Inverie in the Knoydart Peninsula is home to the Old Forge, which according to the Guinness book of Records is Mainland Britain’s remotest pub. Inverie is the only village on the peninsula having an adult population of around one hundred. Until recently there was no TV reception and mobile phone reception is doubtful. The village consists smattering of houses, a post office, a school, and a variety of accommodation for visitors, including B&B’s, Bunkhouses and other self-catering accommodation. The Old Forge Inn is Knoydart's only pub so a pub-crawl really isn’t going to take very long. However, getting there will!

Sandwiched between Loch Hourn and Loch Nevis Knoydart is harsh and isolated, it is also known to as Britain’s Last Wilderness. It is home to two Munros, Ladhar Bheinn (1020 m) and Sgurr na Cìche (1040 m). There are no roads in or out, the only practical way to access Inverie is by a passenger ferry from Mallaig or a sixteen-mile walk through fairly rough terrain. The most popular route for visitors is the Mallaig to Inverie ferry that does two sailings a day on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, in high season it also sails Tuesday and Thursday.

My initial plan was to park the cars and walk or cycle in taking one route and return to the cars taking another. However, because there are absolutely no roads to Inverie and some of the Mountains are practically impassable it has proven difficult to plan a circular route and as for cycling and many of the paths may be impassable. At most I’m looking at this as a long weekend so I needed to take into account the restrictions of time, covering as much of the peninsula as feasible and returning to the cars. The journey from Sunderland to Fort William alone will take around 5 hours meaning could lose a day just travelling if things aren’t planned correctly.

After some investigation I see this as being a trip of 3 or 4 days possibly staring on a Thursday, possibly 23rd April (Sunderland are away to West Brom that weekend). I have tried to plan so we are carrying just the essentials and sleeping in relevant comfort while the heart of the wilderness.

Day 1: Leave Sunderland at 7:00 – 7:30am and drive to Fort William and stop for lunch before we take a leisurely 51 mile drive that includes 21 miles up the longest dead end road in the UK to Kinloch Hourn. We should aim to arrive at the car park at Kinloch Hourn for around 1 to 2pm then we park up the cars and take a 6 mile (approx) walk along the banks of Loch Hourn to Barrisdale, the route looks fairly easy so we should arrive well before sunset (around 8 to 8:30pm in April), say 3 to 4 hours maximum.

At Barrisdale there is a bothy and campsite and other accommodation. The White house (Bunk House) which can be pre booked and is available weekdays for £70 for up to 7 people and £95 for up to 12 people say £15 each depending upon numbers. A generator provides electricity here, you need to take sleeping bags, toilet rolls and remove you own rubbish. But this stop would save us carrying tents and general camping equipment. We can carry in some food and drink for an evening meal, candles, firelighters and coal can be purchased on site.

[[mm:youtube:C7w80hSBDOk|Knoydart Intro]]

Day 2: Have some breakfast then leave Barrisdale to walk 8 miles (approx) to Inverie; we have a steep climb of 450 mtrs at Mam Barrisdale then down to banks of Loch an Dubh-Lochain and follow the river to Inverie to Enjoy a pint and a late lunch at Britain’s most remote pub The Old Forge.

The accommodation I favour in Inverie is The Gatherings @ £45 per person per night. Other Accommodation includes the bunkhouse www.theoldbyreknoydart.com @ £25 per person or there is other very basic bunk house. While the Gatherings seems more expensive it does include breakfast and a packed lunch, that will save us carrying additional provisions… oh and it looks really comfortable too.

Day 3 (Optional), Stay a second night at the accommodation, rent bikes and tour more of Knoydart or wander to Loch Nevis then to the pub.

Last Day: Charter a morning boat from www.seaknoydart.co.uk/ to £225 approx take us on a 22 mile trip up the Sound of Sleat then into to Loch Hourn, Skiary, pausing to view the marine wild life. Then take a short walk back to the cars to travel home.

2 Nights: Based on 6 people this would cost around £95 each plus Petrol, food and Beer.
3 Nights: Based on 6 people this would cost around £140 each plus Petrol, food and Beer.

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