Wednesday 5th October 2022
Today we are moving on from the studio flat in Kilchoan and so we will have a lot of driving which I hate.
We drove to Roshven and left the hired Kia there and returned to Acharacle and parked the Subaru opposite the church and then set off. The heavy overnight rain had almost stopped but we still needed full waterproofs. We set off along the main road and over Shiel Bridge (this is a different Shiel Bridge from the one near Kyle of Lochalsh where will be in a few day’s time.)
We took the Doirlinn Lane that leads in the direction of Casteal Tioram. There is a track that then follows close to the River Shiel which was very much in spate after all the rain and was flooding some low-lying land.
There are some cottages by a small jetty; this settlement seems to lack a name on the map but perhaps is Doirlinn.
The track is probably the old road. It meets the newer road at public carpark and here commences the path that becomes the Silver Walk, so-named because a hoard of silver Elizabethan coins was found during construction of the path in the 19th century.
The route was extensively engineered in Victorian times to make a path but it all seems remarkably natural. The first part is a stroll past the tidal causeway to Casteal Tioram giving excellent views of the castle. We must visit it next time we pass this way (how many times have I said that?) We had to navigate our way across a short stretch of flooded ground before picking up the loch-side path.
All of a sudden the path becomes quite tricky, clinging to the edge of the loch with lots of rocky sections to clamber up and down and a number of trees to get over or under.
One thing is certain; it is not a fast walk. In a couple of places the path dips down to the shore and would not be passable at high tide. We had no difficulty following the path most of the way because there is no alternative other than two side paths which head inland.
For a path that had obviously taken a huge amount of work to originally construct, we thought it was a shame that it did not apparently get even an annual maintenance walk-through by someone with a bow saw who could clear a passageway through the fallen timber – much of which had obviously been across the path for a long time.
One of the side paths is actually the continuation of the Silver Walk but we were leaving the Silver Walk at this point and continuing on a path that connected to the A861 at Ardmolich. The path came to a deer fence and a sign warning of forestry activity. We followed down to left close to the water’s edge, others may have gone over the fence because it was partly pulled down.
We followed the route to the left and shortly afterwards there was a ladder stile over the deer fence. I had a look at it and there did not seem to be much of a path on the other side so we carried on along the very squelchy foreshore.
We stuck with the loch side path which more of an estuary. We spotted some orange topped sticks which appeared to indicate a route though there was no path to see on the ground.
After some rather damp walking the path crossed the burn flowing down the estuary and then crossed some very water-logged pasture to reach the road where there was a “notice of diversion” sign. So we did correctly follow the diversion. It had taken us the better part of three hours to do four miles.
Now we just had a road walk of 6 ½ miles to get back to the car. I was keen we should not be too slow because once at the car we had to drive back to Acharacle to collect the Subaru and then drive to Mallaig (pronounced Mallig) to our B&B. We needed a quick lunch stop and conveniently we were at the memorial to the Seven Men of Moidart and so we perched on a low stone wall and had coffee and the remains of our sandwiches. The Seven Men of Moidart were were co-conspirators who landed at Kinlochmoidart with Charles Edward Stuart in his attempt to reclaim the throne of Britain and Ireland. As we sat there, a car pulled up alongside and the lady driving it asked if we were in need of a lift. We said no, we were just taking a break but thanked her for such an unexpected and kind offer.
Walking on a bit further and our eyes were drawn to a disturbance in the water and sure enough there was an otter. It made several dives whilst we were watching but it may have spotted us because the last dive was a long dive and it did not surface anywhere near us and so we moved on.
At the end of Loch Moidart the road turns to the north and climbs through Bealach Carach to Glen Uig.
This was all familiar to us from our cycle this in 2009. The Glen Big shop looked largely unchanged though it has lost its Post Office facility.
We made quite good time and arrived at the car at 16:30. We left the Kia at Arisaig, the end of tomorrow’s walk and we arrived in Mallaig at 18:00. We are staying at The Moorings guesthouse which will suit us very well.
Just Coasting 