Tuesday 30th August 2022
We stayed at our cottage in Cumbria last night and drove to Bellanoch this morning. We are trying new logistics this time. The buses were really not going to work out very well (if at all) and so we have brought two cars with us rather than a car and a bike; Jill was concerned that the distances and hills involved for me to cycle back to the car at the end of some of the walks would be too demanding and take too long. Using two cars is a bit profligate in these days of inflation and high fuel prices but we are in the fortunate position of being able to do so and, for this part of Scotland’s west coast, needs must.
We drove to Kilmartin, left one car there then headed back to Bellanoch where we squeezed into the last parking space by the canal bridge and headed off at about 2pm with about six miles to walk. The first couple of miles was across the salt marshes which form a large area at the head of Loch Crinan. On the far side we followed the road to Duntrune Castle but turned off by the lodge. Some walkers have gone on past the castle and forged their own path above Loch Craignish but we are not quite up for that level of adventure.
We followed a slightly overgrown path past an old fort that was completely obscured by trees. Just as I was mentioning to Jill that there was a chambered cairn somewhere hereabouts, we came into a field and there it was right ahead of us. We had a look around and I remarked how nice it was to see the burial site with no railings, information boards or tourists. We had a good nose around and moved on.
A mile or two further and I said we would pass another chambered cairn and a stone circle. These were grander affairs and had all the trappings of an historic monument including a minibus of tourists parking in front of the “No Parking” sign and disgorging a number of middle-aged and elder folk, too lazy to walk from the official car park that we had used to eat our lunch.
The afternoon turned out to be tour de force of prehistoric monuments because, after that, there were at least three other chambered cairns on our route. I never cease to be amazed by the activity of these stone-age folk and cannot get my head around how apparently slowly their civilisation developed.
We came into Kilmartin just too late to get a cup of tea at Lucy’s Cabin and so we headed back to pick up the other car and then ferried it up to Kilmelford, the end of tomorrow’s walk and drove back to our B&B in Lochgilphead.
Just Coasting 