Today is quite exciting for me. My wife and two of my daughters, Andrea and Julie are driving up to join me for 5 days. So with this in mind I walk with a spring in my step.
Walk Date : 27th Sep 2015
Mileage : 19.00 miles Total Mileage : 2,340.19 miles
Accommodation : Cottage, Loch Duich Lodge, Ratagan
Acharacle is on the main loop road from Fort William that links the Ardnamurchan and Moidart areas. It has a general store, a bakers and a fish & chip shop. I leave Acharacle across the bridge of the River Shiel which links the sea to the lock
Walk Date : 25th Sep 2015
Mileage : 18.50 miles Total Mileage : 2,321.19 miles
Accommodation : Bunkhouse, Ariundle, Strontian
I leave Ockle by a bridlepath that goes up past some holiday cottages. I carry straight on through a gate and past a bungalow out onto some wild moorland. The path continues through rocky out crops with stunning views of the Isles of Eigg, Rhum and Skye.
Walk Date : 26th Sep 2015
Mileage : 10.20 miles Total Mileage : 2,302.69 miles
Accommodation : Bunkhouse, Ariundle, Strontian
I start from Achnaha today which is on the road back to Kilchoan from Sanna Bay. Just below Achnaha is a track that takes me towards the northern coast of the Ardnamuchan peninsular. Apparently the village is the centre of an extinct volcanic crater. I did think that the rocky landscape had a lunar quality about it.
I drop down to Fascadale with its sheltered bay and about three scattered houses. I continue along the road to Achateny and Branault, most of the area is part of the Ardnamurchan Estate.
It seems to have taken me ages to get here but today I reach the most westerly point on mainland Britain. Its time to leave Kilchoan and make my way to Arrdnamurchan Point and the Lighthouse which is about six miles away.
For the last few hundred yards the single track road is traffic controlled as the road curls round and clings to rocks before emerging at the lighthouse. The lighthouse is actually built from pinkish granite which came from the Isle of Erraid off of the Isle of Mull. They say that the lighthouse is built to an Egyptian style.
I am totally enchanted by the Ardnamurchan peninsular just like I was 40 years ago when I came for the first time. The roads look better than they did back then. Good tarmac surface with plenty of passing places instead of pot holes and grass growing down the middle of the road. Perhaps they have had European grants to improve the roads.
I set off walking along the road from a car park about a mile west of the Glenborrodale where there was a path that went above me into the Nature Reserve. I pass another small picturesque place called Glenmore Bay with some holiday cottages to let. One place I did notice was the Nadurra Centre which houses an exhibition in what they call a “living building” about the flora and wildlife in the area.
I return from a visit home to resume my walk at Ard Airigh or Ardery where there is a little island off the shoreline, Garbh Eilean. I walk down to the hive where there are binoculars to view the island. If you are lucky you may see seals basking on the shores of the island.
I pass through the woodland at Bunalteachan on my way to Resipole. There is a Camping Site that faces right down the loch with only the road between the site and the shore. The site looks flat and well laid out but you might feel the wind coming up the lock. Next door there is a gallery that runs art courses and you can take canoes out on the loch.
As I look down on Loch Sunart I turn towards Liddesdale which at one time boasted of a lead mine. I follow the shoreline passing a few houses, boats and slipways around the head of Loch Sunart.
Strontian grew as a village to provide accommodation for lead miners. The village got its name from when some French prisoners of war working in the mines discovered a completely new mineral and they called it Strontian. It was used in producing sugar from sugar beet.
I start today at Fiunary where there is a Camping & Caravanning Club certified site. It is a small privately owned site with great views of the Isle of Mull. There is also a former manse where a Victorian book about a Highland Parish was written. There is even a song been written called “Farewell to Fiunary” sang by the McCalmans.
Along the road I pass the little hill fort of Dun Fhionnairidh on my way to Clach na Criche or the Wishing Well. It’s a rock wall with a hole through it where legend has it that if you could pass through the rock without touching the sides your wishes were granted.
Kingairloch is quite a remote place where all the roads are single track. South of Kingairloch is Glensanda with the biggest granite quarry in the British Isles.
The granite is transported by ships as there are no public roads to the quarry. Apparently it provided granite linings for the British side of the Channel tunnel.
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