Certainly sounded like you could have used a wetsuit!
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Hmmmm⌠big medal or small bottle?
Congratulations Doug, thatâs pretty epic.
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Full sized bottle and a solid chunk of metalwork
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Congratulations. Impressive stuff 
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Nice! Looks like you celebrated well with the bottle half emptyđ
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I had a few willing co-conspirators
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Cape Wrath Ultra has been on my bucket list for a while, didnât fancy hot, dry, desert stuff like Marathon de Sables, give me wet, boggy, any day. And anyway MdS is only 250km, CWU is 400km - Epic !
Day 1 Loch Linnhe to Glenfinnan 34km
Took it nice and easy.
Starts with 10k down the road then turns up a farm track for another 10k, then a fairly steep but not too long climb the descent however was boggy but once you have wet feet there is no point in pussyfooting around.
Only downer was the final bridge that would take you to camp is out, so you finish at the bridge then have a couple of km back up to the previous bridge for a shuttle bus to camp. At least you get to cheer/be cheered by the others. Found the tent I was assigned and met a great bunch of guys, we helped each other out a lot.
Day 2 Glenfinnan to Kinloch Hourn 54km
Plan was to take this easy before the Day 3 which is the first long day, but it was hard, underfoot it was mostly bog, perhaps a snorkel would have been useful. Fell over multiple times and broke one of my running poles. I felt drained at the finish.This is going to be a tough week
Day 3 Kinloch Hourn to Achnashellach 64km
Day 3 was a long one with a lot of vert and billed in the route description as one of the harder days (yesterday wasnât) but it was a lot more runnable weather and conditions were good, I felt surprisingly good at the end. Maybe this week wonât be so tough after all.
Day 4 Achnashellach to Kinlochewe 34km
A short, easy day to recover from yesterdayâs long one, or so I thought. Day 4 was miserable weather and although short was a very tough stage with a fair bit of rocky scramble and a long pathless section through bog, and many crossings of fast flowing rivers I lost my running glasses in one which made the final descent slow going. Spectacular waterfall though. This is going to be a tough week
Day 5 Kinlochewe to Inverbroom 44km
After yesterday being unexpectedly hard I wasnât holding out much hope for today, butDay 5 went a lot better, a lot of it was very runnable and the weather was a lot better, sunshine and showers including a couple of brief hail storms.Maybe this week wonât be so tough after all.
Day 6 Inverbroom to Inchnadamph 65km
Day 6 was the longest, weather was a mixed bag, some prolonged heavy showers but also some sunshine. Thereâs a long stretch of fire road in the middle which helped eat up the miles, but did get a bit boring in the rain.Shin was starting to feel a bit tight towards the end.This is tough but doable.
Day 7 Inchnadamph to Kinlochbervie 58km
Day 7 was much better weather wise, but I woke up with a swollen right ankle and shin. Running was painful, especially the technical descents and bog sections. Still made it round.Needed to pay a visit to the medic tent to get my shin/ankle checked out, was advised it was likely just inflammation rather than anything more serious and to use my remaining pole and walk the next day to avoid aggravating it further.Things are getting tough now.
Day 8 Kinlochbervie to Cape Wrath 24km
Day 8 was a walk/hobble, at least it was short and the cutoffs generous, meant I could finish it off without too many issues. Weather was kind and Sandalwood beach is lovely, but I did make it to Cape Wrath Lighthouse, the hot soup and Irn Bru were most welcome.
I dropped a lot of places on that last day, slipping from 46th to 76th, but I didnât care, was just elated to have made it round. Celebrated with a wee dram.
290 started, I was 76th of the 104 that finished in 76:38:15, that was the hardest thing I have ever attempted, there were times where I didnât think I could do it, but with plenty of support, a hint of determination and a helpful medic I made it to the end. Out of the 8 of us in our tent 5 finished, which is a much better ratio than the general success rate, I guess it helped that we also had the overall winner in our tent !
Definitely a week of highs and lows, the scenery was stunning, the terrain challenging, the camaraderie inspiring, the race org and logistics awesome, the weather went from the sublime to the ridiculous and back again in minutes, all in all EPIC!!!
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Fantastic @doug
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Wow Doug, sounds like you had such an amazing 8 days. The scenery is stunning.
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Well done Doug, Like you I never fancied N days running in a desert. I have done a couple of multi dayers now in NZ but not as long as this. I thought I would be a one and done with them, but went back for a second and am now contemplating a third. There is something about being away from everything only surrounded by other idiots doing the same thing that is remarkably appealing
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Some lessons I learned from Cape Wrath:
- merino wool socks rock, I mostly used Innov8 merino socks which are quite tight and switched to Bridgedale merino socks (a bit looser) once my feet started swelling day7+8, my feet were constantly wet, but I only got 2 small easily managed blisters.
- my shoes (Saucony Peregrine ST) were absolutely superb in the bogs and the mud BUT they were a bit sketchy on wet rock meaning I had to take some of the descents very carefully. Need to see if I can find some comfy shoes that can handle both.
- take spare poles, I broke one of mine on day 2 and there were many others that broke poles and a roaring trade buying/borrowing poles from those retiring. Poles are essential for some of the river crossings (I kept mine just for that) and very useful on a lot f the climbs.
- if you wear glasses, use a glasses strap and take a spare pair. I didnât use a strap on my running glasses and lost them in a fast river, I had to resort to my normal glasses and made a strap from my washing line.
- take a washing line, we werenât able to hang things outside to dry, but were able to string up washing lines in the tents to at least air clothes, And having a bit of string can be useful for other things (e.g. glasses strap)
- take more plastic bags, I thought I had packed plenty, and my wifeâs comment when I was unpacking was âgosh thats a lot of bagsâ, but I didnât have enough, all your kit will get wet, you need to keep your wet stuff from your dry stuff.
- even the ground at camps can be wet and boggy in places, I looked in envy at those that had brought wellies
- take a big plate with raised lip, means you can load up the plate and donât need as many trips to the food tent.
- I really looked forward to my cheese wraps when on the run (I took long life tortilla wraps and individually wrapped cheese portions) made a tasty change from sweet stuff, I would also have liked to have had more snickers bars.
- it pays to be organised in camp, normal routine was collect bag, get to tent, wipe down with wetwipes, change into dry camp clothes, FOOD, prepare food for next day, relax and check route for next day, MORE FOOD, sleep. On day 6/7 I had less time in the evening so that got truncated.
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Fantastic report and logistical tips Doug. I was really curious about the âadminâ that you had to take care of.
BTW, theer is a clip on YT of the presentation but itâs 46 mins long. Have you seen it, do you know at which point in it you are?
Well done again champ. 
Iâm on about 15mins in
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How long until Endure 24 @FatPom ?
Starts 2 weeks yesterday, finishes two weeks today. June 18th midday.
I was meant to do 100km last week and only hit 80km. Iâm in the horrible ânot quite taper but canât be arsedâ zone.
Not helped by some crazy deadlines at work, two trips to Newport required and a presentation to deliver there on the same day I have to pick up the motorhome. Also have a another gum appt on Tues and I have another tooth playing up.
Feeling a bit stressed 
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Should be in Winchester repacking my kit for SDW100 tomorrow- instead havenât run for almost 3 weeks and going stir crazy due to stupid back/sciatica/hamstrung thing
I really am a grumpy b@%tard if I canât do any exercise
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I hope it gets better mate. I hadnât realised SDW was tomorrow. Was that a year ago already? wow.
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Yeh - not as hot as last year this weekend
Should be much better conditions
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Meanwhile âŚ
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Yep, I totally understand how youâre feeling @tunster. I hope your back heals soon.
Ha, my family just agreed with you too, Iâm apparently unbearable when I donât do sport!!
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