Who ever said that the highlands of Scotland are wet and miserable? The last two days have been unbroken sunshine and searing temperatures of up to 16 degrees.
The view from Basil in the sunshine
Yesterday we walked down to the Corran ferry, about a mile along Loch Linnhe from our campsite and caught the ferry across the narrowest part of the loch to the other side. This crossing has apparently been used for centuries as it lies on ancient drove routes from the Hebrides to cattle markets. Until the 19th Century is was served by a rowing boat and cattle would swim across the narrows.
The Corran Ferry
These days the ferry is very familiar to anyone who has travelled in Norway. A small drive on ferry with an open car deck which can be loaded and unloaded very quickly and undertake numerous crossings each hour. It is free for foot passengers, cyclists and best of all for dogs. The crossing only takes a couple of minutes, but I was still able to get in a bit of bird spotting, with the ferry passing close by a couple of Black Guillemots.
Corran Lighthouse with hooligan in foreground
Once we had crossed we undertook a lovely walk along the side of the loch, along a forestry commission path and then completed a loop back to the ferry. The only landmark of note was an indistinct church which had apparently been built by the famous engineer Thomas Telford when he was engaged in building the first piers for the ferry.
Thomas Telford’s Church
What better way to finish the walk than to sit outside the pub which is located in the old ferryman’s house. We relaxed in the sunshine for a couple of hours enjoying a drink or two and eating lunch. For the first time in my life I had the Scottish speciality of Haggis with Neeps and Tatties. It was really excellent.
In the late afternoon we returned to the site and sat outside Basil admiring the unparalleled view and topping up our Norfolk tan. I think we will need to have many hours of sun in these northerly latitude to have any effect.
Much to our astonishment, after an overcast start to today, the cloud cleared by mid morning and we’ve had unbroken sunshine ever since. We decided to tackle a slightly more strenuous walk today in the hills inland from the campsite. It is a waymarked walk called Wade’s Walk, because part of it follows an old military road.
The English built, in the mid 18th Century, a series of roads from the lowlands of Scotland to various forts in the Highlands as part of their strategy to keep those parts of Scotland under control, which had participated in the Jacobite revolts earlier in the century. They all tend to be called Wade’s roads after General Wade who commenced the process. In fact the section we walked today was built by his successor Major Caulfield. Maybe poor old Major Caulfield’s name never went down in history because he was out ranked, who knows.
Wade’s Road
The peaks
Much of the walk took place in pine forest as we climbed steadily. At the highest point we finally emerged from the trees with views of some of the surrounding peaks. On our descent, with Melek complaining all the way, we finally got some fine views of Loch Linnhe.
A holly bush take root in the moss on top of a gate post
Anyone interested in our refrigerator’s condition, will be pleased to know, as we are, that after two days of inactivity resulting in all of our frozen goods and some of the refrigerator contents being ruined, and worst of all forcing me to eat tinned ham for lunch, it has suddenly and randomly started working again. Let’s hope this is a good sign for the arrival of our coolant header tank cap from Inverness tomorrow. If that happens we will be away from Bunree and heading north tomorrow. Nowhere’s booked, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.