Friday 3rd February 2023

Last evening the weather was atrocious. The wind blew and the rain lashed down on the cottage where we are staying. Then around 10pm it all went quiet. This morning, everything was calm and still. We drove to Lochcarron where we had left one car overnight and drove it to Leacanashie, four miles down the minor road that formerly served the north side of the Strome ferry; this is will be the finish of today’s walk. We then drove to Stromeferry Viewpoint where we finished yesterday to leave the other car and set off walking. (The names are a little confusing, Stromeferry is the place on the south side of Loch Carron from where the ferry to Strome on the north side used to depart. The ferry is now just a memory – well, almost).

The day was very overcast with low cloud obscuring most of the view and a light drizzle was falling. The sea however was almost mirror-like, it was so still.

We set off along the A890; there is really no alternative to this. The road and railway cling to the edge of the loch but the railway always has the lower route having been built before the road. Sometimes the road climbs up the mountainside where there is not room for it to run alongside the railway.

After Atterdale, the road and rail line go through a short “avalanche shelter”. This is just a concrete tunnel to protect the road and railway from falling stone from the cliffs above.

We walked through the tunnel along the narrow footway which vehicles also use to enable vehicles to pass each other because the tunnel is quite narrow. There had been a lot of water in the tunnel when we drove through it in the storm yesterday morning but at least it was simply muddy today. Jill had a red flashing light clipped to the back of her rucksack which we hoped would be seen by the vehicles entering the tunnel in time for them to slow down a little as they passed. Fortunately the gritting lorry was not spreading at the time.

Indeed much of the cliffs around which the road winds its way are covered in steel mesh to stop rock falls on the road.

In December 2011 the road was completely closed by a big rock fall and local people had to drive 130 miles to get around the blockage. The Strome ferry was temporarily reinstated  once a suitable vessel was sourced – the Glenelg Heritage ferry – and a passenger boat was used to ferry schoolchildren across. The route remains very prone to rock falls which have occasionally closed the road in subsequent years.

A little further on, we came to the Carron Restaurant which was open and serving coffee as well as lunches and dinner. At just after 11am it was the perfect coffee stop. We had a long chat to the staff there who were interested in our walk and when we explained we had brought two cars because of the lack of public transport, they laughed and said “What’s public transport?” We were interested to hear about local life – and some lovely tales about life out on Benebecula in the Western Isles where the lady once lived.

The drizzle continued after our break. We walked across the level crossing at Strathcarron and then turned left onto the A896 and into Lochcarron. There is a golf club on the outskirts of the village with a car park outside where we met a Highland Ranger who was about to set off to check out some local “Core Paths”. Gregor is one of three full-time rangers for the Highland region though there are additional seasonal rangers in the summer months. We had an enjoyable chat, discussing paths and wild camping and the problems with the NC500. At this time of the year we meet so few people that a chance encounter and conversation with a professional was a great pleasure.

We bought a newspaper in Lochcarron and then sat on a bench to eat our sandwiches looking over the loch.

After lunch we moved on with only about five miles to go. We turned onto the road to Strome. Once this road would have been quite busy with regular traffic from the ferry. According to the OS maps there was a North Strome and a Mid Strome and so I imagine the village was much more significant once upon a time. A breeze had got up and at long last the mist and cloud was swept away and views opened up.

On the way we called in to the Carron Weavers shop which has some wonderful goods and Jill decided we would call back in with the car so she could get a big bag of woollen fabric scraps for rug making.

Shortly after that, the highlight of my day was when a chunky dog otter ran across the road just a short way ahead of me. I tried to alert Jill but the otter quickly disappeared into the vegetation and, as she was some distance behind me, Jill missed it.

Then, with only a mile to go, it started to rain and so we hurried on back to the  car and got there, just a little damp.

We got back to the Carron Weavers shop before they shut then drove on back to the viewpoint at Stromeferry.

Thursday 2nd February 2023

For better or worse we decided that we wanted to get walking again as soon as possible this year. We had decided that, in December and January, the hours of daylight in north Scotland were just too limited to be worth making the trip. By the beginning of February, sunrise at this location is about 8.20 and sunset is 16.53. On that basis we can get a decent day’s walk in and since we have a lot of road walking we will not be doing anything risky.  Jill has been looking at the various weather forecasting sites and decided that the beginning of February would be relatively warm – well, single digit temperatures but all positive, and so a very low risk of snow and ice. This is important because we will have a lot of driving to do including using the Bealach na Ba road across to Applecross which is notoriously tough and impassable with any snow or ice.

Since booking the cottage in Shieldaig, the weather has changed a bit in that a storm with 70-80mph winds blew through 24 hours ago; we just missed it as we drove up yesterday. Unfortunately the wind was to be followed by very heavy rain.

Last night we listened to the rain lashing down and when we got up at 6.15 it was just as bad. We had breakfast and we were ready to leave the cottage at 7.45 when it was still pitch black. We have brought two cars with us because we just cannot rely on buses and taxis as they are very few and far between in this part of the world. It will mean a lot of driving as we perform the two-car-shuffle.

Driving along unfamiliar, winding roads with passing places in the dark with the storm still raging, streams running across the road, floods hiding the road and potholes hidden under puddles was quite challenging. At one point we had to drive through waterfall cascading down the vertical rock-face beside the road. Eventually we reached the viewpoint above Stromeferry where we will finish our walk and left one car there and then continued on to Kyle of Lochalsh.

When we set off from Kyle of Lochalsh and it was still raining quite hard.

Our intended route out of the town along a path was flooded but fortunately staying on the road only involved a short diversion. We followed the road which runs along the coast to Erbusaig.

Here there is a path to Potnacloich but it does not appear to continue around the coast to Drumbuie. In good, dry weather I might have risked trying it but in these conditions going cross country would not be wise.

From Drumbuie there is coast path around Cnoc Mor a little peninsula and so we followed this which was a change from the road but it was very wet.

This brought us to Duirinish Station where we sheltered in the waiting shelter on the platform for a few minutes.

The road then continues to Plockton where unfortunately nowhere was open. We have been to Plockton two or three times before and in the sunshine it looks wonderful, complete with some subtropical plants which survive there warmed by a branch of the Gulf Stream.

Today in the rain we did not dally here but continued along the coast path toward Duncraig Castle. The path runs alongside the railway.

There is a good path but, with my head down and the path running with water, I missed the turning off to the left that would have taken us closer to Duncraig Castle and so we came up to the road slightly sooner than intended.

The last few miles was along the road was a bit tedious and, having not had a proper rest since starting off over ten miles before, we were feeling a bit weary. However, as the rain had eased off a little, we were keen to get to the end of the walk before the next deluge. The rain got going again just before we got to the car. 

The rain and wind continued all the way as we drove back to Shieldaig.

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