Cape Wrath live firing range

This is worth knowing about from the outset though its importance only starts to cut in about 10 days before the end.

Parts of Cape Wrath belong to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) as a live firing range, which I suppose could include small arms fire, tanks, mortars, rockets or bombs. I don’t think they have actually placed land mines or indiscriminately scattered cluster bombs, but nonetheless I’d watch out! Of the two signs at the border the one that I didn’t ignore read “Do not touch suspicious objects”. In this context that’s pretty sound advice.

How does this impact you? 
Most probably it won’t, but usually in October (and potentially at any other time of year) there are NATO exercises which mean that the range is closed. When I reached Shenavall bothy someone told me that the range would be closed from the following Monday (6th Oct) for two weeks until the Saturday (18th Oct). The exception was the intervening Sunday (12th Oct). His walking partner had telephoned and got this information via a recorded message.

At this point I had enough time to do this quite comfortably, as long as I kept walking every day, which in any case was my habit and intention. However the following night a major storm came in. As I was in Ullapool by then for resupply it made sense to enjoy a quiet night in the lovely YHA. The following day was so windy and wet that this made for a late start. The following day was very wet all day and I only walked two hours from Knockdamph bothy to The Schoolhouse bothy. A couple of days later, thinking that I was already too late to catch the 12th, I took yet another short day and only went from Glencoul bothy to Glendhu bothy. Both of these were really lovely places to stay and I don’t regret doing so for a moment. Then rather to my surprise I got a big spurt of energy and enthusiasm and walked about 80km in the last two days.

So the upshot of all this is that if you have time constraints (or are getting impatient to finish) then you need to know if there are restrictions far enough in advance so that you can plan your last 10 days within your capabilities. However it was certainly quite doable for me (in fine weather) to go from the road at Balchrick to the Cape and back to Strathchailleach bothy in the day.

At the Cape itself
Two hours north from Sandwood beach I reached the barbed wire fence with the signs and a red flag flying. After a brief pause ("I've come 990km and I'm not going to let this stop me!"), and ignoring the signs I climbed the fence and proceeded armed with nothing more than the hope that their message was reliable. 

As it turned out it was. I saw no one until nearly at the Cape, where I met someone driving a minibus with a couple of tourists. He asked me if I would be wanting a bus later in the day. I declined and he drove off. That was the last person I met until I reached Sandwood beach again the following day. 

However on that Monday the jets were indeed flying and explosions were clearly audible. I assumed that they couldn’t be bothered to take down (and put up) the flags for perhaps one hiker for just a 12 hour period. Nonetheless without the assurance of that recorded message I would have felt a little more vulnerable, so it is worth getting informed. 

While in Ullapool the manager of the YHA tried calling for me and got no response. So it is not something to leave to the last minute. I would recommend doing it about two weeks out and perhaps repeating it a week before.

The Walk Highlands notes give a couple of phone numbers to call:
“Check before setting out by phoning the recorded message on 0800 833300 or for more details 01971 511242. There is no access to Cape Wrath on foot or by vehicle when the range is closed.”