Day 66: Ardvreck Castle, Loch Assynt to Tournaig, Ross-shire
Virtual Walk: Scotland 2021
11th March 2021: 108.90km walked today taking the total to 6832.67/8868km. 16.5% of 90 entries submitting 660.30km.
Today our walk takes us to the Bone Caves, at Inchnadamph before we visit the Knockan Crag National Nature Reserve and Ullapool before finishing just after visiting Aultbea.
Ardvreck Castle was built circa 1490 by the Clan MacLeod family who owned the surrounding area. It is famous, or infamous, for being the place where the Marquis of Montrose fled after losing the Battle of Carbisdale in April 1650. There are different stories of what happened but in one version it is said he sought refuge with Neil MacLeod, but he was away and his wife, Christine, tricked the Marquis, betraying Highland hospitality, and handed him over to Government troops. He was taken to Edinburgh and executed.
In 1672, Ardvreck Castle was attacked and captured by the Mackenzies of Assynt and in 1726 they replaced it with the more modern Calda House, built beside the Calda burn, apparently using some of the stone from Ardvreck Castle to build it. A fire destroyed the house in 1737 and it was never rebuilt, as the Mackenzie estates were seized by the Crown for their support of the losing side in the 1745 Jacobite rising.
At the end of Loch Assynt, we reach Inchnadamph, which comes from the Gaelic, Innis nan Damh, meaning ‘meadow of the stags’. There is a small museum in the former Old Parish Church containing lots of information about the local area and the MacLeod clan. There is a burial vault of the MacLeod lairds in the churchyard and also a memorial to the air crew who lost their lives when their plane crashed on Ben More, Assynt, in World War 2.
Inchnadamph is very popular with geologists, partly due to the Moine Thrust, where older rocks have been thrust up over younger ones centuries ago. Near to Inchnadamph there is a monument to the work of Ben Peach and John Horne, whose work was crucial in the understanding of this Moine Thrust, the first thrust fault to be discovered anywhere in the world.
From Inchnadamph you can walk to the Traligill Valley where the largest cave system in Scotland is to be found. One of the entrances is Uamh an Tartair - ‘the cave of the roaring’. Looking into its opening you would see a waterslide with a river flowing from a pothole above. Further on there is a second cave entrance called Uamh An Uisge or ‘cave of the water’.
From Inchnadamph, we continue south on the A837 until we reach a car park on our left which is the start of the path to the Bone Caves. The path follows the river, Allt nan Uamh, up past a waterfall, climbing gradually beside the river until the valley narrows and the path reaches a large spring, Fuaran Allt nan Uamh, on the left. This is where an underground river flows out near the base of a crag and is characteristic of it being limestone country which is quite unusual in Scotland. The bed of the river above the spring is dry, water only flowing down it when there has been exceptionally heavy rain and the underground system cannot cope with all the water.
Soon we can see the caves and after crossing the dry river bed we walk up to the base of Creag nan Uamh - the Crag of the Caves. This is a narrow and steep section of the path. There are 4 shallow caves and are all that remains of a larger cave system which used to extend over a large area. They were originally excavated by Peach and Horne in 1889 who found the remains of animals that once roamed here including lynx, bears, wolves and arctic foxes, hence the name bone caves. Human artefacts and bones have also been found, including a walrus ivory pin, dating to 2000 years ago.
If we walked further up the valley, we would reach the longest cave in Scotland, Uamh an Claonaite, ‘cave of the sloping rock’. It extends underground for well over 2 kilometres with 8 water-filled sumps ending in a huge chamber known as the Great Northern Time Machine which is situated behind and below the Bone Caves. The remains of 3 brown bears were found in this cave system.
After leaving the Bone Caves we follow the path that returns to the A837, following the road south past Loch Awe and then, on our left, we pass the entrance to Ledmore Quarry. This is the only marble quarry on the UK mainland, the only other one being on Skye. When we reach the junction with the A835 we turn right to head to Ullapool. In front of us we see the twin peaks of Cul Mor and soon we will see Suilven again although it looks quite different from this angle.
At Knockan Crag National Nature Reserve we take a walk round the interpretative trail to find out more about the geology of the Moine Thrust. There are sculptures around the trail, such as the Globe sculpture, and a fine example of the Moine Thrust can be seen. The example here is where pale 500-million-year-old Cambrian limestone is overlain by even older Moine Schists which are nearly 1000 million years old. The schist was pushed up over the younger rocks by tectonic plate movements. From this walk there are fantastic views; there is also a sculpture of the geologists Peach and Horne at the information point.
We rejoin the A835 and continue south past lochans before reaching Drumrunie. Here a road goes west towards Inverkirkaig past the iconic hill, Stac Pollaidh, joining up with what the locals call the ‘wee mad road of Sutherland’. It is also the approach to Achiltibuie and the Summer Isles. We don’t have time on this walk to climb Stac Pollaidh, but it is a hill certainly worth climbing, even though it is only 612 metres high, as there are fantastic views from the top. It is, however, not an easy climb due to its rocky ridge.
Crossing the moor from Drumrunie we have views across to the Coigach Peninsula with the mountain, Ben Mor Coigach, dominating. We pass Strathcanaird to reach Ardmair on Loch Kanaird. From Ardmair, a ferry can be caught to Isle Martin, one of the Summer Isles and a nature reserve, but in the past, there was a monastery, a herring curing station, crofts and a flour mill. This island was owned by the RSPB from 1975 but in 1999 ownership was transferred to a charitable trust run by the local community.
On the point at the entrance of Loch Broom is Rubha Cadail Lighthouse at Rhue. The lighthouse is not very impressive, but it is a good spot if you are here at sunset to watch the sun go down over the Summer Isles.
Turning east we travel along the edge of Loch Broom, the longest sea loch in the north-west Highlands, to arrive in Ullapool. Ullapool has white-washed stone cottages on either side of the pier, behind which there is a grid pattern of streets as Ullapool was built according to a plan. It was designed and built in 1788 by Thomas Telford and the British Fisheries Society to take advantage of the then abundant herring. Within 100 years though the area had been overfished and the herring shoals had vanished. This left the town with little economic activity but, within a few years, the long-distance fishing fleets from eastern Scotland discovered Ullapool’s benefits as a safe anchorage on the western side of the country. Despite the ebb and flow of the fishing industry, Ullapool has still managed to flourish. Nowadays it is a stopover on the NC500 route, and its attractions still include fishing, whether sea, loch or river; in addition, there are also ferry services to Stornoway and the Summer Isles. Ullapool Museum and Visitor Centre is well worth a visit. It is situated in the old parish church and tells the story of the people of Loch Broom and the history of Ullapool.
From Ullapool we continue on the road alongside Loch Broom past Leckmelm Shrubbery and Arboretum. This garden was originally planted in 1870 and was restored in 1984. A number of exotic trees grow here due to its mild climate and high rainfall. At the end of Loch Broom, we turn right, signposted to An Clachan.
If we carried on straight along the A835 and then turn right along the A832 we would get to Corrieshalloch Gorge. If you have the chance sometime, it is definitely worth visiting. Corrieshalloch means ‘Ugly Hollow’ in Gaelic, but it is anything but ugly. It is a deep gorge which was carved out by Ice Age glacial meltwater. The River Droma drops 100 metres in just 1.25 kilometres, with the highest waterfall being the 45-metre Falls of Measach. Above the gorge is a Victorian suspension bridge built by Sir John Fowler, one of the chief engineers of the Forth Bridge. This bridge is suspended 60 metres above the river below and tends to sway, which is why only 6 people are allowed on it at one time. There is also a viewing platform to visit which is a cantilever out half way over the gorge from the north side.
Back to our route, which is part of the Cape Wrath Way and used to be a Coffin Route, we cross the River Broom and turn left to head towards AuchlunachanAultbea
Leaving Laide, we cross the peninsula passing a coniferous forest, owned by the Laide community, before we cross moorland to arrive at Aultbea. Aultbea is part of a 3-mile-long community including other individually named places called Drumchork, Bulnaluib, Ormiscaig and Mellon Charles. Aultbea is sheltered by Ewe Island and, as well as having a pier, we can see moorings which are part of a NATO naval refuelling facility. During World War 2 Loch Ewe was a gathering place for North Atlantic convoys carrying supplies to Murmansk, as it was deep enough for the ships and it was sheltered from the westerly winds because it faces north. The remains of many wartime buildings and gun emplacements can still be found in the area and, in Aultbea, there is a Russian Arctic Convoy Exhibition Centre.
In Aultbea there is a listed bridge, called the Clapper Bridge, which crosses the Allt Beithe River dating from the late 18th-early 19th century.
Leaving Aultbea we walk down the side of Loch Ewe where there are fantastic views across to the Torridon Mountains. We soon reach a scattered crofting and fishing hamlet, Tournaig, which lies between Loch Thurnaig, a sea inlet of Loch Ewe, and a freshwater loch, Loch Nan Dailthean.
Comments
Post a Comment