Friday 7th October 2022
Today’s walk should be fairly simple and being short will provide us with a rest afternoon before we go to Knoydart tomorrow.
From Arisaig we walked along the track towards Keppoch House but turned off before the house onto a track that heads north to join the B8008 near Achraig. There is a footpath marked on the map continuing past Keppoch House; it curves round Keppoch to the end of the road at Gortenachullish and then through Back of Keppoch to join the B8008 a little further up. We had read other coast walkers’ reports of having considerable difficulty following this path across difficult terrain so, as the ground was so waterlogged and with more rain forecast, we felt it was better to stay on a more certain route.
At least for today’s walk we were off the A road for most of the time and following the old road which winds its way along the sea shore. It is a route we cycled in 2009 on our LEJOG trip. The weather was dry – just, but the the skies were very threatening and so quite soon as the rain started we went for our waterproofs and a few minutes later the rain stopped. It was not particularly warm and so we just left our over-trousers on.
The shore is a mixture of rocky outcrops and silver sand with a back drop of the Isles of Eigg and Rhum, it would all look spectacular if only the sun was out. However, when we cycled this way it was in glorious sunshine and so we know how beautiful it is.
Jill made use of the public loos and whilst waiting for her I noticed this sign. The final line in bold print was, I felt, ambiguous. Are they encouraging the burying of excrement to prevent pollution or are they suggesting that the burying of excrement causes pollution? Jill rejoined me, smiling – she said it was the first time she had used a loo positioned over a large pipe above a stream; a bit draughty round the Urals but saved having to flush! Mind you, the unisex cubicle still provided a urinal for the men who presumably couldn’t be trusted to aim straight.
We stopped for coffee at the Silver Sands of Morar. Jill immediately recognised it as somewhere we had stopped on our cycle ride – I hadn’t even remembered coming this way! She insisted on sitting on a rock and getting me to take an almost identical photo to one we took in 2019. When we put the photos online at the time, my sister spotted that, remarkably, the same boat was anchored on its mooring. (The 2009 phone camera left a lot to be desired.)
The old road crosses the main A830 to cross the river on an older bridge right next to the rail bridge. The River Morar was very full and the falls there were impressive.
From there the old road joins the main A830 and we walked the cycle/footpath into Mallaig to be there in time for lunch.
The weather has been intermittently very wet and windy. Tomorrow we are due to get the ferry to Inverie for our exploration of Knoydart. The website for Western Isle Cruises has a big red banner warning of possible disruption but has no specific information. The weather forecast for tomorrow is quite good and so we see no reason why the ferry should not sail; but what do we know?
We are more worried about Sunday when once again we are booked on a different ferry but the weather for Sunday is genuinely terrible with heavy rain a certainty and and winds gusting 50+MPH and so we are looking at “Plan B”.
Just Coasting 