20 Cape Wrath Trail Tips You NEED

It’s billed as Britain’s toughest long-distance hike, but these 20 Cape Wrath Trail tips will make the 199-250-mile route easier. All tried and tested on the Cape Wrath trail by me!

Best 20 Hacks for the Cape Wrath Trail

1. Cape Wrath Trail Tips – Take Waterproof Socks

This is all about learning from my own mistakes. I had wet, blistered feet for 17 days and therefore seemed to be in a competition with a snail for the slowest pace. Scottish rain and acidic bog has magical properties, it seems to penetrate the impenetrable. Sealskinz waterproof socks are equally as magic, being the one thing that keeps the water out. I redid part of Cape Wrath in 2017 wearing these and had happy, dry feet. I seemed to be very much in the minority!

See my kit review blog posts:

• Clothes kit review used on my 3,500-mile hike through Britain

• MSR Hubba NX tent review (bought and used after the CWT but recommended)

2. Cape Wrath Trail Tips – Take Diving Shoes

River crossings, along with midges, will become the bane of your trip. When in spate, the rivers can flow at full force up to your thighs, hips or waist. Heaving across them in boots and gaiters will just mean one thing – sodden boots and wet feet. Not an appealing prospect for a 17-day hike. Take lightweight diving or pool shoes with a strong grip on the soles and a secure fit around your feet. They became my best friend on the trail!

3. Cape Wrath Trail Tips – Avoid August

It’s the midges’ most ferocious month and the locals are baffled as to why anyone would choose ‘feeding frenzy’ August for their hike. I completed the trail then, and still have the battle scars to prove it. The midges drove me nuts and stopped me having breakfast on a couple of mornings with their insistent buzzing/biting. The benefit, though, is they are added protein when they kamikaze into your food, which they will do, at every opportunity. You’ve been warned…

Looking for the Cape Wrath Itinerary North to South? Read my detailed post.

4. Cape Wrath Trail Tips – Carry Seven Days’ Worth of Food

Yup, seven days. Going from north to south and sticking to the west path, you’ll have no refills from Fort William to Shiel Bridge except for a little cafe at Glenfinnan – open 9.30am to 5pm July and Aug and 10am to 5pm other months, where you can buy scones, cake, Snickers and overpriced sandwiches. Going South to North, it’ll be from Shiel Bridge to Fort William. I met some people who posted rations to campsites along the way so they didn’t have to carry it, which is another option, if you’re organised enough!

5. Cape Wrath Trail Tips – Wear a Green Midge Head Net

Midges prefer dark colours to light ones, so why they make black head nets (and more to the point, why I bought one) is a mystery. Buy a green midge head net, not one for mosquitoes as the holes are too big, and you’ll attract less of the Scottish blighters than your black-netted hiking counterparts. Green tents, on the other hand, are not immune to the midges’ advances.

6. Cape Wrath Trail Tips – Take Tent Pole Splint Repairs

It can get pretty damn windy in the Highlands and taking tent pole splint repairs can save the day. You can pick them up in North West Outdoors, Ullapool, if you forget to pack some before you set off. I’d recommend taking one for each pole you have.

7. Cape Wrath Trail Tips – Don’t Think This is a Walk in the Park

Because it’s not. There are days when it’s deadly dull, days when your body protests, days when the rain will turn you into an amphibian. It’s a challenge and people do it to test themselves. Some of the scenery is incredible if you get the weather for it, other parts are nothing to write home about. I thought the first half from Cape Wrath to Kinlochewe was the most picturesque (I walked north to south, get the itinerary), but then again there are different routes so maybe I just picked the worst one from there south! (Or maybe my feet had just had enough.)

8. Cape Wrath Trail Tips – Pack a Water Bladder AND a Bottle

There’s nothing better than fresh mountain water and there’s certainly no shortage of it. Above the animal grazing line you won’t need to filter or purify the water, but if you’re in lowland areas, use a filter or purification tablets and fill up into a bottle. That way you won’t contaminate your water bladder for future use if there is any giardia or nasty bacteria floating around.

9. Cape Wrath Trail Tips – Have a Low Route or Back-Up Plan

The scenery can be spectacular even when it’s veiled in mist. The downside, of course, is that mist means drizzle or rain up here. And of course, with an abundance of streams en route, the trail can become impassable in certain areas. Everyone I met for the first four days had bailed somewhere along the route by hitching or cutting their trip short. I must admit, not completing it hadn’t occurred to me, but with gales that had lifted tents from campsites and continual rain only four days before we set off, it was easy to see why. One loch crossing on the high route to Benmore Lodge had four strapping lads linking arms and wading through water up to their waists. We sensibly did the route to Inchnadamph instead.

10. Cape Wrath Trail Tips – Be Prepared to Wait Out the Rain

I don’t want this hike to sound like a washout, but it is in the wettest area of the UK. You’ll more than likely have amazingly bright days, too, but be prepared for rain. And possibly in bucketfuls. The streams and rivers can rise a couple of inches within just a few hours of heavy rain, so be prepared to wait out the bad weather in a bothy for day or two, until the water levels have subsided.

11. Cape Wrath Trail Tips – Ask Locals about High Water Conditions

They know the area and what to expect on higher routes. There’s an Estate Office in Archfary where you might be able to pop in and enquire about the river conditions up to Rhiconich (walking south to north). One group of hikers were told very honestly that unless they fancied swimming, they should walk along the road to Rhiconich. And we heeded the same advice going in the opposite direction.

12. Cape Wrath Trail Tips – Take Tiger Balm

Midge bites, they’ll drive you crazy. Smother them in white tiger balm and hey presto, you’ll have some relief from scratching like a flea-ridden dog. Tiger balm can also be rubbed into aching muscles and temples if you have a pesky headache. Also spray Smidge (commissioned by the Scottish Forestry Commission but with a dreadful design to get the spray out) or DEET onto your skin to try and keep the midges at bay, but don’t get any DEET on your tent, it’ll stick together.

13. Cape Wrath Trail Tips – Use Harvey Maps

 

Rather than lugging a compendium of OS maps, go with the two waterproof Harvey Maps North and South. Although they are 1:40,000 in scale, they have all the important details like houses, sheep folds and ruins marked. That was all I had (no GPS) and I was fine. BUT and this is a big but, look ahead at the route. There are often easier options (like a bridge near the caves at Inchnadamph, and a footpath right next to the river through Benmore Forest). I wonder whether Harvey Maps has made it deliberately difficult in parts to keep up the arduous name this route has.

Prefer to go digital? Read my Ordance Survey App review.

14. Cape Wrath Trail Tips – Take Cash

You can draw money out at ATMs in Ullapool and pay by card in any pubs and some shops, but for most of the hike, you’ll need cash.

15. Cape Wrath Trail Tips – Pack One Gas Canister and Refuel on the Trip

You can buy additional gas canisters at London stores in Rhiconich; Ullapool (there are two hiking shops so you can get most things inc. tent repair splints); the shop at Kinlochewe (9am-5.30pm) and the garage/campsite shop at Shiel Bridge (closes at 6pm). I only used one 230g canister and a bit of a smaller one.

16. Cape Wrath Trail Tips – Take Sugar Rations

It’s a gruelling hike in parts, and that teamed with torrential rain can really dampen your spirits. A packet of jelly sweets which you can devour/savour (delete as appropriate) will make the world of difference to your energy and mood. Kendal mint cake, which is 98 percent sugar, also works a treat!

17. Cape Wrath Trail Tips – Book into the Inchnadamph Lodge hostel

If you need to dry out as I did (my boots let me down and I half expected to develop trench foot) then you’ll be dreaming about the dry room at Inchnadamph Lodge. It had gained legendary status by the time we arrived there, with every hiker we passed raving about it. And for good reason. Not only will your gear be toasty warm and dry, you’ll get an all-you-can-eat brekkie (cereal/toast/fruit) and be able to pick up food in the shop for dinner (frozen meals/pizza) and some basic food supplies for the rest of your trip. BUT it isn’t always open during term time as geology students book the whole place out to study the nearby Lewisian gneiss. Phone in advance if possible.

18. Cape Wrath Trail Tips – Use Gaiters

Bog, bog and more bog. There’s a whole load of bog trotting to be done on the 199-mile hike so invest in gaiters to keep the splodge out of your boots.

19. Cape Wrath Tips – Get Minibus Times

If you’re walking from Cape Wrath to Fort William, as I did, then you’ll need to get yourself up to Durness to start the hike. Hop over to Ullapool (I went from Inverness bus station) and get an afternoon bus at about 16.00-17.00-ish from Ullapool to Durness or go direct from Inverness to Durness at 10.00 or 17.00 (route 805 for the latter time). Click the time links for respective bus timetables.

20. Cape Wrath Trail Tips – Don’t Camp on the Lawn at Kinloch Hourn

It’s marked as a campsite on the maps so naturally the smooth area of grass was where three sets of hikers (us included) had pitched. A few hours later a shrieking woman appeared demanding that everyone get off her lawn. She charges people to wild camp beyond her garden where there are absolutely no facilities and no flat land, so clearly, the flat area looks like the ‘campsite’. It’s not. We didn’t move, the midges were attacking everyone, but had they not have been, she would have made sure everyone relocated. Perhaps she has put a sign up directing people where to go by now. But probably not, it’ll mess up her lawn!

See also:

• The full 17-day Cape Wrath Trail North to South Itinerary

  Essentials for Long Distance Hiking

  A Tale of Hitching and Hiking on the Cape Wrath Trail

Jane Batchelor hiked the full Cape Wrath Trail in 2016 and half of it in 2017 on her 3,500-mile hike through Britain, camping as she went. For updates and more photos, follow her Facebook and Instagram pages.