Latest news with #CapeWrathTrail
Daily Record
11-06-2025
- Daily Record
Cowie handyman takes on gruelling cross-country trails trek for kids charity
Darren McKenna-Cullen is walking the traditional John o'Groats to Land's End route with the added challenge of navigating trail routes all the way down, sharing the importance of the outdoors on mental health. A Cowie handyman is using a gruelling cross-country fundraiser to help fight back from the most tragic of family heartbreak. Darren McKenna-Cullen is taking on the challenge of walking from John o'Groats to Land's End - but in an added twist, he is only making use of multiple long-distance trails across the length and breadth of the UK. The trek - which will see Darren take on more than 2000 miles of various terrain - is being completed for the Make-a-Wish Foundation, a charity which grants life-changing wishes for children facing critical illnesses. But fuelling him as much as the desire to help those less fortunate is battling his internal demons following the deaths of his father and sister within a year of each other in 2020 and 2021. Darren, 40, spoke to the Observer on day 59 of his epic trek at a spot near Welshpool. He said: 'I struggle with anxiety and depression atfer what happened and I work with a therapist who reminded him to find themselves that help ground me and that's where I realised it comes naturally for me to be outdoors. 'I did my first walk about three years ago for the mental health charity Mind and it was taking on the West Highland Way, Cape Wrath Trail and the Rob Roy Walk. 'I always had it in my head to do this walk across the country but I couldn't really fund it. 'When I decided to do, I wanted it to be a bit more unique and not the same way as everyone else so I'm going to be doing 12 complete trails along the way, as well as bits of some others. 'Even when I get to Land's End, that isn't really the end because I'll still have the South Coast Trail to finish!' After struggling with the impact of that twin tragedy, Darren discovered the restorative power of the outdoors - and has also hailed the support he has received from documenting his journey on his social media channels. Darren continued: 'In the run up to this one, I wasn't really sleeping or eating much, but when I got up there a day early, I managed to see the Northern Lights, said farewell the next day and I've slept and ate better than I ever have. 'That's a message I'd love to get out there from doing this - to convince people to get out at least a day a week and experience the outdoors because it can be such a good healer. 'A lot of people have been sending me lovely messages of support and we're just trying to reach more people with the fundraising in order to get to our target of £3,000 for the charity which would be amazing.'
Daily Mail
02-06-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Body found in water in search for missing hiker, 65, who vanished on 'Britain's toughest walk' in the Scottish Highlands
A body has been found in the search for a hiker who disappeared while on 'Britain's toughest walk' in the Scottish Highlands. Bernard Trottet, 65, disappeared while traversing across the Cape Wrath path. He was last seen in Corryhully Bothy in Glenfinnan on Tuesday May 27. Scottish cops said the Swiss hiker was planning to walk north to Kinloch Hourn before heading to a campsite in the Morvich area, but he failed to arrive. Following a multi-day search, the force later said a body was found in the water in the Kinloch Hourn area just before 1pm on Monday. Police Scotland said: 'Formal identification has yet to take place, however, the family of Bernard Trottet, who was reported missing in the area, has been informed.' It added that it did not believe there were any suspicious circumstances surrounding the disappearance, and that a report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal, Scotland's public prosecution service. The Cape Wrath Trail is a 200-mile route the cuts through the Scottish Highlands and the West Coast of Scotland. It is considered one of the the toughest long distance walks in the UK. The difficulty of the route lies in it being completely unmarked, and running through extremely wild and rugged terrain. The trail is unlike other, prepared and marked routes that walkers can follow with ease. Instead, many parts of the route are pathless, meaning that a high level of navigational skill is required to attempt it. On top of this, there are also several unbridged river crossings that can be dangerous in the wrong circumstances.
Sky News
02-06-2025
- General
- Sky News
Bernard Trottet: Body found in search for Swiss hiker missing in Scottish Highlands
A body has been found in the search for a Swiss hiker missing in the Scottish Highlands. Bernard Trottet, 65, disappeared while walking the Cape Wrath Trail. He was last known to be at Corryhully Bothy in Glenfinnan on Tuesday 27 May. Police Scotland said he was planning to walk north to Kinloch Hourn and then on to a campsite in the Morvich area but failed to arrive. The force said a body was found in the water in the Kinlock Hourn area around 12.55pm on Monday. It said: "Formal identification has yet to take place, however, the family of Bernard Trottet, who was reported missing in the area, has been informed." There are not believed to be any suspicious circumstances and a report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal, police added. The Cape Wrath Trail is a hiking route that runs around 200 miles through the Scottish Highlands and the west coast of Scotland. It is considered one of the most challenging long-distance walks in the UK. Police have been searching for Mr Trottet, with assistance from air support and mountain rescue teams.
The Guardian
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The North review – old friends' trek through the Highlands might be the ultimate hiking film
Shot on Scotland's West Highland Way and Cape Wrath Trail and telling the story of two friends who walk those 600km, Bart Schrijver's majestic second feature is perhaps the ultimate hiking film. Measuredly paced to let us fully sink into the experience, it understands the rhythms and mental accommodations of long-distance walking; even in its awareness of how its pair of protagonists position themselves on the trail and when they rest, it acknowledges the need for solitude and locating inner truths that often drives these undertakings. Its revelations and epiphanies arise at their own pace, never forced. Lapsed buddies Chris (Bart Harder) and Lluis (Carles Pulido) are reconnecting, backpacks in tow, after 10 years apart. Dutch and Latino respectively, life has taken them in different directions. Chris, judging by the office calls he frequently fends off, is a hectic modern professional, whose next project is kids with his girlfriend. Lluis, on the other hand, doesn't want them and is, in fact, not sure what he wants; he has ditched his job shooting wedding videos and is now looking to find his creativity. Despite the catch-up time, their basic outdoor stances hint at a more profound divergence: Chris lapping up each new vista, Lluis masochistically trudging on. After 2022's Arctic trek Human Nature, Schrijver is well into his directorial stride. Chris and Lluis often appear as minute figures traversing valleys and crags, and – putting human drama into perspective – what we learn about their lives is measured out in sips of spare, allusive dialogue. The director also resists dealing in too much pathetic fallacy; this foreboding landscape is indifferent to the characters' feelings. Big disclosures – about Lluis's health, or a beach breakdown that hints that Chris isn't as stable as he appears – arrive as suddenly as a wild panorama over a hillcrest. Nor is it certain these moments are transformative in the manner of mainstream drama; there and gone as suddenly as the girl walker who likes screaming into the void, they don't necessarily mean more than anything else in nature. Perhaps the film's innate trajectory means Schrijver doesn't strive as hard as he might in search of a structure. But The North has a kind of purifying and uplifting effect that builds as the hikers approach their destination; a reminder for those interested in cinema going the distance, how the medium – in its commitment, immersion and focus – reaches altitudes TV can't touch. The North is on from 31 May.
