Saturday 1st October 2022
We started the day with a drive back to Strontian. I filled up with fuel and Jill got some food and a paper in the shop. We started walking at 9.30. It was difficult to decide whether to put waterproof trousers on. We decided against but twenty minutes later we paused under a tree whilst we put them on.
It was just a road walk today. Though there were a few cars, it was pretty quiet. Showers came and went as we progressed along Loch Sunart spotting the little settlements and big houses on the far side that we had walked past on the last day of our last walking session.
We managed to time a coffee stop at a Forestry picnic table just when the sun came through; it was a pleasant break. Just a few minutes after we had finished another sharp shower doused us.
Generally we had a good views across Loch Sunart in between the trees. We passed a man putting up a forestry fence singled-handedly. Well, he did have his very friendly, spaniel puppy with him.
At Salen we called in to the Jetty Stores for some more provisions which we could easily carry with us back to the car. It is a nice little shop and it also serves coffee.
Jill had noticed another picnic table west of Salen when we drove to the start of the walk and it proved to be in just the right place for our lunch break; we sat in the October sun enjoying the view over the loch.
Lunch done and we had a couple of hours to the end of the walk. The walk was really quite enjoyable with mature Caledonian forest bordering the loch even if there were forestry plantations higher up.
We arrived back at car by 15.50 and were looking forward to a leisurely drive back to collect the Subaru. Unfortunately the Volvo would not start; it would not start for Jill and neither would it start for me. There was nothing I could do and so it was a job for the RAC. Of course there was no phone signal. In the end I went to a cottage where some French holiday-makers were unloading their things from a people carrier. I asked if their holiday cottage had WiFi and they said it did (have “wee fee”) and were happy for me to log in and call the RAC. The call was answered by an automated message which said I had to log my breakdown on-line. I managed to do that and received a standard text to say they would get to us – in four hours.
I returned to Jill who had managed to find a spot just along from the car where she had enough signal to message our daughter, Emily, to let her know our predicament and use What3words to get a precise location for the car in case that proved useful. We decided to flag down the next vehicle and ask for a lift for Jill back to the Subaru at Strontian while I would wait for the RAC. At least that way we would have some transport. The first vehicle was a camper van with kayaks strapped to the roof and four folk inside who not much younger than us and were happy to help. They offered Jill the only available seat, perched on the kit box in the back which she gratefully accepted.
Fortunately the RAC contract out their breakdowns in the Highlands and a local garage in Acharacle rang to say they would be with me in half an hour. As seems to be the case these days, there was very little he could do at the roadside. The diagnostics computer showed no error codes but when he disconnected one of the fuel injectors there was no fuel getting through. He suspected a faulty fuel pump but said his garage wouldn’t be able to fix it for about 3 weeks. So I emptied all the things we needed from the car into a bag (fortunately there was not much having been left there overnight) and he then loaded the car onto his truck. I will arrange for it to be recovered to Carlisle Volvo where it has previously been serviced.
I rode in the cab with him until we met Jill coming the other way when I “jumped ship” and Jill and I drove back to Kilchoan with heavy hearts wondering what we could do. It was late on Saturday afternoon.
Back at Kilchoan, Jill started looking online for potential car hire and found that Loch Shiel garage who collected the Volvo had hire cars. I rang the pick-up truck driver to enquire but he said they were all booked for next week. Tomorrow being Sunday did not bode well for getting a replacement set of wheels.
Jill felt that we should pursue all possible options to enable us to continue the walk given we had accommodation and ferry trips booked ahead and if we abandoned the walk now, we might not get chance to try again until the spring when the weather this far north might still make things difficult over the remote peninsulas. A hire car seemed the best solution so she continued searching online and found a car-hire firm in Fort William which allowed online booking. We made a booking for picking up a car first thing Monday morning and got our check code from the DVLA then awaited a booking confirmation. It would mean a very early start (leaving at 6am) to get to and from Fort William, leave a car at Fascadale, then walk the 17 miles from Kilchoan. To make life more difficult, another low was moving in and heavy rain was forecast from late morning all afternoon and the final few miles of the walk were on an indistinct path across boggy ground. We needed to finish before the light failed.
Just Coasting 