Friday 5th August 2022
Today is the last day of this session and we have an almost circular walk with only a couple of miles between the beginning and end. Then we head back to Cumbria for a night on our way back to Yorkshire.
We left the bike padlocked to the railings by the canal bridge at Bellanoch and drove to the car park at Barnluasgan. The uppermost peninsula of Knapdale that we are walking around today splits at Tayvallich and two fingers project southward. There is a road going down each finger some distance but there is no alternative way back and so they cannot be walked around in any meaningful way. Sometimes I think it would be interesting to walk down some of the peninsulas even though we would have to return by the same route, however, we need to keep getting round the coast if we are to finish this project. At Tayvallich the peninsula is less than half a mile wide and so we will cut across there and follow tracks up the west side.
We left Barnluasgan at about 8.10 and we followed the B road to Tayvallich. It is a single track road with passing places but early in the morning there was not very much traffic and it is a dead-end road. The local authority dust-cart went past us and a little later it stopped on its return. I was amused to see the driver hop out and trot down to the loch side and take a photo of the beautiful, still Caol Scotnish. Caol means narrow or slender as indeed this narrow strip of water is. Presumably today was particularly photogenic or perhaps it was a new driver overawed by the beauty of his new round.
Caol Scotnish ends at Tayvallich harbour. Tayvallich is a popular village with a remarkable natural harbour. The overall harbour is neatly tucked into the side of the loch protecting it from the sea but almost dividing the harbour are a couple of rocky promontories and rocky islets making the inner harbour completely protected from rough seas. There were a good number of sailing craft and this helps the village support a pub/restaurant and a shop/tearoom. In addition there a number of galleries. We stopped at the tearoom and had coffee and a scone.
From Tayvallich we had a short, almost level, walk across the peninsula to Carsaig.
From here a forestry track vaguely follows the west side of the peninsula. Unfortunately being a forestry track it is for the most part hemmed in by trees and therefore views were largely absent.
As we walked I saw three highland cattle cross the track, I assumed on a cross track. They had something around their necks which were not bells and so I guess they may had been GPS trackers. When I got to the point where they had crossed there was no sign of them. There was no cross track and no evidence of damage to the vegetation. The cattle had just disappeared into the forest leaving no indication of their presence.
Above Ardnoe Point at the north end of this peninsula there is a view-point complete with two picnic benches and an information board. We were looking across to Jura and Scarba and between them is the notorious Gulf of Corryvreckan and its whirlpool, which is the third largest in the world and very dangerous. When the tide is flowing fast the roar of the whirlpool can be heard from Ardnoe Point, indeed Wikipedia records that it can be heard 10 miles away.
We paused for our lunch on the benches and enjoyed the sunshine, breeze and views. Continuing along the track for half a mile or so brought us to a path which descends steeply to the shore and then follows it into Crinan.
At Crinan Harbour we passed this wonderful chimney and I have subsequently discovered that it is a scheduled monument. It was the chimney for the pyroligneous acid works. As its name clearly indicates that was the process of distilling wood to make crude acetic acid which was used as a mordaunt in the Glasgow calico-dyeing industry.
We followed a path to the hotel and the entrance to the Crinan canal. Formerly it had two locks giving access to the sea but now one gate has been concreted leaving a berth on the canal side. The other lock is very much active. Being the height of summer there were a good number of boats going along the canal. The canal is nine miles long, has fifteen locks and seven bridges and takes a day to transit; for £13.50 for a single transit seems like very good value. It seems that these days it is only operational during the summer season.
Several years ago when I cycled from Land’s End to John O’Groats, we cycled along the Crinan Canal (towpath of course, we don’t walk on water, let alone cycle on it) from Lochgilphead to Bellanoch. Today we walked from the west end to Bellanoch and so we have pretty much traversed the entire length of the canal.
The towpath is a formal surfaced path and so it was easy going and we soon came to the swing bridge at Bellanoch which was open for a boat to pass along the canal when we arrived and so we sat on a bench and had the remains of our lunch and chatted to a female cyclist who was heading to the passenger ferry from Tayvallich to Jura.
Once we had finished our coffee, I got on my bike and headed up the hill to Barnluasgan and retrieved the car. Then we settled in for the long drive back for an overnight stop in Cumbria with Joe, Natalie (and Frank), glad to be using the time for heading home rather than sitting around in Ardrishaig and spending another night at the disappointing Grey Gull Inn.
Just Coasting 