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Cape Wrath Trail kit and preparation

As I write I have just finished packing my Cape Wrath Trail kit – a full five days before I hit the track. I find that the last few days before a very long hike always fill me with trepidation – there’s nothing worse than the fear I’ll be en route before realising I’ve forgotten something essential.

There are plenty of places to find good Cape Wrath Trail kit lists and I don’t plan to replicate full lists – but as other hikers prepare to set off from Fort William I thought I’d share some of my own plans and choices, with a focus on specialist kit. (Please also take a look at these blogs by Alex Roddie and Stuart Grieg (whose excellent Pennine Way guide got me through that trail last year) – packing philosophy differs from hiker to hiker and it’s as well to consider all options.)

travel photography of the Pennine Way by Andy Wasley — Back to Scotland: my final day on the Pennine Way in 2018

In April I will be hiking the Cape Wrath Trail – a 430km route in Scotland from Fort William to Cape Wrath. It has a hard-earned reputation as one of Britain’s toughest long-distance walks: wild, remote, magnificent. Perfect for an 18-day stretch of photography and writing.

I decided I wanted to walk the Cape Wrath Trail as I reached the end of the Pennine Way last year. The PW is no walk in the park: there were many days last year when I felt so beaten down by bad weather and boggy fells that I just wanted to quit. But as I sipped my pint in the Border Hotel – thank you, Mr Wainwright – I knew I’d soon crave an opportunity to recapture the intoxicating feeling that goes with crossing an unbearably remote finish line. Nothing seemed likely to live up to that need in the same way as the Cape Wrath Trail. Back in November I committed to the hike, and have been preparing ever since.

Travel photography of Svörtuloft lighthouse, Öndverðarnes, Iceland. — Svörtuloft lighthouse, Öndverðarnes, Iceland.

Hailstones lashed down from the graphite-grey sky, stinging my face; I winced as the wind whipped the storm up into a blazing fusillade of ice. Above the rattling of hail on my raincoat I heard the Atlantic exploding furiously against serrated cliffs. Then, as though a switch had been flicked, the storm was over. I uncapped my lens, fitted an ND filter, and captured one of my favourite photographs: the Svörtuloft lighthouse at Öndverðarnes, gleaming bright orange against the stormy sky.

Travel photography by Andy Wasley: Iceland plane wreck at Sólheimasandur, Iceland. — Crashed US Navy DC-3, Sólheimasandur, Iceland.

This is a story of an air crash, wild beauty, film photography and selfies. It’s my recollection of a visit to the famous Iceland plane wreck site at Sólheimasandur – and of my view on the popularity of ‘abandoned’ places and the ubiquity of the selfie.

The story behind the Iceland plane wreck might already be roughly familiar to you. In November 1973 a small US Navy DC-3 transport aircraft ran out of fuel over southern Iceland, and ditched on the pristine black sand beach at Sólheimasandur. The wreck is still there – a weather-worn, graffiti-clad monument to Iceland’s inhospitable terrain.

I visited the Iceland plane wreck in 2016 during a two-week solo tour of the country via the ring road. It was my first ‘proper’ photography expedition; I’d been seduced by countless blog posts and travel stories pitching Iceland as a pristine wilderness: a place where I might find limitless solitude amid the glaciers and snow. For much of my trip, that’s precisely what I found – but not always. And the DC-3 wreck rings in my memory as an example of what can be a dispiriting experience at the hands of people who wield selfie sticks like rapiers.

Adventure photography: 2018’s top 5 moments

2018 has been quite a year for photography: it’s taken me through the bogs and fells of the Pennine Way, to the peak of Ben Nevis, across Great Gable and to the summit of a Japanese volcano. A year-in-review article is tricky at the best of times. Narrowing 2018 down to my top five adventure photography moments has been especially challenging, so I’ve abandoned any pretence at rating my favourites: instead, they are presented here in chronological order. Here goes…

April: Cauldron Snout and High Cup Nick, England

Travel photography of Cauldron Snout waterfall (adventure photography by Andy Wasley)

Cauldron Snout, a waterfall on the River Tees alongside the Pennine Way.

The Pennine Way is so many things: gruelling, occasionally beastly, often magnificent. Certainly perfect for adventure photography – as long as the rain holds off. My walk from Middleton-in-Teesdale to Dufton was all of these things (see my route on OS Maps). Principally I remember the roughness of the ground: bare rocks litter a long path by the River Tees, practically inviting toes to be stubbed, ankles twisted and spirits broken. The traipse is worthwhile, though, because this route passes two of the Pennine Way’s most spectacular sights: hearty rewards for the weary wayfarer.Read More

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Cape Wrath Trail kit and preparation

The Cape Wrath Trail: my next adventure

Svörtuloft lighthouse, Iceland

The Iceland plane wreck – a selfie story

Adventure photography: 2018’s top 5 moments

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