many of us just how important it is to have access to the natural world, particularly during times of difficulty. Now more than ever, protecting natural places and facilitating sustainable engagement with them is crucially important – one of the great challenges of our times.
For this reason, we want this journey to benefit others as well as ourselves. We’ve decided to use our journey to raise funds and awareness for the John Muir Trust – a fantastic charity ‘dedicated to the experience, protection and repair of wild places.’ The Trust carries out amazing work helping people of all ages to connect with the natural world, as well as protecting and restoring wild places for the benefit of future generations. Its ‘Journey for Wildness‘ campaign is encouraging people this year to get out into nature on a journey, however big or small, to help support the Trust’s work.
As part of our Journey for Wildness, I will be writing and taking photographs every day to capture the essence of the special places we’ll be passing through, hoping to share these experiences and inspire others to discover wild places for themselves.
We’re also looking for donations to the John Muir Trust to help support their important work. If you’d like to sponsor our Journey for Wildness, please go to our fundraising page. Any donations, no matter how big or small, will be greatly appreciated and will make a real difference to protecting the natural world. In the meantime, if you’d like to embark on a Journey for Wildness of your own, go to the campaign page for more information about how to take part.
In the lead-up to the expedition and during the journey itself, I’ll be posting photos and perhaps the occasional blog post with updates on our progress. Expect to see evidence of many anti-midge precautions arriving from Amazon, vast quantities of flapjack being prepared, and an excited but nervous duo preparing for our biggest adventure yet. Stay tuned here and on Instagram for updates!
Musings on Mountains 