Log No 65. Wed 12th Jun 2013 - Achlyness to Skerricha, 8 miles (1097 miles walked)

In a lot of cases I cannot get anywhere near the coast with the terrain being so rocky and I can see why some sections of the coast have been avoided by other walkers.

Today's walk was going to be difficult so I thought I had a good compromise by hitting the coast at a few accessible locations.

It had rained through the night and was still raining when I woke. I delayed starting and set off at 08.45 in full waterproofs when it had dried up a bit.

I made reasonable progress at the start by going from loch to loch and picked up a good trail to get to Kinsaile. This house was unoccupied but perfectly habitable, the only problem is getting to it.

I had the same plan for my next objective but this time it was not straightforward and took a lot longer. I did see the sea at the end Loch an Roin that I passed nearby.

This had taken twice as long as the first section.

Now I was properly at the coast I tried sticking to it but had to keep going inland a little bit, climbing back up rock, to get round sections that were impassable.

While I stopped for my lunch by Loch Dughaill I decided it was too foolhardy to continue. Wet boots and rock do not make a good combination and after one slip too many headed back inland.

I missed out the headland that Ardmore is on and used the footpath to get to the minor road leading to Portlevorchy.

I bypassed the two houses here then cut over between the hills to get to the abandoned farmhouse at Skerrich.

The terrain round the next headland looked even worse so I called it a day at 14.00 and walked up the road to find somewhere to pitch the tent.

A poor days walking taking over 5 hours to do 8 miles, the weather wasn't much better but it did stay mainly dry.