Trekking in Cape Wrath Trail

The Cape Wrath Trail is widely called the hardest long-distance walk in Britain, and it earns it by refusing to be a trail at all. There is no waymarking and no fixed line — some 380 kilometres of route from Fort William to the lighthouse at the far northwest tip of Scotland, which you navigate yourself across some of the emptiest country in Western Europe.

Over two to three weeks you cross the rough bounds of Knoydart, the ridges of Torridon, the strange geology of Assynt and endless bog and river between, sleeping in bothies, a tent, or the occasional hostel. It is wet, pathless and genuinely remote, and it ends at Sandwood Bay and a clifftop lighthouse with nothing north of you until the Arctic.

This is for experienced backpackers with real navigation skills. Midges make midsummer miserable, rivers can become impassable in spate, and the final approach crosses an MoD firing range with published closure dates. Plan around all three, and carry more resilience than you think you'll need.

Midges make midsummer miserable. The final section crosses an MoD firing range with published closure dates.