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Monday 10th October 2022

We were relieved to see the skies looking much brighter this morning and although the weather forecast suggests some chance of rain, it should be nothing like we had yesterday.

We drove over to leave one car at Shiel Bridge and then returned to the Glenelg ferry Shore Station and got ready to walk. As we were about to set off two cars drove into the car park; one parked and the driver got into the other car and was driven off. That can only mean they are doing a two car shuffle and quite probably they are doing much the same walk as us but in reverse.

We set off along the track behind the Shore Station. It climbed a bit at first and then dropped down to be closer to the shore. It morphed from a track to a footpath but it was pretty easy to follow. It was pleasant walking with a fair amount of ins and outs as it roughly followed the contour a little above the shore.  There were two or three burns to cross but, despite the very heavy rain in the last 24 hours, they did not seem unduly full and posed no problem to cross. We were enjoying the view between the trees over to Skye and then further on we were looking across Loch Alsh towards Balmacara. 

Eventually the path drops down to the shore line, a mile and a half before Ardintoul and so we had a 270 degree panorama back to Kyle Rhea, across Loch Alsh and up Loch Duich.

At Ardintoul we were not going to follow the path shown on the map. Other coast walkers have tried this and generally found that there is no path and consequently have really struggled. The route we are on is part of the Lochalsh Trail. Each year there is an event for walkers and runners known as The Dirty Thirty and is 30 miles long and one section, that we will be walking today, has a reputation for being a mud bath. I had been in touch with the event organiser who had kindly emailed me the route map. This clearly shows that the course of this trail bears no relation to the footpaths shown on the OS map. No wonder people have struggled.

Ardintoul is a little settlement of about half a dozen houses. The main building Ardintoul House owned by the McRaes was destroyed by fire in 2012 and is beyond repair. A planning application was submitted in 2017 to build a new house but there is no evidence of any building work yet.

Remarkably the road leading away from the settlement had tarmac laid at some stage. It is a very steep climb away from Ardintoul. Part way up the Dirty Thirty route turns off to the left through thick bracken and a fair amount of bramble.

It descends to cross a burn, Allt na Dalach, by means of a very slippery bridge. Although Jill had only just saved herself from slipping over, I hadn’t realised just how treacherous it was until I stepped onto it myself.

Then the path climbs once more through young forestry. The path is easy to follow and it is augmented by the occasional bit of red and white plastic warning tape for the benefit of the competitors on the Dirty Thirty.

As we were climbing were were suddenly greeted by the barking of a springer spaniel which was rushing to greet us. Three humans followed not far behind and they were indeed the people we had seen at the Shore Station when we set off. We had a brief chat and I gave them some directions to make it easier for them to find the path along the beach. They said that they had found it quite challenging finding a way through all the felled timber in the forest but there were no major problems.

We continued and just a few minutes later a solo male walker appeared and we recognised him. It was Mark who we had met on our walk from Fascadale to Acharacle almost a week ago. He is just doing random walks in the area so it seemed remarkable to meet up twice. He said much the same as the other walkers had about the path ahead but thought we would find our way fairly readily so that was good to hear.

Shortly after we were faced by forestry signs warning of felling activity and telling us to follow all signposts and diversions.

The path then dived into a dark tunnel of a firebreak between tall trees and, whilst still obvious, was becoming noticeably muddier. The path continued like this for a while, the mud was never really deep enough to go over the top of boots and anyway we had gaiters on. Sometimes a way had been forged between the trees to avoid a mud-bath. All the time there were occasional red and white markers reassuring us the we were on the correct route.

Then the path descended through an area where wind had toppled a number of trees in a random fashion and blocking the path. It was possible, however to wind around and over or under fallen trunks and branches and emerge unscathed.

Then the path became more organised and emerged into an open area covered in tussocky grass and birch scrub.

The path here was narrow and easy to follow until it became a solid path as it approached the broch Caisteal Grugaig. The broch is not in a very good state of preservation and is not nearly as impressive as brochs we have seen on the Outer Hebrides.

Every so often there would be another burn to cross.

We joined the road at Totaig which is a single building. We were right opposite Eilean Donan Castle and so we had a rather different view of it from that seen by most tourists.

The walk along the road was quite simple and we had good views across Loch Duich to the Five Sisters of Kintail.

We stopped for lunch in Letterfearn and found a bench. Unfortunately that was when it started to rain though it did not persist for long. As we were sitting having lunch, there was some squawking activity from a couple of gulls which alerted us to a white-tailed eagle flying low over the loch and the gulls were mobbing it.

In Ratagan there is a “Chocolate Shop” where we thought we might enjoy a hot chocolate or other delights to eat. In fact it has moved to the main road at Shiel Bridge and anyway it is closed on Monday. We paused outside the Youth Hostel to take off our gaiters and made friends with the resident cat.

We headed on over Shiel Bridge to the A87 and followed that to where we had left the hire car at St Duhbthach’s Church.

This was a couple of miles more than we originally planned because Jill would like to walk to Kyle of Lochalsh tomorrow before we drive home. Kyle of Lochalsh seems like a better known place at which to finish our walking for this year. It also means that when we resume walking next year, we will start with something more interesting than the verge-hopping, 14 mile trudge along the A87.

We returned to our B&B in Glenelg and I had to share this photo. There is indeed an an area of Mars called Glenelg and the Mars Rover vehicle had to travel in both directions over this area and so the palindromic name Glenelg is eminently appropriate. It will be a long while before the residents of Glenelg (Earth) are making goodwill visits to their Martian twin.

Later that night we were eating in the Glenelg Inn and met up with the three walkers and spaniel we had met that morning. Despite my directions they had been unable to find their way along the shore from Ardintoul and had eventually taken the road/track from Ardintoul back to Glenelg. They had moved up from Bude only the previous week to a bespoke-built house in Ratagan so would have plenty of other opportunities to follow the path from the Glenelg Ferry as we had done.

Sunday 9th October 2022

This morning we had to drive for over three hours to get to Corran. The severe weather has meant that nearly all ferries have been cancelled. We left one car at the Glenelg Ferry Shore Station and drove on down to Corran to start our walk. We used the facilities at the excellent community centre and then set off in full waterproofs but were far from convinced we would stay completely dry.

The wind was very strong, gusting 45-50 mph and the rain was just starting and stayed heavy for the rest of the walk. We took very few photos because there was very little to see and we didn’t want the cameras to get wet even if we could have held them still enough to focus!

We walked past Arnisdale which is quite a pretty village with white houses set around the curved bay where two or three boats were bobbing up and down on their moorings.

Out of Arnisdale, the road climbs steeply and enters forestry land. Fortunately it is not particularly dense and we still had a view. Well, no, we had no views at all; we could just make out the other side of Loch Hourn initially but we soon we could not even see that.

We strode on quite fast because we needed to keep warm and there was nothing to stop for anyway. We kept an eye open for somewhere we might shelter and have a quick coffee from our flasks but the wind was whipping around everywhere. On such a horrible day the only compensation was that only about four cars passed us the whole way.

The road continues on an elevated course around the side of Beinn Mhialairigh and at the top of the pas the wind was gusting so strongly that we were being blown sideways. Having been blown over by the wind in Southport, Jill was struggling to avoid getting blown over again.

About eight miles into our walk the road descends gradually to come to the outskirts of Glenelg. Glenelg village is a strung out collection of houses some old and some new, all along the shore and set back where the road goes through to Shiel Bridge. It rather lacks the feeling of having a centre.

However, it does have a community centre which leaves its doors open so that visitors can use the loos there, which we did. We also stood in the shelter of the foyer and drank our coffee and had some snacks since it was 14.45. After that useful break we had about two miles to go. It was still raining hard and the wind was strong but not as severe as when we had been higher up. Once again we kept our heads down and walked. We could see the little white buildings on Skye and the flow of the current in Kyle Rhea looked terrifying. As at Mallaig, there was no ferry running today because of the weather.

We were delighted to get back to the car and strip off our dripping outer gear, get the heater on maximum and start driving back to retrieve the other car from Corran.

For the next two nights we are in a self-catering bungalow because Maggie Cameron was apparently fully booked in the house. We have loads of space in this three bedroomed bungalow and so all our wet gear is spread out to dry off.

We ate in the Glenelg Inn which provided a warm welcome.

Monday 12th September 2022

Today’s walk was a relatively straightforward walk out of Kinloch Hourn to bring us back into civilisation at Corran; the only complication is a river crossing. It was an interesting walk today and so we have lots of photos.

We had a good breakfast at Lochhournhead and with only the contents of our rucksacks to pack up, we were on our way quite early. We walked down to the bridge to cross the Loch Hourn river. We could see the line of our route ahead picked out by the electricity pylons.

We walked back up the other side of the river through the grounds of a nice house and onto a very steep track.

The track looks as if it had been degraded by heavy rain with most of the binding substrate washed away on the steeper sections. Although several folk told us they had not had a good summer up here, I don’t think there had been the torrential rain to cause that sort of erosion for several months so presumably the track was not used very much.

We climbed steadily, all the time aware that the steepest part was near the top.

The track then levels off and pursues a more undulating course along Cadha Mor. A path branches off which is the route taken by the Cape Wrath Trail but we continued along our path until it reached the watershed at 230 metres. The route is easy to follow because it follows the line of the electricity pylons and indeed the track is duplicated in many places where they built a trackway for installing the pylons and now provides access for maintenance.

Although it was not especially cold, the drizzle became light rain and we still had far enough to go that we couldn’t really allow ourselves to get soaked through. So we stopped to don jackets and put our rucksack covers on. Shortly after that, we rounded the mountain on our left and could see Loch Hourn stretching away past Barrisdale Bay and on round the corner towards our destination at Corran.

There were half a dozen ducks on Lochan Torr a Choit though I could not identify the species.

Now the path descended gradually to join the water course of Alt Coire Mhalagain draining the other side of the watershed.

As we came down to the river, I could the see the old shielings which is roughly where we needed to cross the river. There is no clearly defined ford and so you just have to select your favoured route and go for it. We looked upstream a bit but though the river was narrower it was deeper. Jill used her wonderful “Festival Wellies” which she pulls on like over-shoes and she made her way cautiously across. She had hoped to throw the wellies back to me so I could use them but the river was too wide for that.

I had my rather old Oboz boots on and gaiters. I just strode across as fast as I could. In truth I might have got across with dry feet if it were not for the fact that my boots actually have now got holes through the uppers and, of course, the Gortex lining is piss useless now (I am not convinced it ever worked). For the benefit of other walkers on this route, as we walked down the far bank of the river, I noted that the most consistently shallow and therefore best place to cross is close to the next pylon which is itself the closest pylon to the river.

Jill packed her ”Festival Wellies” away; they fold down to a very small pack and are not very heavy. At less than £12.00 they were a good buy and so long as they are just used for getting across rivers they should last well enough. They are a good alternative to wading through bare foot (or in neoprene shoes which protect feet from the sharp stones as Jill did to cross the R.Erme on the SWCP) and having to dry your feet and get socks and boots back on – or wading through fully booted and getting soaking boots and socks. Oddly, none of the walking retailers seem to sell them and Jill only found them down the back of the internet being sold for festival-goers.

We crossed two bridges with this warning sign – the wood used for the slats had some give in it even with just our weight and the sides were unsupported. You would want to try to keep your wheels on the long planks if you were crossing in a vehicle and we could see why crossing on horseback might not be a good idea.

The track now descended very gradually to Gleann Dubh Lochain which is divided into two by a narrowing point formed by glacial moraine. We were more than ready for a break by now but there had been few places to perch comfortably. Fortunately, on the second part of the lochan, beyond the little boathouse, we found a flattish rock sheltered from the wind and settled in for coffee.

Toads were out in force.

From Dubh Lochain, the river becomes River Arnisdale. Shortly after the partially-broken dam, the track crosses the river via a simple bridge, which comes complete with the disclaimer warnings, and continues on the south side of the river. The track has a steep climb and descent as the river passes through a bit of a gorge. Somewhat to our surprise, at the top of the steepest part of our descent, we met three people taking a stroll.

The final mile and a half was almost level as Glen Arnisdale opened up and we reached the sea once more at Corran. The car was there and we changed out of our walking clothes before driving to the Glenelg Ferry to retrieve the Volvo. While we had been crossing on the Glenelg ferry, the boatman had suddenly called out that there were a pair of sea eagles flying over and as Jill had her camera in her hand, she managed to get a couple of very distant photos.

I had some concerns over whether the Volvo would start. We only left it there 48 hours ago. However, having parked it there, we had walked down and onto the ferry when we could hear a distant car alarm sounding. The skipper of the ferry came over and said that the café at the car park had radioed him to say our car alarm had gone off.  The skipper said he would wait for me and I legged it back up the hill to the car. The car seemed to have all doors and windows closed and there was no apparent reason for the alarm to go off. So having relocked the car, I headed back to ferry and we spent the next two days worrying that the car alarm had been sounding every few minutes annoying the people at the café and flattening our battery. The car started first attempt.

We had intentionally kept today’s walk short. On our original plan we would had added on a few miles but, having added this onto our previous walking session, we now had to head south because I had a dental appointment the next day. Such mundaneness after a few days of wild walking!

Sunday 11th September 2022

We caught the ferry from Mallaig to Inverie arriving at 9.30. On weekdays there is a 7.00 ferry which would have given us more time for the walk which is quite strenuous and we were carrying more gear than usual.

I had great anxiety about this walk having tacked it on to the end our September walking session especially as we were now doing it on a Sunday with the much later start. I was not quite as prepared as I would have liked but we had basic safety equipment including a two-man emergency shelter. Jill had suggested we get a satellite emergency beacon but we were doing this session at short notice so I had not got round to that.

The walk takes us through Knoydart, often regarded as the last wilderness area of Scotland; Knoydart has no road access. The only village on the peninsula is Inverie which is serviced entirely by boats. There is a shop, a hotel and bunkhouse and some other accommodation. The peninsula is famed for its remoteness and inaccessibility which perversely makes it attractive to people who like to visit such remote places. We actually met more people on this walk than on some of our other recent walks and the paths we followed were well used and easy to follow. We were carrying overnight gear and staying at the only B&B on our two day walk-through. The B&B is at Kinloch Hourn which is twenty-two miles down a single track, dead-end road. It is reputed to be the longest dead-end road in the UK. The nearest shop and village is Invergarry, 27 miles away. Not surprisingly it is not the cheapest B&B we have come across, but it is good value.

There were only six of us on the ferry. We were delighted when the ferry was escorted by a dolphin.  It is amazing how fast dolphin can swim. 

We disembarked at Inverie; two of the passengers in running gear disappeared running whilst Jill, I and a German tourist set off along the road. The other person disappeared I know not where.

The German was going as far as the Brocket monument. We walked with him a short distance and had some interesting conversation. He was a regular visitor to the small isles and was visiting Inverie on his way home. He has learned that it is safer to get back to the mainland a day early rather than risk being stranded by bad weather on one of the small isles with nowhere to stay and miss a flight home.

There is a short length of tarmac road through the village but we soon turned off to follow the track into the hills.  Quite soon the Brocket Memorial came into view. Apparently the second Lord Brocket built it to the memory of his parents and family. It is said that he was a terrible landlord and was also a Nazi sympathiser. So no love lost there. The memorial is very prominent if not especially elegant.

The path climbs gently to Loch an Dubhlochain where the vehicle track ends and a possible Land Rover track continues a bit further. 

The views were opening up and we could see into the various glens leading off the Loch.  We paused for coffee and flapjack at the far end of the Loch. We had planned a schedule for this walk to make sure we got through to Kinloch Hourn well before the light would be failing and at this point we seemed to be half an hour ahead of schedule – but the serious climb was about to begin.

Our path was easy to follow but was now just a stalkers’ path. It ascended more steeply and there were a number of burns to cross. Though easily followed, the path was slippery in places and had some loose stone which meant we had to look where we were putting our feet more than at the views around us.

Mostly there were wooden bridges or stepping stone fords which made crossing quite simple.

We came to one burn where the bridge was completely missing. We knew from reading other blogs that one bridge was missing several slats and needed great care; clearly in the intervening time the bridge had disappeared completely.

I hope someone removed it before it collapsed or it got washed away in a storm and not that it collapsed beneath some unfortunate walker. Anyway since the burn was not in spate it wasn’t too difficult to get down to it and cross by means of some boulders.

Soon we came to the pass at Mam Barrisdale. (Mam, roughly means a hill) Here we had great views all around us. There was only light cloud and we had intermittent sun and we felt quite warm from all the climbing.

I had warned Jill that the path down would be steeper and more difficult especially if there was a lot of loose stone as on the earlier part of the ascent. In fact it was much easier than the ascent having a good firm base and it was generally dry.

We were down at Barrisdale by 13.15 which was well ahead of our anticipated pace. As we approached we could see quite a large solar panel installation. The settlement at Barrisdale seems to comprise a gamekeeper’s cottage and another house that was unoccupied; it was difficult to know whether it was a permanent residence or for letting.

There is “The  White House”, a detached house a few hundred yards up the river which is let as self-catering accommodation and there is “The Stables” also self-catering adjoined to the bothy.

The bothy itself charges £5 a night and has running water from a kitchen tap, a flush toilet and electricity and so, as bothies go, that is pretty good and worth £5 given how remote it is. We looked in as we passed through. There were four rucksacks in the two bunk rooms but none were unpacked and no one appeared to have claimed a bunk yet. Outside there is a camping area though there was no evidence of recent camping that I could see.

We walked on a little and found some rocks to sit on overlooking the bay, ate our sandwiches and had a good rest.

The section from Barrisdale to Kinloch Hourn is notorious for being slow even though it appears to be along the loch-side; we knew that other walkers had taken three to four hours on this section. We had notionally aimed to start this section by 2pm but accepted that if we did not start it until 3pm we would probably just be in time for supper at Lochhournhead at 7pm.

As predicted, the final six miles of the walk were arduous. Though notionally along the loch-side, the path winds left and right, up and down over a whole variety of surfaces. Jill certainly hadn’t “logged” how challenging this stretch would be, even though she recalled one of the earlier coast walkers saying he regarded it as a “Rite of Passage” for all serious hillwalkers. At no time could we establish a walking rhythm. The views over Loch Hourn were good and the afternoon remained dry and rather warm. About halfway along, we met three heavily-laden young men heading for the bothy at Barrisdale for the night. They appeared to be struggling and Jill overheard one of them quipping that no doubt the path would become just like heading down the M6 once they had rounded the next outcrop. They asked us what was ahead of them and Cliff told them that it “certainly goes up and down a bit”. We took loads of photos, for our record more than anything else but it is a fine walk.

Skiary, Runival and Barrisdale were just a few of the long list of settlements cleared by Josephine MacDonnell in 1853 – over 400 people were evicted in some of the worst acts of the Clearances; their homes were burned and the people were forced on to transport ships. It is poignant to think that what is now very much a wilderness, once supported hundreds of people only 150 years ago.

We eventually came to Kinloch Hourn a few minutes after 17.00 and so we had achieved the walk from Barrisdale in a little over three hours which matched the time taken by some of the fitter coast walkers and rather faster than many other walkers; our host at Lochhournhead referred to it being a four hour walk. (Though I must admit that Jill had been reduced to tears at one low point of fatigue.) There were three or four cars in the car park at the loch head and a couple of paddle boarders were coming into land; obviously the twenty-two mile drive does not put off visitors completely. 

We were welcomed at Lochhournhead with tea and cake and shortly afterwards a solo walker arrived for similar sustenance and asked about camping. We chatted for a while about our respective experiences. He was having an unplanned wander through the highlands whilst his wife had gone to Croatia with her sisters.

We were the only people staying that night in what is the only accommodation available, other than camping or staying in the bothy 6 miles back at Barrisdale. When I tried to book up for our trip in October, the web page had changed and when I rang, I was told that for unforeseen reasons Lochhournhead would not be open then and that this was the last week it would be open this year. We considered all the possible ways we might still be able to do the walk from Inverie through to Corran but Jill did not think she would cope on that terrain with carrying the gear necessary for either camping or the bothy so we made the decision to cross Knoydart in September instead.

We dined chatting to Tony Hind who was acting as host. Tony used to run Lochhournhead but retired about three years ago. He had returned to look after the place whilst the new proprietors, Vicky and Iain, were on holiday. Tony had experienced all sorts of walkers in his time as proprietor; he had seen several over-enthusiastic younger walkers who were just unprepared for the rigours of the trail, those who were poorly equipped and had not prepared for emergencies, a man who needed an ambulance when he fell ill and a man whose body was eventually recovered by helicopter from a nearby summit. Tony was most concerned by the walkers in their sixties and seventies who, though experienced in their younger years, sometimes failed to allow for their increasing slowness and lack of endurance as they aged. Jill laughed at that but he assured us he thought we were well-prepared and sensible. Well, I hope we had been adequately cautious.

Then Tony told us of the people who leave kit behind. As it turned out, a couple of days before, a group of Australians had gone through and left some of their travel documents there. Another walker going through had taken the documents on for them. However, when Tony was checking under a bed he found they had also left their camping stove. He asked if we might be able to take it with us since we would be going past Kintail Lodge at Shiel Bridge the next day. We were happy to oblige.

Saturday 8th October 2022

Today we are embarking on the next wild Scottish peninsula; that of Knoydart. This peninsula is functionally an island though geographically a peninsula. It has no road access and only a single village, that of Inverie. It is serviced entirely by sea. The nearest road access is at Kinloch Hourn which is at the end of a 25 mile single track road; it is then a fifteen mile walk to Inverie.

We are taking a circular route today. There is a track shown on the OS map from Inverie around the west of the Knoydart Peninsula and ending at the settlement of Airor. From there a path follows the coast as far as Inverguseran where a river needs to be forded. There is no practical way to progress further along the coast to Barrisdale and so we will then cut back across the peninsula to Inverie. Many coast walkers don’t bother with this section, I suppose because you begin and end art the same place but I am keen to see as much of Knoydart as possible and this walk will actually be a good deal closer to the coast than many we have done and provide views back to Mallaig and across to Skye.

Inverie has a regular passenger ferry service from Mallaig and it is a popular destination for walkers wanting to experience some truly remote Scotland, climbers bagging Monroes and Corbetts and people just trying to get away from it all.

We got the 8.30 ferry and were the only passengers. We were disembarking at 9.00 at which point it started raining so we used the shelter at the top of the jetty to put on our over trousers and rucksack covers. What is shown as an unfenced track on the OS map is actually a fully metalled road that roughly follows the coast to the west, ending at the tiny settlement of Airor. (A metalled road is one that has a stone surface [or concrete or asphalt]; coming from “metallum” latin for mine, quarry, and metal.) The Tarmac road is remarkably good, presumably the small number of vehicles on Knoydart means the road gets very little wear. We were a bit taken aback when the first vehicle to pass us did so at speed and without making any attempt to move over; he really came within a whisker of us. The three other vehicles that passed us today were more considerate. 

After following the coastline for a couple of miles, the road then turns inland a little and climbs steadily to pass over to the northern side of the peninsula.

To our surprise, having climbed a little, we could see across to Mallaig and emails and messages started coming in on our phones. The views were good and the walking easy.

Once over the high point of the road we could see over the Sound of Sleat to Skye and this time we were picking up a mobile signal from Skye. Knoydart is not quite so cut off as it seems at first.

On the way there are one or two tracks or paths leading to settlements right on the coast and some of these seem to offer accommodation. A couple seem to only have access by footpath and have a little parking bay where the path leaves the road.

We suddenly heard a tremendous noise as a loudly-grunting pig came rushing down the steep bank towards us. Possibly just curious or hoping for food but we were quite glad there was a wire fence to stop him getting any closer.

We descended to Airor where, according to one blog, there used to be a tiny café. There was certainly nothing like that today and there was a slightly rundown farmhouse and a variety of sheds or shacks.

At Airor the tarmac ended and we were on a good track, albeit with puddles. The track follows close to the sea and we passed a number recently-built, wooden-clad houses and other properties. How many are lived in regularly and how many are holiday lets is difficult to know. 

After Airor we came to Samaladan which again had three or four habitable buildings. Then the track ends but a definite sign directed us alongside a fence away from the last house. The path was quite boggy in places but often had a firm stone base beneath the water.

I noticed some highland cows in the field we entered and Jill spotted the bull. We approached, watching him carefully, and took a slight detour trying not to stray too far from the path because of the boggy ground. Fortunately the bull was not interested in us and apparently not that interested in the cows either and turned away to graze.

We came to a gate with quite a welcoming sign which we thoroughly approve of.

The path continued, sometimes on the stony foreshore and sometimes on the grassy bank.

Then we came to the River Guseran. I had been in touch with the Knoydart Ranger over the ease or otherwise of fording the river. If we couldn’t cross it, we would have to return by the same route making it a 16 mile walk and committing us to the 6.30pm ferry back to Mallaig as we couldn’t possibly get there for the ferry at 3pm. It is just possible to get along the nearside river bank for a couple of miles to reach a footbridge but it is tough-going over rough terrain with no proper path and probably slower than going back along the road.

The advice from the Ranger was that it was generally pretty easy but beware of very high tides and after heavy rain when it may be unsafe to cross. We have certainly seen a lot of rain in the last week but fortunately we were arriving at the river at low tide. Knowing the water would be too deep for my boots, Jill had suggested she could cross first in her Feetz wellies and use a plastic bag attached to a length of synthetic rope to let me pull them back across so I could also cross in them – I had tried them on before we left home and found I could get them over my boots. We took one look at the river and knew that idea wouldn’t work as the river was much too wide. It was also running quite fast.

We worked our way up the side of the river to where there was evidence of a ford. It was even wider hereabout; that is a good thing because usually the wider a river is, the shallower it is. I took off boots and socks and wound up my trousers. I had with me a pair of neoprene type beach shoes which I put on. Jill put on her wellies and said she would cross first.

She set off quite well but about a third of the way across slowed almost to a halt – the water was really quite deep in places and she was having difficulty finding a route that kept the water below the top of her wellies – she said it got within half and inch at times. I decided to start crossing so I was nearer to her if she slipped.

We both made it across safely. I got wet legs (obviously); Jill did not – some water had sloshed over the top of her right welly but had run down the outside of her gaiters and she stayed dry. On the far bank I dried off and rebooted and Jill put her wellies back in her pack.

When we set off again. It was 12.45 we had 5 ½ miles to go and we realised that it we hurried we could make the 3pm ferry otherwise we would have to wait until 6.30pm. The weather was due to deteriorate later and there is not much (or probably nothing) to do in Inverie for 3 ½ hours and so we decided to make a push for it.  The track was good and solid but the surface was very rough and irregular and so not the easiest of surfaces on which to try and keep up 3mph.

We walked steadily uphill for the first three and and a half miles and Jill was flagging – we had not had a break since we started from the ferry and she finds that 3-4 hours continuous walking is about her limit. We agreed to get to the top of the pass then have a very brief stop to get some energy on board. A single pick-up truck passed us. It must have come from Inerguseran because that is the only dwelling on the track.

Soon we reached the pass of Màm Uidhe and we took a very quick pause to have some coffee from our flasks and a piece of Jill’s highly restorative fruit cake. We then had not much more than a mile downhill to to Inverie. As we came into Inverie we saw a small removals van parked up. Yesterday this van was on the quay at Mallaig waiting to be loaded onto one of the small work boats which can take vehicles across to Inverie.

Western Cruises request passengers to be at the jetty 15 mins before departure and so we were aiming to be there for 14.45. As it was we arrived at about 14:35 and so we sat in the shelter until the ferry arrived and had our sandwiches and more coffee. As we waited several vehicles arrived, some were clearly bringing visitors back to the ferry at the end of their holiday. Some were probably waiting for visitors for the coming week. 

I was pleased to see that it was the old ferry “Western Isles”. It was built for the war department during WWII but never commissioned. It has been a ferry for years and is quite elegant even if it is a little slower than the newer ferry. As the ferry arrived there appeared to be a small number of passengers on the deck but once it had moored more and more passengers emerged from the the deck cabin and from the bar cabin down below and perhaps twenty or thirty passengers disembarked. Then the real fun began when a tarpaulin on the foredeck was lifted off to reveal a huge stack of luggage of various types and form.

A human chain of crew and passengers formed and suitcases, shopping bags full to overflowing, some rucksacks, a pair of walking boots, various cardboard boxes, a number of grocery delivery boxes (probably from Morrisons), two push scooters, a couple of folded dog pens and a variety of indeterminate items were eventually stacked on the jetty ready to be distributed to the various waiting people and vehicles. Talk about Paddy’s Market!

We boarded along with a dozen or so others including some young musicians brought by “The Gathering” Landrover and so I am guessing they have had some live music at that venue. “The Gathering” does promote itself as “The Premier Accommodation Venue in Knoydart”. Given the amount of competition I am not quite sure what that statement says about the place.

The sea had got up since this morning and we had quite an undulating ride back to Mallaig.

A quick note of explanation for any close observers of our walk. The next two days on our walking schedule, Days 244 and 245, we have already done. We did them at the end of our last walking session in September because of accommodation issues at Kinloch Hourn. However, it makes much more sense to read our progress in geographic rather than temporal sequence. So tomorrow, instead of going to Inverie and walking to Kinloch Hourn (Day 244), we are actually driving to Arnisdale for Day 246 of our walk. We were booked on the ferry from Mallaig over to Skye to drive up to use the Skye bridge to get back to the mainland. However, I got a text from Calmac Ferries to say that our ferry tomorrow has been cancelled so we will need a very early start to drive for three hours to Corran in heavy rain and winds gusting to over 50mph. Had we been booked on the ferry back to Inverie tomorrow for the walk across to Kinloch Hourn, we would have been completely stumped as that ferry was also cancelled; sometimes things work out for the best in the end.

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”.

Thursday 6th October 2022

We drove back to Roshven to resume walking. Roshven is not so much a place as a vague collection of houses. The sky was heavy with cloud and rain not far away; we started off with full waterproofs on. Most of today’s walk is on main roads.

We continued up the the A861 along the side of Loch Ailort. The views were good but without sun it was bit grey. The sea was reasonably active considering how far we are from open sea.

There is a salmon fish farm of the shore managed by MOWI like most of the fish farms we have passed. Fortunately the road is pretty quiet and twin track so walking was pretty easy going.  At the head of the loch there is a wide area of sand and mud which was rich in seaweed and it seems the local sheep thrive on it.

The A861 comes to a T junction with the A830. Turning right would lead to Fort William; we turned left for Mallaig (pronounced Mallig; I have been mispronouncing it for years). The A830 is only a little more busy than the A861. At Lochailort we were also joining the railway line from Fort William to Mallaig which passes over the famous Glenfinnan viaduct and has be much popularised by the Harry Potter films.

Much to our surprise as we walked along the road we heard the chuff chuff of a steam train. Frustratingly we were unable to see the railway and the only bit we saw was the plume of smoke where it entered a tunnel.

Walking along the shores of Loch nan Uamh we came to the Princes Cairn which marks the place from which Bonnie Prince Charlie departed for France following the failure of the Jacobite uprising. It really is not very impressive and so we  didn’t walk down to it to take a photo but that was mainly because the heavens opened and, having removed waterproof trousers a couple hours before, we scrambled to get them on again.

For the next half an hour we were assaulted by lashing rain. As we approached Beasdale the rain finally stopped and as luck would have it there is an excellent waiting room/shelter on the the platform at Beasdale Station and we sat in it out of the breeze and had lunch. Needless to say no trains came past.

After lunch we continued on our merry way along the A830. It is potentially a very fast road and even has climbing lanes on some of the hills. I imagine that in the summer it might be busy but today it was mainly occasional tour buses and a few HGVs. One of the very few cars on the road was completely blocking the cycle track/footpath. At first glance it was very odd because there appeared to have been some sort of accident but we could only see one vehicle. When we got closer there was a young man possibly in his early thirties on his mobile phone but no one else and no casualties. His car was a mess, the front was stove-in but there were also dents around the back as well. I checked that he was OK which he was and I asked what happened. He said that the roads were slippery after all the rain and he “lost’ his rear wheels on the bend. He finished up head on into the crash barrier on the opposite side but had clearly hit the crash barrier a bit further back as well. I rather suspect he got a wheel off the edge of the road and then couldn’t control the car. What he had achieved was quite impressive – all on his own. That was enough excitement for one day.

After another mile or so we came to the turn off for Druimindarroch. Our host had suggested the old road through to Arisaig might be very overgrown and she wasn’t sure if we would be able to walk along it but it proved easy going, if a little muddy in places.

It was a relief to be off the A road. The old road was mainly a gravel road and it passes though some attractive woodland and alongside Brunery Burn before emerging just south of Arisaig.

Once again, having just dried out from the last rain storm, the heavens opened once more and so we arrived back at the car wet and dripping again. We looked in at the visitor centre and Jill bought a book about the history of Knoydart. We then went to the café but at 4.15 it had already stopped serving. So there nothing else to do but retrieve the other car and return to base.

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.