Day 65: Laxford Bridge to Loch Assynt, Sutherland

Virtual Walk: Scotland 2021

10th March 2021: 116.17km walked today taking the total to 6723.77/8868km. 17.5% of 87 entries submitting 663.84km.

From Laxford Bridge we head south, passing Kylestrome, the Old Man of Stoer, Clachtoll and Lochinver before heading inland along the shore of Loch Assynt towards Ardvreck Castle.

Route 20: Scrabster to Inverness NC500+ Part 2

Once across the Laxford Bridge we join the A894, which continues through the Badnabay settlement. From Badnabay we walk southwest to Scourie, on Loch a’ Bhadaidh Daraich, taking in fantastic views of hills and mountains to the east, and lochs and moorland to the west. Scourie comes from the Gaelic word for ‘sheiling or shed’ and is a very remote rural village. We are still in what was Clan MacKay territory; the last MacKay estate was sold in 1829 but the name remains popular in the area. We wander down to Scourie Bay, which opens into The North Minch, for a glimpse of Handa Island, a Scottish Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve with large seabird colonies. You can hire a boat to visit from Tarbet, a coastal settlement further north of Scourie and the nearest inhabited point to the Island.

From Scourie we head southeast for over 15 kilometres following the coast road, which for the most part is further inland, apart from a brief encounter at Badcall Bay. The road has stunning scenery nonetheless, and as we walk the verge there are plenty of distractions. We walk the edge of Loch a'Mhuilinn Nature Reserve but particularly enjoy the road through Duartmore Forest, as trees have been a rare occurrence on the route recently. Passing through Kylestrome, in the shadow of Ben Strome (433m), we cross the Kylesku Bridge with views to the left of Lochs Glendhu and Glencoul, and to the right of Loch a Chairn Bhain on Eddrachillis Bay. In the 19th century the ferry was in the form of a rowing boat; several vessels served since that time, growing in size, with commercial vehicles being able to sail from 1976. The bridge opened in 1984, beautifully designed to fit in with its surroundings; its natural curve, across the sea passage of the lochs, is very pleasing to the eye. It was designed by Arup architects, with its natural environment in mind, and has won several design and construction awards. The view to the south is of Quinag, a mountain range with Corbett status whose highest summit reaches 808 metres.

From Kylesku we continue through Unapool on the A894 before turning off onto the single track B869, taking us on a 67-kilometre coastal route round to Baddidarach, where we’ll turn east then onto the A837 to head for Loch Assynt. There is some stunning scenery along this stretch, and it is extremely remote; plenty of sheep to keep us company!

We start by heading east along a fairly coastal route, along Loch a Chairn Bhain’s southern shore, surrounded by moorland dotted with lochs, lochans and sea views. We arrive at the settlement of Drumbeg, where the vista opens out before us looking north onto Eddrachillis Bay, mainland Sutherland and its islands. Drumbeg has no harbour at the settlement itself but a pier was built at Culkein Drumbeg for use in the late 1800s. However, Loch Nedd a little to the east was more often used as it provided shelter, so the pier never took off as a fishing harbour. We wander along the route to head down the winding road to the pier, before heading back onto the B869 to push on to Clashnessie just over 7 kilometres away. The small crofting settlement sits on Clashnessie Bay, its name comes from Gaelic meaning ‘glen of the waterfall’, which is where we now head. The path is a little rough and boggy in places, but it is worth our effort. We follow the stream to the 15-metre-high falls, which despite the drier weather of late, are full-flowing and refreshing. We head back through Clashnessie to head onto the Stoer Peninsula, making our way through Achnacarnin and Culkein settlements to the Old Man of Stoer.

From the Point of Stoer we head around the cliffs to the Old Man of Stoer, an impressive 62-metre-tall sea stack of Torridonian sandstone. It was first climbed in 1966 and is still very popular with climbers due to its height and because it is relatively easy to get to.

Following the path south along the edge of the cliffs, if we look back, we can see the impressive cliffs with the Old Man of Stoer behind. In front of us we soon have views of the Stoer Lighthouse with views across the Minch to Lewis. The lighthouse was built in 1870 and, prior to the light becoming automated in 1978, a Principal Lightkeeper and an assistant lived at the lighthouse with their families. The lighthouse is only 14 metres tall but because it is on cliffs it is 54 metres above sea level, and this means that the light can be seen for nearly 40 kilometres. The lighthouse is now self-catering accommodation.

These cliffs are home to nesting seabirds such as fulmars, shags, kittiwakes and black guillemots and it is also possible to see harbour porpoise, dolphins, minke whales, orca and basking sharks. It is a designated Shorewatch site which means that trained volunteers monitor cetaceans for Whale and Dolphin Conservation.

From the lighthouse we head along the single-track road through crofting and fishing hamlets before reaching Stoer itself which sits beside the Bay of Stoer. Past this we reach the Clachtoll Broch. There is not much left of this broch, but it seems to have been abandoned suddenly sometime between 150BC and 50AD. This meant that when an archaeological team removed rubble from the interior of the broch, they found many Iron Age items such as charred rush matting, stone lamps, a hearth, spindle whorls and quern stones.

From here we reach the Bay of Clachtoll where there is a memorial to Norman McLeod, who was born in Clachtoll. He studied theology at Aberdeen and Edinburgh but became disillusioned as the church did not live up to his Calvinist principles. He emigrated with 400 other Gaelic speaking people from Ullapool to Canada in 1817, where he established a community in St Ann’s in Cape Breton and his followers became known as Normanites. Following a famine, he took a group to Australia before finally settling in Waipu, New Zealand in 1853.

Clachtoll has a beautiful sandy beach and just beyond the bay is Split Rock. Clachtoll (A' Chlach Thuill) actually means ‘hole stone’ rather than split rock, but this could be because there used to be a connecting arch between the two blocks. This arch has long since fallen into the sea leaving just the 2 huge rocks.

From Clachtoll we pass Maiden Loch, where there is good fishing for trout and opportunity to otter spot, before we turn right opposite Lochan na Creige Leithe on a path which heads to Achmelvich. At Altan na Bradham there is a ruined grain mill which seems to be in the middle of nowhere but was situated between Achmelvich and Clachtoll so the tenants of each could use it. There are several old mill stones around the building, which were turned by a horizontal paddle (the same as we saw in Shetland). The water to turn these paddles was sourced from Lochan na Creige Leithe where there was a dam and a sluice to control the flow of water.

Leaving the mill, we must cross a stream using stepping stones before taking a path which undulates over the coastal hills and through the rocky landscape before arriving at a sandy bay. This is an ancient landscape made of Lewisian Gneiss which is one of the oldest rocks in Europe and is thought to be 3 billion years old. These rocks are exceptionally hard which means it doesn’t break down very easily and therefore doesn’t easily produce soil. From here we cross over another small headland before reaching Achmelvich itself.

At Achmelvich there are beautiful white sand beaches and a turquoise sea. Here we try to find the smallest castle in Scotland, also called the Hermit’s Castle, on the headland to the south of the beach. This was built in the 1950s by an English architect, David Scott, who only ever spent one night in it. It is made of concrete and has a pretty strange design, looking a bit like a military pillbox.

From here we walk back to Achmelvich before following the road east. In front of us we can see the mountains of Canisp and Suilven, although we will see them even better later in our walk. The road comes close to Loch Roe, a sea loch before moving inland. We soon turn right at woodland and follow the track past the head of Loch Roe where we cross a bridge before reaching Loch Dubh. We head uphill past croft houses at Ardroe before following the path, 3.5 kilometres to Lochinver.

Lochinver is dominated by Suilven, Scotland’s own Sugar Loaf Mountain, a huge chunk of sandstone which although not very high, at 731 metres, towers over the village. The Norse called it pillar mountain with the summit at the west called Caisteal Liath, the Grey Castle. It is a popular climb, but it has a long walk in so takes a minimum of 8 hours. It has become particularly popular since the film ‘Edie’, in which Sheila Hancock stars as the main character, who decides to climb Suilven in her eighties. Although the mountain looks intimidating from the west it can be climbed from a saddle in between the 2 peaks which make up the mountain. There are also 2 other mountains which can be seen from Lochinver, Canisp and Quinag. These are taller than Suilven at 847 metres and 809 metres respectively, but they don’t have the same presence as Suilven does.

When we reach Lochinver we pass the Highland Stoneware Pottery. This was started in 1974 and produces tableware. Initially the tableware was plain but, soon after, they started to decorate it and now each is hand painted and signed by the artist.

Lochinver is made up of 3 parts: Baddidarach, where we entered the village, the village itself and the harbour. It is the second biggest fishing port in Scotland with many European ships landing their catch at the harbour which was extended in the 1990s. It is also a tourist destination particularly for fishermen, as there are over 200 lochans nearby as well as sea fishing.

The church in Lochinver which sits on the seafront was originally a Church of England church built in Nairn near Inverness in 1845. In the early 20th century, it was decided that the church was surplus to requirements and was to be demolished. Instead, it was transported brick by brick to Lochinver, rebuilt, then opened in 1903.

Just past the church we will turn left to head to Glencanisp. Walking up the road we reach Loch Druim Suardalain before reaching Glencanisp Lodge. This was built in 1850 for John Scobie who was the first tenant of the sheep farm which was established here before being extended as a shooting lodge. In 2005 it was purchased by the local community and is now run by the Assynt Foundation as part of a 44,400-acre estate including the mountains of Canisp and Suilven.

After Glencanisp Lodge we walk through woodland before continuing uphill to a low pass at Druim Suardalain. At Dubh Clais (Black Valley) we can see the old ruins of several houses. This was once a township but was cleared of people in 1800 to make way for sheep. We should still be able to see where they cultivated their crops. Carrying straight on along the track we reach Inveruplan before crossing the River Inver and reaching the A837. We walk along the road for about 2 kilometres before going on to the old road which follows the River Inver. We then rejoin the A837 which we cross to reach a car park before we explore Little Assynt. We head up the Loch an t’Sabhaill path to the left, passing a small lochan, Mhic Leoid, before descending and then climbing to a path called Ken’s path which has views over Loch Beannach. The first little summit we reach has several wooden stools for us to sit on so we can admire the view of the loch with its many wood covered islands. The trees thrive on the islands, as there are no browsing deer, in marked contrast to the area surrounding the loch where there are no trees.

From here we descend past the ruins of old stone shielings to the ruins of an old mill before reaching Loch an t’Sabhail which is fringed with birches. The route then winds over the moors with fantastic views to the east across to the ridge of Quinag and south to Suilven. Instead of keeping on this path we take the path which links to the Leiter Easaidh Walk which is an all-abilities path. We reach a viewpoint looking over Loch Torr an Lochain towards Suilven before taking the path to go past Loch na h-Innse Fraoich and then Loch Leitir Easaidh with views to Quinag.

Reaching the A837 we must follow this for the next 10 kilometres along the side of Loch Assynt. Towards the end of the loch, we can see the ruins of Ardvreck Castle sitting high on a rocky promontory which juts out into Loch Assynt.