Day 231 – Glengalmadale to Lochaline 18.5 miles 1224’ of ascent

Tuesday 6th September 2022

We are staying at one of the Old Fire Station apartments in Lochaline and it is very comfortable. I slept well – until some external alarm went off then lights were flashing. It seems that there had been a very short power cut. I was up at 6:10 as is my way and made us each a mug of tea which was just as well because a few moments later the power went off again and showed no signs or returning. Indeed it did not return until about 3pm. So there was no toast for breakfast and no hot coffee for the flasks.

We drove back to Glengalmadale and parked the car then started to walk back the way we had just driven. The settlement has half a dozen houses and a nice looking church. Probably half the houses are let for holidays.

The road winds around Loch a Choire to start a climb up the glen. Kingairloch is the estate that owns everything around here. There is a very corporate looking sign post with neat metal arms indicating the direction for all the holiday cottages they let. There is probably more money in tourism than anything else.

We followed up the road as it climbed steadily. I think 2 cyclists came past and perhaps a couple of cars and a delivery van but for 6 miles and two hours that is not a lot.

The scenery changed very slowly and the tarmac was extremely dull. We didn’t see any wildlife either. At the top of the climb is Loch Uisge (pronounced any way you like). There is a 1920s-looking bungalow, though with 1980s double glazed windows, standing derelict. In front is a much older-looking cow byre. Jill went inside and I followed – it really felt as if one day someone had let out the cows and then left and never returned.

Eventually the B8043 meets the A884 and this was a highlight of the walk. (We were rather short on highlights so far). We continued along the road, moving out of the way of cars and lorries when necessary. Walking tarmac across open moorland, we both agreed, was exceedingly boring; I could have slept on my feet. Jill reprised her times tables.

I was beginning to wish we had tried the coast route via Glensanda; that route follows an old path along the coast to the bay at Glensanda. The last person I know of to go that way said it was extremely difficult getting along the coast path which was overgrown with bracken and other vegetation and when they resorted to to the rocky foreshore that was difficult too. At Glensanda there is the largest granite quarry in Europe and it is entirely serviced by sea hence causing no local disturbance at all. From there, there is a path that climbs out over the hills and eventually comes to Ardtornish. The guy who went through before made use of a bothy up in the hills. It would have been a twelve or thirteen mile tough walk and so we had decided against it. Apart from the difficult terrain, it may well have been the right decision anyway because, as we were walking on the main road some 10km from the quarry, we heard a huge explosion so I assume they were blasting rock and I suspect we would not have been allowed through.

We perched on a couple of rocks by the side of the road for our sans-coffee break. We drank some water and ate our flapjack and apples.

After our break it was more of the same.

When we had only another 3½ miles to go, we came to where the old road goes off and there was an opportunity to get off the tarmac. We were now walking alongside the River Aline.

We also found somewhere to perch and have our lunch.

Things began to look up. We were following down the side of the river, we passed Kinlochaline Castle though it is so well screened by trees we could only see the top of it.

The track continues along side Loch Aline which had a number of smart boats at anchor.

Then we came to Lochaline Mine which was by far the most interesting thing of the day.

The deposit of cretaceous sandstone was discovered in 1895 and in 1923 it was analysed and found to be one of the purest deposits of white sand in the world. It is much-valued for the manufacture of high quality optical glass. However, the remoteness of the deposit meant it was not commercially viable to extract it until WWII when other sources were unavailable and high quality optical glass was in high demand for periscopes, binoculars and all manner of optical equipment. The mine closed in 2008 but was reopened 2011 by the Lochaline Quartz Sand Ltd.

It is almost unbelievable just how white the heaps of sand are. It gets passed along a conveyor to be shipped out. It was all very interesting and made the day seem a bit more worthwhile. As we passed the old mine entrance, which is sealed off with a huge grid, the draught of cool air was remarkable. In a few minutes we were in Lochaline and at our holiday flat.

All that was left to do was to collect the car from Glenglamadale.