Photos credits: (1) No Limits Photography (2) David Siska (3) the Taylor family (4) Pam Nix (5) Gavin Davies
Where to even start with this one? What an absolute epic of a race – it was everything I imagined and more. Completing the Cape Wrath Ultra was the culmination of a three year journey starting with volunteering at the race in 2023, deferring my entry in 2024 due to injury and volunteering for a second year, and finally being on the start line this year! I shared a post earlier about my preparation for the race so let’s start the story from there…
The journey to Cape Wrath starts in Fort William, and although the race doesn’t start till Sunday, Saturday afternoon is for registration, which takes place at the Fort William football club. Leaving home late morning, I picked up Gary Legg at Perth station who had travelled up on the train from Newcastle and we arrived in Fort William under hot, sunny skies – the first of many such days! At the football club, a mini event village was set up and after picking up the mandatory blister treatment kit from the on-site shop it was time for kit check and registration! As I said before, the mandatory kit list is extensive and very detailed, so I was very pleased to have all my kit approved first time. I was given a wristband to be worn all week, picked up my race numbers and event t-shirt, and had my photo taken for the race tracking page. I was able to weigh my dry bag on the official scales and it came out at 20.1kg – not bad considering I had weighed in at 19.9kg at home and just added the blister kit. I planned just to take one 200g bag of trail mix out of my spare food and carry it in my pack on day one to get me back under the limit.
After that we had several hours to chill out, catch up with old friends among the event team and participants, and meet many new people too. There was definitely a general air of nervous anticipation, but I was quite relaxed as I knew what to expect in terms of the race logistics, and had done a lot of research on the route too. We were served our first meal by the Ourea catering team (lasagne, garlic bread and salad) and then had a short briefing and then were free to go for the evening.
I was planning to sleep in the back of the van, so after dropping Gary at his hotel, I stopped off at the chippy for a last minute carb load, then headed down the A82 to find a nice parking spot in a layby with views over Loch Linnhe towards Cona Glen where we would run tomorrow. After a relaxed evening looking over the map for tomorrow’s first stage of the race, I got my head down early with my alarm set for 6am.
Day 1: Fort William – Glenfinnan (23 miles)
I actually woke around 5:30am after a reasonable night’s sleep considering it was the night before a race and I was sleeping not far from a busy road. It was already light and I was ready to go so I got dressed into my running kit, ate some breakfast and headed in to Fort William. I stopped off at McDonald’s for a breakfast wrap and a cup of tea – I was first in the door when it opened at 6:30am and placed order #1 on their system. Probably the only time I would be in first place all week 🤣 After this second breakfast I drove back up to the football club where I’d be leaving the van for the week. After packing of both my race pack and dry bag and a final check that I had not left anything behind, I locked the car and headed to the bag drop. This time, the dry bag weighed in at 19.8kg, so I took the 200g bag of trail mix out of my pack, stuffed it in the top of the dry bag and it was accepted with a final weight of 20.0kg!
I took a leisurely walk down through the town, stopping for another cup of tea and making my way to the West End car park where all the participants assembled to wait for the ferry across Loch Linnhe to the start line. I collected my race tracker and after an hour or so of chat and waiting around, we boarded the ferry. With around 180 runners in the event (including a few who were taking on the shorter Cape Wrath 100 – the first three days of the main event), there were two planned start waves. I had managed to get myself in the first wave, so the ferry was at 10am, for a race start at 11am. It only took 10 minutes or so to cross the loch but it was exciting to finally be starting out on the journey for real! When we reached the other side a piper was playing as we disembarked and made the short walk to Treslaig village hall, where we had a last minute chance for drinks, biscuits and a few visits to the toilets. It was already hot at this point and I tried to stay in the shade as much as possible, and topped up my sun cream while waiting for the start. With a few minutes to 11 we gathered on the road and as the piper played we counted down the seconds and then we were off – the Cape Wrath Ultra had begun!
The first 6 miles of the route actually follow a tarmac road down the side of Loch Linnhe. Apart from a small group who blazed off into the distance like they were running a half marathon, most people were taking it fairly steady and I settled into an easy rhythm and had a bit of chat with the other runners around me. There were some gorgeous views down the loch as we passed through banks of rhodedendrons – I reminded myself (and others) that this wasn’t even the most scenic day, it was only going to get better as we headed North.
Turning off the road into the interior of the Ardgour Peninsula, the next 10 miles climbed gradually up Cona Glen on a wide gravel track. I spent much of this time running with David Siska – it turned out that he worked in the School of Mathematics at Edinburgh University and had an office two floors up from where I used to work. Small world! It was definitely a hot day, but there was generally a good breeze blowing down the glen so apart from a few sheltered spots it didn’t feel too bad. Near the top of the glen, we took a sharply rising grassy path up to the first of many cols of the route at a height of about 1280ft.
From here it was downhill all the way to the finish. I stopped to tighten up my shoes as they were almost new and I didn’t want my feet to be sliding around in them on the descent. David headed off into the distance and I made my way down on mostly good trail, with a few rocky and heathery sections. Some of the race hill response team were waiting where the trail led down from the open hillside out onto a wider gravel track through forestry plantation and I enjoyed picking up a bit of speed again. Coming down into the valley the breeze dropped again and for a while it felt really quite hot in the sun, especially on the sun-baked sandy road that led down towards the Callop River. Fortunately, for the first time in several years, the footbridge here had been repaired and we could run all the way across into Glenfinnan. In the last two years, participants had to finish at the end of the road, then walk back a mile and be ferried by car back to the finish.
It was busy with tourists visiting the Glenfinnan monument as I came out of the woods onto the main road, and there were a couple of race marshals directing us on over the River Finnan on the road bridge and then right into camp. A final short stretch of trail led to the finish funnel and under the CWU gantry, marking the end of the first stage! It took me 3h22, which was just around the time I had expected – not bad for a hot day, and most importantly, everything felt fine.
Coming in to camp, I was the first one back out of the 8 of us assigned to tent 21 so I was able to unpack all my kit and claim a sleeping spot in the far corner from the door. Over the next few days my post-race routine was honed to perfection. After unpacking and hanging up my race kit to dry, I’d eat a bit of beef jerky, make up a protein shake to kick-start the recovery process and then head to the nearest river or loch for a quick dip to cool off and wash. I did get a few funny looks from the tourists heading up the path to the Glenfinnan viaduct while I was floating around in the river! Then after getting dried and dressed into my camp clothes, I would have the obligatory soup, chips and a cup of tea. After that, I would sort out my race pack for the next day, replenishing it with food from the supply in my dry bag and study the map and my pacing plan for the following day, then head straight for dinner at 6pm when it was served.
As this was the first day, I also had the chance to meet the rest of my tent-mates: Wayne (sadly DNF’d after day 2), John, Tom and Alastair (completed the Cape Wrath Explorer), Julian, Nicholas and Peter (all completed the full Cape Wrath Ultra). Once everyone had completed the stage, I was placed 11th overall. I was planning to stick to my pacing plan and not get sucked into “racing” as I simply had no idea how well I would recover and be able to run for many consecutive tough days, but it was nice to know I was somewhere near the front of the pack. Since my time had been under 3h30, I also had a mandatory late start time of 8am for the next day. Normally, you can start each day any time between 7am and 9am, with most choosing to start as early as possible, especially on the longer days with tighter cut-off times. The fastest runners have to start later to avoid them arriving at the finish before the event team have had time to build it! Although it was great to have the first day done, the focus was now on tomorrow which would be the first “full day” of the race so I got off to bed around 9pm and was soon asleep.
Day 2: Glenfinnan – Kinloch Hourn (35 miles)
I had set my alarm for 6am, but the first alarm in my tent went off at 5am and I was aware of people starting to get up at 5:30 and I followed soon afterwards. This actually worked quite well as it meant I missed the rush of the 7am starters when breakfast began serving at 5:30. It was a bit midgey as expected in the morning but they didn’t bother me much. What became my usual morning routine was two cups of tea, 2 (vegetarian) sausages in a roll, eggs, beans, 3 hash browns and a “Belgian” waffle (the Belgians in camp said they were not authentic!) and then back to my tent to get changed, prep my feet for the day, and pack everything away in my dry bag. As most of my tent-mates were heading out at 7am or soon after, I usually had the place to myself. After only a short day yesterday, my feet were still in excellent shape!
A group of around 10 of us set off at 8am, heading out of camp, under the viaduct and up Glen Finnan on first a tarmac road which turned into a gravel track and finally a hill trail as it climbed up to the col. It was pretty runnable, and many of the others were going faster and I was happy to let them go and stick to my own pace, hiking the steepest parts. Going over the first climb I caught up to the back of the main field and gradually worked my way past them. This would be the case on almost every days – on the longest ones I would run right through the field but on the shorter ones the fastest would make it to the finish first (having had a 1 hour head-start). I really enjoyed exchanging greetings with everyone as I went past and as the week went on it became a great source of motivation and encouragement – in both directions!
The descent was steep but mostly runnable grassy and heathery terrain, with a decent trodden path to follow and only a few truly trackless sections. The ground was generally quite dry after what had been several weeks of warm, dry weather, but on a “normal” year it would have been quite boggy I think. Before too long we hit a small bridge and joined a forest track leading to CP1. The next few miles were undulating forest tracks through woodlands and I really enjoyed this section – very runnable and my legs felt great. As we climbed out of Glen Dessarry, this faded into a rough hill track and past a couple of high lochans near the col. The map showed a river crossing, but the water was low enough it was easy to skip across without getting wet feet. Across the whole week, of all the 100s of river/burn crossings, only 2 or 3 were actually deep enough to require wading!
A steep zig-zagging descent led down to the shoreline and past the Sourlies bothy. The tide was in, so we had to stay on the stony ground at the top of the beach, and climb up and over the headland rather than run on the beach itself. Around this point I was passed by Marcus Scotney, the eventual race winner and CR holder from the inaugural race in 2016. On future days he’d pass me much earlier but today he’d started even later at 8:30am so it took roughly half the stage to catch and pass me! Beyond the beach there is a section of low-lying terrain that is notoriously boggy. However, it did not live up to its “man-eating” reputation this year, as the ground was largely dry and there was a decent trod to follow for the most part. Crossing the bridge at CP2 it was good to see some of the event team, including Christine who I had met in 2023 and crewed for us at the UK Backyard Ultra championship last year.
Beyond the CP, the route follows the River Carnach as it meanders first through a wide, flat plain and gradually narrows into a gorge with a fantastic waterfall and some scrambling over rocks required! For most of this section I was completely alone and had the first real sense of remoteness and solitude, which was really great. The stillness was briefly shattered by an RAF Herculus transport plan carrying out low level manoeuvres! I filled up my soft flask here and even though the water looked great, I treated it with a chlorine tablet. After the norovirus outbreak on last year’s camp which was suspected to have come from contaminated water, I wasn’t taking any chances! The final big climb of the day followed – more than 1000 feet in around a mile. It was a tough one in the early afternoon heat, but I was bouyed by overtaking the front-runner from the 7am starters and (apart from Marcus) being at the front of the field. The run Glen Unndalain down towards Loch Hourn has great views and is on a good path, but for the first time I started to feel a bit sick. I had been eating well all day but I think a combination running the steep descent and being a bit overheated from the climb were the cause. I backed off a bit and was passed by David and later Jon (who would go on to finish second overall), but after filling my flask again at the campsite/bothy at CP3 I started to feel a bit better.
The final 10k along Loch Hourn have a reputation for being slow and difficult. I was prepared for this having run a bit of the route in 2023, but I was still surprised to see my watch showing 1000 ft of climbing still remaining. In the end, there were a couple of moderate climbs, but lots of twisty, up-and-down rocky and rooty singletrack all the way to the finish. It’s the kind of terrain I love to run on on a short training run, but it was a bit tedious at the end of a long, hot day! Lewis Taylor (finished third overall) also caught me up on this section but I stuck with him and we ran the final few miles together to the finish. Turns out he is also from Edinburgh and even lived in the same tenement block as David – small world indeed! Eventually the camp came in to view and we jogged the final short section of road, arriving in to camp in 7h14. The first big day was done.
It was still mid-afternoon so I had plenty of time to get in the river and relax in the sun. Kinloch Hourn is a really beautiful and remote location, nestled at the end of a deep sea loch and as the sun dipped below the hills it cooled quickly and the midges came out. I retreated to bed well before 9pm, with many participants still out on the course. Two of my tent-mates came in well after the 10pm course closure time and were relegated to the Explorer course as a result, but I was fast asleep!
Day 3: Kinloch Hourn – Achnashellach (42 miles)
Day three is regarded as the real crux of the Cape Wrath Ultra, with an extra 7 miles and 1800 ft of climbing compared to day two, anyone in trouble with cut-offs already will have a hard time on this one. History shows that anyone completing day three has a very good chance of finishing the whole race. As I went through my morning routine there was a long queue of participants eager to start at 7am on the dot to give themselves as much time as possible. Thanks to my sub-8-hour finish yesterday, I had to start at 8am. My feet were still in really good shape, with just one small hot-spot developing at the base of my left big toe. I taped it and it didn’t bother me all day.
After a very short warm-up on a track around the head of the loch, the climbing starts right away with a steep pull of nearly 1000 feet up a rocky track. This opens onto a good runnable and gradually rising track up into Coire Mhalagain. Marcus breezed past me again, having only started 5 or 10 minutes after me today. As the climb steepened onto a grassy and boggy bank up to the top of the Bealach, I was already catching up with some of the 7am starters – they were indeed in for a long day of chasing cut-offs. Over the top of the ridge there is a short rocky section as we passed the base of the Forcan Ridge, with The Saddle looming overhead on the left. I found this OK and really enjoyed it as the trail opened out onto a wide track and grassy descent into Coire Caol. Many participants were filling bottles as I crossed the Allt Undalain – keeping my feet dry again by staying on the many rocks, but this would be a proper river crossing on most years. A good landrover track led downhill and before long we reached the campsite and road at Glen Shiel. David and then Lewis Taylor both passed me at this point, and I was surprised when he passed me again just after CP1 – he’d stopped at the cafe but given up waiting as the queue was quite long. Maybe one for the Explorers, but not for those of us in a hurry!
After CP1 there are a few miles of road past Morvich and the Kintail Outdoor Centre. It was only 11am but the sun was blazing down mercilessly and it felt really hot! A gate led onto a narrow trail through the lower hill forest and after crossing the river, steeped as we climbed up through forestry plantation and out onto open hillside towards the Bealach na Sroine. There were a few runners ahead on the path but I was only just overhauling them and though it was a good path there was no shade and it was hot work. Over the top and there was a short grassy descent before the steep path along the edge of the gorge where the Falls of Glomach lie, mostly hidden from view. Despite knowing to keep high at the marker post, I nearly took the lower path but corrected my error after only a few metres. Similar to yesterday I was starting to feel pretty sick and going slowly on the descent. About half-way down the gorge there is a confluence with another big mountain stream cascading down to meet the Allt a Glomaich in a deep, shady pool. Conscious that the heat was what was making me suffer, I drank about a litre straight from the falls and filled up my flask. I didn’t chlorinate this one – it was as clear and pure a water source as you could hope to find, and I instantly felt better for it.
CP2 is where the trail to the falls meets a wide estate track. It was great to see my 2023 “van buddy” Sam there, although I suspect for others he marked the end of their race if they missed the cut-off and had to be extracted by road. I got into a good running groove along this track, with a deep blue loch glistening in the sun on the right. Jon passed me at this point but as the track started to rise again I gradually caught up with him as my power-hiking pace showed. I passed him as we both stopped to fill our bottles at a stream crossing, and by the time I reached the top of the hill he was no-where in sight. Later it transpired that he had left his poles at the burn and had to walk back for a few minutes to retrieve them!
From the top of the climb there are several miles of grassy, runnable, gradually downhill track leading towards Maol Bhuidhe, one of the most remote bothies in Scotland. I absolute loved this section – the scenery is not particularly dramatic compared with the Forcan Ridge or the Falls of Glomach, but the sense of isolation and wilderness was outstanding. I was feeling much better now and it was pure “type 1” fun all the way past the bothy. A mile or so’s climb through mostly trackless moor followed, and Jon caught me up at this point. We ran together for several miles on the good track past Loch Calavie and down towards CP3. We passed David again at this point who said he had gone out a bit hard and had a sore ankle. Christine cheered me through CP3 and I made good speed along more good gravel track to Loch an Laoigh. It had been a long, hot day and I was very low on water with the prospect of one final big climb to come. I found a decent looking side stream – there wasn’t much flow but it looked clear so I filled up a dropped in a Chlorine tab. Jon was a bit ahead as we hacked across the (mercifully dry) bog to the Bearhais bothy and we hiked the final climb together. The route over the top of the ridge is supposed to be tricky but it was clearly flagged (and of course we had no low cloud to content with unlike last year) and as we threaded through the correct notch in the cliffs we could see the next camp a few miles ahead and 2000 ft below us. The run down was great, zig-zagging through heathery open hillside and eventually into the Achnashellach forest before finally emerging on the banks of the River Carron. This was the first “proper” river crossing of the race so far but it was nice to wade through the knee-deep cold water at the end of the day with only a short distance to camp. We finished together in 9h16 (although Jon ahead in reality as he had started 10 minutes behind me). This was to be my longest day of the whole race, befitting its status as the hardest one. In total, 100 miles completed over the first three days and the prospect of two shorter days to come… things were looking good!
Finishing after 5pm I had a bit less time in camp, but still plenty to get everything done. I spared a thought for those who were still out on the course (the final finisher arriving at around 9:50pm), although many had also failed to make the cut-off at CP2 after the Falls of Glomach and were driven back to camp. After all the front-runners had got back I found that I had moved up into 4th place – great news but I was still focussed on sticking to my own pacing plan and keeping my effort sustainable each daya.
Day 4: Achnashellach – Kinlochewe (22 miles)
As this was a relatively short stage, the fastest runners had the luxury of at 8:30am start. After the water crossing at the end of yesterday’s run and without an afternoon in the sun to dry things out my running kit was wet so I changed into my backup shoes and fresh kit for the day. My feet were still in good shape, but the hotspot on my left foot had developed into a small blister so I drained it and taped it up and it didn’t cause me any bother for the rest of the week.
I got out at 8:30 sharp and headed off along the short stretch of road to the train station. Crossing the railway, the track rose steadily, up between Sgorr Ruadh and Beinn Liath Mhor. Already the landscape was changing as we left Kintail behind and headed into the rocky grandeur of Torridon. It was yet another blue sky day but still fairly cool in the morning. Jon caught up with me early on and we stuck together up and over the col before he picked up the pace, and I took it easy on the descent, mindful not to overheat. A good walker’s track led the way down to the Torridon road and the first checkpoint. The views ahead to Liathach on the left and Beinn Eighe on the right were spectacular. I had been looking forward to the scenery of this part of the route and it did not disappoint!
Crossing the road at the one and only checkpoint of the day, nearly half the distance and climbing was already done, but the hardest part of the day was still coming! An excellent walker’s path up the valley and round to the back of Beinn Eighe was mostly hiking, with a few less steep and runnable sections. The final climb up to the lochan in Coire Mhic Fearchair featured huge stone blocks, forming a staircase that at least made for quick, if not easy, climbing. Suddenly we popped out onto a broad stone ledge, with the lochan and the triple buttress behind it, and the burn tumbling down a waterfall to the right. A great place to stop, but not today! Our route pushed on, first dropping then contouring round the pathless and rough North flank of Beinn Eighe. A mixture of steep tussocky and bouldery slopes led to a wide undulating and heathery glen. This section had been described to me as “the worst 5k of your life” and it wasn’t easy but at least the ground was mostly dry and I could see where we were headed. There might be a good line to follow somewhere, but if so I don’t think I found it. It was good to have a few other people for company and I spent most of this section with Elliot Robbie – I think he hoped that I knew the best route, but I think I disappointed him 🤣 After an hour of hacking through rough terrain we eventually picked up a path as we came over the lip of the col near the ruined croft of Creagan Ruadh.
Finally the tough terrain was over and all that was left was a few miles of downhill on a white Torridonian gravel path and through the woods to Kinlochewe. As it had been a fairly short day and some those participants who had started early had a 90 minute head start, I was still catching and slowly passing people all the way through the village and to the new camp location in a field just over the Kinlochewe river.
Finishing the day in a little over 5 hours, there was plenty of time to relax, recover and get everything from yesterday dried out in the sun. Some folks even made the short walk back into Kinlochewe to make use of the shop to get a few extra treats! I stuck to my routine, but added in an hour or so’s afternoon power nap in my tent before dinner – the perfect end to an awesome day on the trail. It might have been today (or maybe the next day… they all blur into one to some extent) that in addition to the afternoon soup and chips, the catering team also started serving wraps. They were great, not least because they had tons of fresh salad in them, and I had one with my chips each day from now on.
Day 5: Kinlochewe – Inverbroom (27 miles)
The fifth day of the race and the good weather was still holding out – we were in store for another hot one! Once again, I had an 8:30am start. Although slightly longer than the previous stage, this one had around the a similar amount of elevation (or actually slightly less according to what my watch measured), so it was expected to be much more runnable.
Today I started out alongside Lewis Breen, who was quite close behind me in 5th place overall. The first 7 miles of the day take a wide gravel track up Glen na Muice and I was able to keep up a strong pace. I left Lewis behind, was overtaken by Marcus (as usual), and caught up by Jon just as we reached CP1 – and unmarked turn-off from the main path onto a steep grassy climb up to the Bealach nan Croise. Coming over the top, the descent started with a wide trackless section of heather where a wide variety of routes were being taken, none of them notably better than others! After a couple of miles a track gradually developed. Lewis had caught up and both he and Jon were getting ahead of me when Lewis Taylor also caught me up. I decided this was not the time to dawdle and for the first time in the race I pushed the pace to stay ahead of him. Before long we caught up to Lewis Breen and for a couple of miles I took a ride on the “Lewis train” as we blasted down the narrow and sometimes muddy trail at the bottom of an isolated glen – probably far too fast to be going in the middle stages of a multi-day ultra, but it was fun and remains one of my greatest memories of the whole race!
By the time we reached the bottom of the next climb the train fell apart – Lewis Taylor pushed on ahead and Lewis Breen fell back as his legs had started cramping. The climb was roughly 800ft, but on a wide gravel track and relatively easy going. Hiking gave my legs some respite after a lot of running in the first half of the stage. From the top, the path tilted steeply downhill and despite fairly sore quads I pushed the pace, making the most of the runnable terrain. Reaching the road at Corriehallie there was a short run down to CP2 where quite a crowd of event team were waiting, which was really encouraging! I knew all that was left was a short 10k section over a final climb and down in to camp.
From the checkpoint, we were back on a steep hill path – at one point having to scramble over a huge windblown tree. We passed a beautiful waterfall over some stone slabs, where I filled up my flask before heading on up the hill. There were still plenty of other participants out on the course, either from the 7am start, or those on the explorer course who had recently started the day at CP2. As we reached the top of the climb, I was on the lookout for the point to leave the path. I was acutely aware of it after having watched my friend Agamemnon miss it completely in 2023 and come down off the hill about a mile from camp! Fortunately I had recce’d this section during last year’s race and I found the route with little trouble. Once again, what would usually have been a boggy plateau and a very wet descent were dry and straightforward. The path zig-zagging down the hillside to Inverbroom was rocky and steep, but not slippy and after a short final stretch along the road I arrived back to camp in 4h37 – about half an hour faster than the previous day, despite an extra 4 or 5 miles. The promise of a more runnable day held up and the Lewis train on the way certainly helped too!
Another early afternoon finish was made even better by the news that there was Coke on offer in addition to the usual options of squash and hot drinks. I made the most of the time to rest up ahead of the longest day with another little power nap 🥱
Day 6: Inverbroom – Inchnadamph (45 miles)
Alongside the “hardest day” (3), the “longest day” (6) is the other crux stage of the race. It is much more runnable – so as long as you can still run, you should be fine! It started relatively cool when I set off at 8am with Lewis Taylor for company. After a short warm-up on road, we joined a shady track through Inverlael Forest. After a little bit of tricky navigation we found a steep trail up through the forest and out onto the open hillside. The ground was still mercifully dry as the gradient slackened onto the broad grassy shoulder of Beinn Bhreac. Several miles of trackless but easily runnable ground led down Glen Douchary to join a wide gravel track at CP1.
This was the start of roughly 20 miles of gravel track – it was easy to run on, but even in these surroundings I have to say I was a bit bored of it by the end. I definitely had a love/hate relationship with that track! The roughly 10 miles to CP1 was gradually downhill and I had plenty of runners ahead of me to chase, which made the miles pass quite quickly, and I was keeping a strong pace. Even so, the final stretch down Glen Einig seemed to last an awfully long time. CP2 at Oykel Bridge had plenty of people, including Lewis’ family and 4 month old son… and cowbells, which is always a good thing!
From CP2 the track gradually rises, following the River Oykel upstream. Two interesting things happen to break up the monotony of gravel track. Firstly, just past Caplich Farm, three spectators turned up at the side of the trail, with a portable sound system blasting out Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone”! No idea who they were, but I loved it and it certainly gave me a boost. Secondly, I was on the lookout for somewhere to fill my flask as it had been yet another long, hot day. The river was mainly quite a distance away from the path, so when a sizeable burn crossed from the right, I stepped a little bit upsteam, drank a bit and filled up my flask. I crossed the burn and pretty much stepped on the carcass of a deer! Fortunately it seemed to be long deceased and was just bones – although I’d already drunk directly from the burn, there wasn’t anything I could do about it… I did empty out my bottles and refilled again from the river a bit further upstream, and hoped for the best. Finally, the track came to an end. This year, we were following a grassy and somewhat muddy trail right next to the river. It was a bit slower going but I wasn’t caring as it was nice just to have something different underfoot. A few miles further on and I reached CP3, who were just setting up. I found out later that they had been delayed getting to the CP and several runners had come through before they arrived! Christine was on the CP crew (she had also been at CP1) and it was her birthday but I completely forgot until the next day – oops!
After the checkpoint, a short section of road skirted Loch Ailsh and took us past the grand Benmore Lodge and into the upper reaches of Glen Oykel. This was a wide, verdant basin and I loved it! I passed one of the race photographers and was followed by his drone for half a mile or so – I haven’t seen the footage yet but if it looked half as good as it felt it would be great! I caught up with tent-mate Alastair just before the final climb up to the col to the left of Conival. He was running the Explorer second half of the course option and was very pleased that he’d been the front-runner for quite some time before being passed by Marcus, Jon, Lewis and Bruno (he was having a strong second half of the race and would eventually finish fifth overall). I knew the final climb was coming but it was just a dreadful 800ft slog up a tussocky grass bank and it was not fun! The only good thing about it was that the col was supposed to be spectacular, and after that it was just a few miles of downhill to the finish. Eventually I reached the top and found the narrow track that threaded high above the gorge that drops away steeply to the left (there were a couple of the event response team and some flags to make sure you couldn’t go wrong). It was nice to be headed to the finish but I didn’t get into much of a groove as the track was narrow, steep and disappeared entirely in places. With two miles to go I was surprised to see Jon ahead of me – he’d passed by before CP1 and I hadn’t expected to see him again. It transpired he had some bad blisters and was having a real slow struggle to the finish. I guess a bit of competitive fire kindled in me and I boosted past him all the way to the finish, even clocking a sub-8-minute mile! He finished a few minutes behind me, but having started later I think he actually beat my time of 7h23.
Anyway, the longest day was done and I was still in fourth place overall. After a great run Bruno had moved up into fifth, overtaking Lewis Breen who had another tough day. I had resolved earlier in the race that if was still feeling good by day seven I would see what I could do in terms of racing! Lewis Taylor in third still looked strong, but with Jon evidently struggling with his feet, there was still a chance I could move up a place before the end.
Camp 6 is in quite an exposed location and the wind was whipping across – the weather was definitely starting to turn after a week of perfect sunny days. The river here felt much colder too! By the time the last few runners were coming in, it was raining steadily. I was back in my tent by this point, but was woken suddenly as our end of the tent collapsed in the strong wind. Fortunately the air-beam had not actually deflated and we were able to pop it back up. Unbeknownst to me, the camp team were running around re-pegging in the guy ropes and moving vans to create a wind-break. I wasn’t awake for long and fortunately the wind died down!
Day 7: Inchnadamph – Kinlochbervie (38 miles)
Nothing is ever a gimme in ultra running, but there was definitely a sense around the camp that today was all that was standing between us and the almost certainty of reaching the lighthouse. The overnight rain had died out, but there was low cloud and a stiff breeze blowing in so for the first time I put on a base layer rather than just running in a t-shirt.
Once again I set of at 8am sharp, initially back up the track that we had finished on yesterday, but soon branching left and heading for the col below Glas Bheinn. I had walked up to here last year and there were absolutely mind-blowing views over the dramatic sea lochs to the North. This year there was about 100m of visibility so I’d just have to imagine the views. I was pushing hard and the descent down to the head of Loch Glencoul was great fun, slithering around on the sodden ground, and having a proper “wet feet” day, finally! Dropping below the cloud, the loch revealed itself and I passed most of the field as we picked out way along a tricky, boggy path and climbed the headland that separates Lochs Glencoul and Glendhu. It was great fun to be in such inaccessible terrain, the rain had stayed away and I was having fun.
It was a relatively long first stretch to CP1 and I had pushed hard the whole way. On the soaked ground my ankles were finally getting a good workout as the footing was much less reliable than it had been the rest of the week. From CP1 I knew there was only one more major climb remaining of the whole race – Ben Dreavie. In total it rises about 1600ft from sea level to the top, but the majority of it was on a good gravel track. I knew that Lewis Taylor was in front of me as he had passed me on the first descent and was having a strong day trying to catch up to Jon in second place in the overall standings. Jon and even Marcus were still behind me and it was roughly half way through the stage, so I was feeling confident. Turning off the track for the final push to the top of Ben Dreavie, I headed into low cloud and driving rain. It could better have been called Ben Dreary as the path wove in and out of lots of indistinguishable bogs, lochans and grassy knolls. Coming down off the top to the West in the cloud was just a wet, trackless, soul-destroying mile and I was beginning to have a bit of a sense-of-humour failure about it. Eventually I saw another runner in the distance, and caught him just as we reached a bit of path again. Shortly after, Jon and Bruno appeared behind me. Jon was running well, despite his blisters and I couldn’t stay with him as we descended on a steep, widening track to CP2 at the crossing of River Laxford. I was determined to keep Bruno behind me though and that became the main thing that kept me going for the rest of the day.
On paper, the section from CP2 to CP3 – it’s “only” 7 miles, gently downhill, following a remote little series of Lochans down to the coast at Rhiconich. In reality, it was one of the worst parts of the whole course for me. A few miles of runnable track led to a short trackless boggy tramp and then a narrow, off-camber peaty trail through the bracken, right along the lochside. It’s probably lovely if you are in the mood to appreciate it, but my right ankle was starting to send increasingly frequent warning signs and I couldn’t work out quite what movement was triggering it – it seemed related to the tendon on the inside of my ankle. It wasn’t slowing me down, fortunately as Bruno was firmly in my rear-view mirror, at one point getting to within about 100m of me. I was counting down the distance to the checkpoint, and fortunately the last half mile or so was on a stronger trail. When I finally reached the road, I don’t think I’ve ever been so thankful to see tarmac. If had been sure I could get back up again, I would have laid down and kissed it!
The last four miles of the day felt like the last four miles of the race and I was able to run a decent pace on it, finally getting a little gap ahead of Bruno. I caught and passed lots of the Explorer course runners here, and I knew that once I crossed the final horizon line there I would be able to see the camp and enjoy the long sweeping descent down to Kinlochbervie. Eventually the road twisted and turned for the last time and the camp came in to view. I whooped as I ran down the hill, passing some rather bemused looking walkers and crossing the finish line in 7h40. It wasn’t until well after crossing the line that I realised I had never been passed by Marcus. This was the only day I actually beat him (by 2 minutes!) – I’ll take that!
It had been a long, tough day – a final sting in the tail before a short bimble to the finish tomorrow… or so I thought! My legs felt like they had been pummelled all day with a meat tenderiser, I guess due to a combination of the tougher terrain, slippy conditions on top of the cumulative effort of the week. A quick dip in the Loch seemed to sort them out, fortunately. Although the sunny weather was gone, it had not been too bad today – I’d run all day in just a base layer and hadn’t even needed to put my jacket on at all.
Camp 7 is on the football field next to the local school, and for a change we were served food not from the usual catering tent, but from the school kitchen and were able to sit and eat inside in the warmth of the school dinner hall. The only in-camp snag today was that someone had (I assume accidentally) removed my towel from the drying line in camp 6. Fortunately, the event team came through and were able to lend me one. Thanks Jen! It wasn’t nearly so windy as the previous night, and it was great to see the other three guys in my tent who were still on the the full ultra course complete the day unscathed. The weather forecast for tomorrow was looking wild as I headed off to sleep… it was starting to look like today’s difficulties were not to be the last ones after all!
Day 8: Kinlochbervie – Cape Wrath (16 miles)
I woke with excitement for the final day of the race. The weather forecast was for strong Westerly winds of up to 50mph, so there were a few important changes planned as a result. Firstly, instead of moving on to camp 8 at Keodale which is an exposed site on top of a hill, we’d be staying a second night at Kinlochbervie. Handily, this saved time in the morning as there was no need to repack our dry bags, everything we didn’t need to carry on the course could just stay in the blue tents. Secondly, we were required to carry our cold weather kit – an extra warm layer, full body waterproofs, warm hat and gloves. I decided to wear my thicker base layer to start, packed all of my cold weather gear in my race pack, and strapped the spare fleece to the outside. Fortunately as it was a short stage I had less food and drink than usual, and still had room for a hip flask of Jura whisky which I planned to open at the finish! Finally, there was an unwelcome possibility that the boat which would shuttle us back across the Sound of Durness from Cape Wrath to the main road might not be able to run… in which case we had an extra 4 mile walk to manage!
Rather than the fastest runners starting last, today we were set off in race order and I had my earliest start of the day at 7:30am! We set off around the loch and onto the road North that leads towards Sandwood Bay and the Cape. The wind was gusting strongly from our left, bringing a consistent spray of drizzle, and it quickly became apparent that it was going to be colder than I had thought. I stopped after a few miles to put on my fleece, waterproof jacket and gloves and immediately felt much better! Soon we came to the first checkpoint and turned off the road onto a track which leads to Sandwood Bay. A few of the runners who had started behind me were clearly having a fast final day, but I was just focussing on being consistent and getting the day done. After a good first few miles on the road, my ankle started complaining again with some added shooting pains every so often for good measure. The track gave way to grass and then to sand as we popped out onto Sandwood Bay. It certainly wasn’t the picture-postcard tropical beach scene that has appeared in the race photos for the last few years! Instead there was crashing surf breaking onto sand which was whipped up by the wind and blasted at exposed skin as I tried to get off the beach as quickly as possible. There was at least some fairly compact sand that was runnable on, but it was hard work!
To the North several brooding headlands jutted out from the cloud – today was showing us just how wild and mighty the Atlantic coast could be. Sandwood Bay was already more than half way through the stage and there were single-digit miles remaining, but the worst of the terrain and the majority of the climbing were still to come. Three short climbs on mostly trackless, wet ground led to a fence marking the edge of the MOD firing range. Fortunately there would be no bombing today, but signs warned us in no uncertain terms not to mess with any suspicious metal objects that we might find! A steep descent past a ruined bothy led down to a small burn, before the last short, steep ascent of the race. Bruno caught up with me again at this point and overtook me on the climb. I was trying my best to protect my ankle and I remember telling him he could have this stage since I knew I was more than 90 minutes ahead of him overall, with just a few miles left to run. From the top of the final hill we got a brief glimpse of the lighthouse and my “smell the barn” instinct kicked in. I set a good pace on the soft but runnable grassy downhill and passed him again. The route dropped down into a small sheltered valley and out of the wind it suddenly felt peaceful and actually quite warm – the temperature was actually in the mid-teens and the cloud was beginning to break to reveal patches of blue sky. One final short rise led to the road and I knew we had only a mile to go to reach the lighthouse.
I broke into a run as we rounded the final bend and the lighthouse came in to view – less than half a mile to go! I will admit to being a bit choked up with emotion, it just felt amazing to finally be reaching the end of this epic journey. I whooped, picked up the pace and savoured the moment as I passed through the stone gates of the lighthouse and rounded the final turn to reach the finish gantry and the end of the race! In total I had completed the Cape Wrath Ultra in 47 hours, 43 minutes and 59 seconds.
Although the cloud had lifted, the wind was still whipping across so after a quick few photos, I headed inside to join the other finishers for soup, sandwiches and a welcome cup of tea. I brought out the hip flask of whisky and handed it round – it was a great atmosphere of camaraderie and celebration as we shared stories from the week. I was glad of the extra layers I had carried, and put them all on to keep warm! Not long after, we heard that the first placed lady was arriving and we all piled outside to cheer her in. We didn’t have long to wait before the first shuttle minibus was ready to leave and we headed back towards the camp. After an hour in the bus on the bumpy track, we were deposited on the pier and were glad to find that the wind had died down a bit and the ferry was on, so no extra walk was required. The short journey across the Sound was beautiful in the midday sun! Off the boat, we had a final little sprint race up the pier to the where MPVs were waiting to take us back to camp.
It was strange to be back at camp so early and have no next day’s racing to prepare for. With dinner not till 6pm an the prizegiving due to start at 7:30pm, we had plenty of time to get cleaned up, relax and enjoy the feeling of having finished. Although the drinking had started with whisky at 11am, I stayed well clear of the bar until late in the afternoon… any earlier and things could have got messy! It was great to welcome back more and more runners as they were shuttled back to camp during the afternoon, and before long we had bagged prime spots on beanbags right in front of the stage in the main marquee.
Tonight’s dinner was haggis and mash – strangely with gravy and no neeps! A fitting celebration meal to end the week. The last few runners to arrive back from the cape arrived around 7pm and then the prizegiving began with a local schoolboy playing the bagpipes. We clapped for ages as first all the Explorers and then the full Ultra finishers came up to collect their medals. Finally, the top five male and female runners were called up and we got to stand on the stage at the front before the two winners collected their medals and trophies. It was great to stand up there with some amazing runners and I think I can count fourth place as a “podium finish” as a result 😁
It wasn’t a late night though, one final beer and it was time to start saying goodnights and goodbyes. Tomorrow would be another early start and a quick exit (to allow the school to have their premises back before the start of the school day) on the coach back to Fort William, where we started only 8 days, but what felt like a lifetime ago!
Afterthoughts
Looking back now, a week later I have an overwhelming sense of satisfaction and achievement about the race. Aside from a crazy amount of fluid retention (elephant legs, anyone?) that meant I couldn’t get shoes on for a few days and barely being able to keep my eyes open in the evenings my recovery has gone really well and I don’t seem to have any significant damage from the race.
As Shane said in the briefing, there is only true adventure when the result is uncertain and for me, I was confident that I could complete the distance, but the major unknown was how I would recover day by day, and what pace I could reasonably sustain when 250 miles is divided up into 8 chunks. I feel like I paced it about right, managing to beat my goal time (50 hours) by more than two hours and was still capable of running well right up to the last days. I was definitely running faster (and even on some uphills) compared to what I would do in a non-stop 100 miler and while I could maybe have got a few more % effort out of my legs I don’t think I would have been able to close the 2h20 gap to Lewis in third place. Certainly not without increasing the risk of injury, so I’d say I judged it perfectly, achieving a great result and still having plenty of “type 1” fun each day. I also managed quite successfully to focus on my own pacing and not get caught up in racing anyone, at least until day 5 when I started to focus on keeping first Lewis Breen and then Bruno behind me. I felt like I used the competitive aspect of the race to my advantage.
My footcare and recovery routine seemed to work well and even on the final day my ankle was only an annoyance, really. The minor issues that did crop up were kept under control and I was quite pleased to be one of the minority who never had to make use of the medical tent. Barring some KT tape and paracetamol, the contents of my first aid kit went unused. I took paracetamol regularly throughout the day – first at 8am just before the start, then at midday and at 4pm or just after finishing, which probably contributed to feeling physically good throughout. My gear and food selection was just about right – I used almost everything except for a couple of base layers (which I would have needed if the weather hadn’t been so kind) and had just a little bit of spare food left at the end of each day. I did supplement what I had brought with a few items which were donated by DNF’ing runners and left at the info point, which gave a little bit of variety. In general, I ate well through the day, mainly “real food” in the morning, and switching more to gels and KMC bars in the afternoon heat. Babybel cheese was an absolute revelation to me – I think I ate 16 of them in total, and would definitely use them again in races.
Overall, I totally recommend Cape Wrath Ultra to anyone. It’s fantastically well organised and is a great way to see some really beautiful and remote parts of Scotland in a unique way. Having spoken to many of the participants, it’s clear that with sufficient determination, fitness and preparation it’s possible to complete the course even with relatively little ultramarathon or mountain running experience, and of course there is always the option of the Explorer Course if you need a less demanding daily schedule but still get to the lighthouse. At around £2000 (depending on how early you enter), the event is certainly not cheap but it is good value for money! If you can spare the time, I do think volunteering at the race is a great plan – not only does it give you credit so you don’t have to pay the entry fee, but it’s a great way to understand the format, the logistics and the locations which really reduces the number of unknowns that you have to deal with when you do come to run the race yourself.
Thanks again to all of my fellow participants (many that I mentioned during the post, and many others), the event team volunteers and Ourea staff, and everyone who supported me throughout the journey – as always the ultrarunning community is what makes these crazy journeys so special. It was great to spend time with old friends and make many new ones and I hope to see many of you soon on some other race. I think it’s time for me to say goodbye to the Cape Wrath Ultra as the three years I’ve been at the race has meant a whole month away from family. I look forward to doing something different in May 2026. I won’t be the last time I’ll be at an Ourea event though – I’m going to be running the new Ben Nevis Skyline race in September, as well as Northern Traverse in Spring 2026 and maybe a few more in future. Until then, I hope you enjoyed following me on the journey to Cape Wrath!