Moray Coast - Inverness

Sketch at Clachnaharry, Inverness

Once again, we had our main holiday in Scotland. My Munros Man had headed north on Saturday 11th May for another round of Munro climbing. I followed a few days later. After meeting him in Inverness on the Friday, we had a week in the Northwest Highlands at Gruinard Bay, based in a cottage. Munros Man left somewhat pessimistic about the weather. The arrival of spring in Scotland was been even later  than on the south coast of England, though it was cool and windy at the mouth of the River Arun  the  Saturday - not many beachgoers / ice creams sold. On the Tuesday I left to head north to Scotland,  the daytime temperature was about 10C, both in Inverness and back home. Nonetheless, the weather  cooperated for Munros Man at least some of the time, enabling him to climb five more Munros, though it was very cold. In In his text messages, he reported snow on the mountains:

Hi, T and cake after 1 Munro in driving wet snow, had 2 wear orange-tinted ski goggles, made it look like Mars! 

River Ness - Grieg Street Bridge

While he walked 13 miles, in "endless snow showers, but still caught the sun" and saw golden eagle, who saw his lunch on the Tuesday, I took the train to Gatwick and flew to Inverness. It was a dull, murky down south, though from the train, I waved to the River Arun, passing close to the spot where Munros Man proposed to me. It took time to sink in that I was getting married, but about a year later, we had our honeymoon in Scotland. There, Munros Man introduced me to the Northwest Highlands, before heading over to Speyside for the second week. I now looked forward to returning to these areas again, all the more after the tough time I had last year when I was unwell and very uncertain about the future.  It had been a while since I'd flown anywhere, so I was a bit nervous, not about flying, but the airport stuff. I arrived with about three hours to spare before take-off, in case of any agro with the trains. In the event, everything went smoothly and I enjoyed the flight, espeically, the cloud formations and glimpses of the Scottish coast shortly before the plane came in to land.  Saw both coasts, beginning with lochs, inlets and islets of the northwest coast, then the Moray coast close to Inverness, the airport being on the coast at Fort George.

After taking the  no.11 bus from the airport, I arrived in Inverness city centre early evening. After checking in at the B&B, I had dinner the Chinese restaurant overlooking the River Ness.

On Wednesday, I walked along the River Ness and Caledonian Canal, before taking the bus to Elgin, my base for revisiting the River Spey on Thursday.

Inverness - Wednesday 15th May

Ben Wyvis from Clachnaharry

Typical confusing Scottish weather. A bright start first thing, but then it clouded over. Rest of the day was, in the main, showery, with the best of the weather in the morning. Milder than expected when the sun broke through, out of the wind along the river, only for showers to come in promptly from the west. 

Began by following the river upstream from the Grieg Street footbridge along Huntly Street, past Ness Bridge and along Ness Walk. Views across to castle - only not a castle, apparently and spire which leaned after an earthquake in 1816. Supposedly a bottle of whisky hidden in one of the balls on the weather vane. Crossed over to the east side of the river at another footbridge, the Infirmary Bridge. A wide river considering it's only a few miles long. Carries a lot of the water feeding into Loch Ness around the Great Glen. Recall major flooding in Inverness in early 1989. You'd think that at lake as deep and big as  Loch Ness ( greatest depth 745 feet / 227m) could hold back the flood. However, as I contemplated during our  the drive along the lochside in the Great Glen during the first half of our trip home at the end of the holiday, the loch has a bathtub profile. This was excavated by a deep glacier during the last ice age. Anyway, however deep the bath, it will overflow if enough water pours in. Effectively, the River Ness is the overflow pipe for the entire Loch Ness catchment.

RMS Titanic model, Caledonian Canal

In contrast to the loch the river, appeared to be very shallow. A good fast flow to it, though faster further upstream where the tide from Moray Firth wasn't running against it. Some bugs about in the sheltered areas. Don't think the midges were out yet, but they made it feel uncomfortable out of the wind nonetheless.

I couldn't get over to the Ness Islands, as there was work going on, closing the bridge over there, which was a pity. Crossed back over to Bucht Park. Quite a bit of greenery along the river. Reckon spring was 2 or 3 weeks behind the south of England. Some of the bigger trees had yet to come out. Daffodils still flowering.

Muirtown Locks

A rain shower as I followed the road round the Bucht Park, near the sports centre. It eased off for a while when I walked up the bank to the Caledonian Canal, only to start again later on. A towpath on both sides, though a couple of awkward A'road crossings at swing bridges. First the A82, near where I joined the canal, then the A862 Beauly road just after the locks. Past a marina and a model of RMS Titanic, then shortly after that came to the Muirtown Staircase, a flight of 4 lochs. View down from there to the Kessock Bridge. After crossing the Beauly Road, followed the canal to its exit into the Beauly Firth at Clachnaharry. Stopped near the railway swingbridge to sketch the view beyond the railway crossing to the end of the canal. Beyond the Beauly Firth, the tops of the Ben Wyvis mountain range were still snow covered.  Men in orange hi-vis working on the swingbridge. When I first arrived, it was open. While I was sketching, they closed it to let the train pass over it a bit later, as I began heading back up the canal (in the rain). At the end if the canal, a lock keeper's cottage.  A big slab of rock, marking the end of the canal, built 200 years ago as a shortcut for shipping along the Great Glen.  I meant to sketch the Kessock Bridge from here, but the wind off the firth was very cold. 

Clachnaharry swing bridge / railway crossing

A heavy, longer shower funnelled along the firth, making for a  wet walk back over the railway and road to the locks. Dried out fairly quickly once it stopped. Shortcut back to the city centre along Fairfield Road. As we saw on the way to / from the NW Highlands, major work on the Kessock Bridge, in all weathers, closing one carriageway. It has been going on at least since February when Munros Man was up here for winter walking. The queues during peak times haven't stretched quite as far back as Ullapool (where the road signs warning of delays start), but around Inverness, they've been significant. West of the bridge Beauly Firth, into which the River Ness flows, Moray Firth eastwards. The bridge was completed in 1982. Apparently, there are seismic buffers on the north abutment, in case the Great Glen Fault, which heads offshore NE from Inverness to Shetland, gets moving.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessock_Bridge

Kessock Bridge from Clachnaharry

Back in the city centre, the rain stopped for now, I picked up a sandwich and ate it by the river, not very comfortable, some irritating mossies. Also eyed up by herring gull. Signs up about not feeding gulls.

Finally, I believe a relatively obscure Scottish punk band released a single, Inverness - what a mess, in 1979. I don't remember it registering during my listening to the Radio 1 Top 40 rundown of a Sunday evening, though earlier in 2013, Jarvis Cocker played a burst of it during his Sunday Service show on BBC 6 Music as part of his A-Z of Peel feature.

All I can find online for now is
http://www.punk77.co.uk/groups/prats.htm

Moray Coast - Lower River Spey and Spey Bay

Digital sketch based on Spey Bay (Samsung Galaxy tablet, Sketchbook Pro), May 2013

Spey Bay (May 2005)

Munros Man's drawing inspired by Spey Bay on honeymoon

Sketch of Spey Bay, May 2013

Thursday 16th May

I got just the weather I wanted for revisiting the lower Spey and Spey Bay today:  sunny, milder than yesterday, but not not oppressive. Took the bus to Fochabers from Elgin. I was a bit taken a back the steep fare, but it got me where I wanted to be. There is now a new bypass around Fochabers, freeing the village of the oppressive traffic along the A96 Inverness-Aberdeen road we saw here during the 1990s.  It opened last year, though there were now  roadworks in square, shifting the bus stops and confusing passengers.  

Spey below Fochabers

From the square, I followed the old road down to the community woodland along the River Spey and Speyside Way, passing Gordon Castle on my right and new roundabout. This was mixed woodland.  The path ran under old and newer Spey bridges, the latter now carrying the main road, the former now a footbridge. Red sandstone cliff far side (Devonian), along with Baxters of Speyside, passed on the bus - soup etc. On the old bridge over a metre above ground level, a floodmark for 17th August 1970.  This was the highest recorded flood level on the Spey during the twentieth century - records for the gauge at Boat O'Brig dating back to 1952, part of the National River Flow Archive, now held by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. 

http://www.ceh.ac.uk/data/nrfa/index.html

There was an even bigger flood in 1829, also affecting the River Findhorn.

On the nearer pillar of new bridge, " Stod Boys".

Walked north from here to Spey Bay, roughly following the  Speyside Way, with some diversions nearer the river. The first bit of the path was a narrow stretch  through Bellie Wood; mixed woodland, then along the edge of Warren Wood, conifers. Mostly forestry tracks and shorter stretches along river bank. Gorse now flowering. Anglers thigh deep, though not in fastest bits of water. River fast but not angry or menacing looking, taking on  the colour of the sky. Peaty water, with a bedload of boulders and sand.

Came to a bend with high bank on the far side of the river, with layers of sand, silt and gravel layers on the red sandstone bedrock (photo above). Presumablyy river deposits laid down since the last ice age. A thin yellow line of a rape seed field on top, a red painted house beyond.

Spey below Fochabers

Moving downstream, the river became increasingly braided flowing between islets of boulders, some of them vegetated, with well-established grass, weed and bushes, particularly near Garmouth viaduct. A sign by the path, told the story of the Spey's habit of changing course:

Garmouth viaduct

Restless River - Shifting Shingle - Going with the flow  - Rivers take their course (Shakespeare ) -  Story of a stone - journey 1829-2000 from mountains, along river to Bay shingle. Moving and shaking  - longshore drift of shingle west towards  Lossiemouth, versus fast, relatively large river shifting channels, breaking through at different points. Spey, still a relatively unalterd natural river, almost as it was around 10,000 years ago, after the ice melted at the end of the last ice age. Most other rivers around Britain have constrained messed about, not least the Lossie, glimpsed from the bus on the eastern side of Elgin (see Lossiemouth entry). Every 30 years or so, they have to recut a new channel through the shingle to stop the village of Kingston, on the west side of the river,  being flooded. Kingston is named after Kingston-upon-Hull, after two Yorkshireman set up a shipbuilding business here in the late eighteenth century, using timber floated down the Spey from the Strathspey forests.

View looking along the Spey towards the sea from the Garmouth viaduct

Near the viaduct was floodplain wood - usually waterlogged and flooded by the river in spate. It was restored from 1998, though lots of trees lost were lost  during a major flood in November 2000 flood. The wood comprised alders  and other marsh / moisture loving plants.

Crossed the Garmouth viaduct - over and back again to the Speyside Way. This was once a railway crossing, now part of cycle route taking in a big loop along the Moray coast and inland round to Grantown-on-Spey. The path along the middle was narrow, girders either side with the river visible through gaps between them. Views through structure towards Spey Bay and upriver towards Ben Rinnes (granite). Kayakers went with the flow, under the viaduct. Saw them later at the Bay.

Near Spey Bay

The mouth of the Spey

At Spey Bay were the Tugnet icehouse and the Scottish Dolphin Centre (visitor centre) near the car park. There are sometimes dolphin sitings here, though nothing today. Further along the coast a hotel Spey Bay Hotel, painted on its roof.  Various birds - terns;  some ducks and swans on the calmer, shallower stretches of water among islets, away from the main channel and fast current.  Certainly a very dynamic looking coast, the shifting shingle, built up into a high bank above the main beach. Lots of woody debris strewn along the beach and along the river, washed dowriver during spates, including some sizeable trees. The tide appeared to be coming in while I was watching, so didn't get to see the full-on battle of speedy Spey versus North Sea. Even so, this went to show the potential power of this river, the fastest flowing major river in the British Isles. I was drawn to its mouth in the same way as that of the Arun down south, though there the rough waters are due to the tide, rather than strong currents of freshwater flowing against it.

The river flow is so strong that the tide only travels half a mile upstream river, even though the Spey reaches sea level above the Garmouth viaduct.

View across the Spey to Kingston

At river mouth, current apparently slowed by incoming tide, but still (note5) - sea waves deflected / converging. Eve

n with oncoming tide, definite movement of water out of river - exaggerated in pencil sketches. Sea relatively calm, with waves breaking near shore, none out to sea. No wind off the sea, being southerly. Lunch on the Bay, facing river - for wind to keep midges off. Upriver, sheltered, definitely midges about so didn't want to stop long anywhere.  pleasing variety of pebbles / boulders on beach. A change from ubiquitous flints from chalk down south.

RAF Rescue helicopter over the Spey

A variety of pebbles on the beach, brought down the Spey since the end of the Ice Age. They reflect the varied geology along the the Spey and its tributaries: Old Red Sandstone, quartzite, granite from the Cairngorms and Beinn Rinnes, granulite, along with schists, slates and phylittes, part of the metamorphic formations of the Dalradian and Moine complexes. Today, I spotted some granite, quartzite and red sandstone conglomerate. 

Sketch the view upriver from the beach, looking towards the viaduct, as I had much lunch facing the breeze. It was a southerly wind blowing along a north facing coast. Disorientatingly for someone used to a south facing coast, it wasn't off the sea, instead it was blowing downriver over Ben Rinnes (still a patch of snow here). A dynamic, changing sky to go with dynamic beach. A few drips on bay, otherwise the showers held off. Views west along the coast to Lossiemouth. Beyond it the higher ground jutting further out to sea on far side of Moray Firth. a wigwam shelter built on beach from driftwood branches.

As Rescue helicopter from RAF Lossiemouth, flew along coast from W, overhead, upriver, then back again over the bay out to sea to east. I saw one of these here in 2005, too. 

Busy in the car park / around the visitor centre. Mosaics, including leaping salmon, snake, birds, designed in 1988 as part of a project by local school children. More artwork / sculpture added around the visitor centre since my last visit: an eagle grasping a salmon in its talons. In the courtyard, a wall painted with yachts,  small bits of driftwood forming the hulls; A wall of netting strewn with scallop shells; and tree scultpture: Christian Gunn, Diving Cetacean. Indeed the upended base of the big tree trunk, excavated from the Spey Bay shingle, did look like a dolphin's tail. On the green area outside, a group of wood carvings together depicting a swimming dolphins. Good to see there was now a cafe in the visitor centre.  Had a tea and scone there. 

Christian Gunn, "Diving Cetacean"

Leaving the cafe, I did some very quick pencil sketches on the beach, before taking a faster, more direct walk back following the Speyside Way to Fochabers. Got on bus about 4.45pm, opposite Baxters of Speyside, after making my farewells to the Spey, crossing the old bridge to the Old Toll House. 

Now here's to the Severn Bore...

Links and Notes

http://www.scottishgeology.com/geo/regional-geology/grampian/spey-bay/

There's an impressive photo of the Spey in spate at the Garmouth viaduct in 2009 on Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Spey_in_spate_at_Garmouth.JPG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Spey

Driftwood at the mouth of the Spey

Just before coming away, I found a free download online from the Moray Punk band, Genetic Mutation, called Spey Bay Area Hardcore (ref the [San Francisco] Bay Area Hardcore punk genre . It's mostly 1min:39 seconds of noise; the lyrics are hardly profound or sublime, though the volume and pace of the track seems reminiscent of the River Spey in furious spate. 

Link to video (track) on You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM8YCSqT1uQ

My Spey Bay / River Spey videos on You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsFPtEOqxio&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI2ydZ7AqOQ

You Tube also has quite a few canoeing videos along the Spey, including rapids nicknamed The Washing Machine. This is one of them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo4AHjaj2Vo

Moray coast - Lossiemouth - Friday 17th May

Lossiemouth sketch

Cloudier than yesterday, but dry. Better than forecast. Before heading back to Inverness to meet up with Munros Man during the afternoon, I took the bus from Elgin to Lossiemouth. I seen it up the coast from Spey Bay, had heard of RAF Lossiemouth and the their aircraft, so I was curious to look round.  After stopping at the gates of RAF Lossiemouth, on the south side. I got off in the square. Most the town was on a cliff above the harbour, between the West Beach and East Beach. Came down to a marina with sturdy harbour walls on the sea facing north side. 

River Lossie

From here, I walked round to the more interesting of the two beaches, the East Beach and the mouth of the River Lossie. This river, much slower flowing than the Spey and the Findhorn either side of it along the NE coast, meanders through Elgin, though away from the city centre, near the Cathedral ruins / Biblical Gardens. I didn't really see it there, separated from the city by the main road. Also some very involved flood defence work going on around there. Glimpsed this on the bus back from Fochabers yesterday. It all looked a bit barren, rather hemming in the relatively narrow river. 

At Lossiemouth, it was tidal, diverted westwards along the coast by longshore drift - the direction of drift along this coast is the reverse of that on the English Channel coast of southern England, with weather fronts often coming in from the east. It flowed behind sand dunes separating it from the wide sandy beach. I hadn't expected a sandy beach: I'd thought it would be shingle drifted along the coast from Spey Bay. A bridge across the river to the dunes and beach. Behind me fishermen's cottages on shore, built with longer walls perpendicular to sea. Did my sketch (photo above) in this area before walking back up the hill and round towards the West Beach. Further along the West Beach a tall white lighthouse, though it wasn't as attractive as the East Beach, the dunes occupied by a golf course.

River Lossie and cloud coming in from the east

West Beach and the lighthouse

Wester Ross May 2013 - Ullapool revisted

Fishing boats in the harbour

Ullapool is on the shores of Loch Broom,  with the Summer Isles just off shore. Latitude nearly 58ºN, longitude 5ºW.

Whenever we've been in Scotland we've always called in here,  For a small village - population around 1300 (the high school intake must swell it by several hundred, or at least contribute a high proportion of this figure) - there's a surprising amount to do here in the way of shops and eateries. It's good place to visit on a day, like this Monday, when the weather's not really cooperative or conducive to the outdoors. There's the Ceilidh Place, the cafe above the gear shop and two independent bookshops which have a remarkably well chosen selection. Between us we bought from both of them today. Munros Man has camped several times at the campsite on the shores of the loch. 

Highland Stoneware

We woke up to mist, shrouding the mountains and, at one point, right down to the shore of the bay. As the crow flies from the west side of Gruinard Bay, Ullapool is just long the coast to the north, up the next inlet but one.  By road,however, it's 42 miles each way (about the same distance as it is from Scourie). The first 30 miles of this along the windy, bumpy, potholey A832 to the junction at the Corrieshalloch Gorge. Occasional sheep and goats in the road. The drive took about an hour.

After browsing the bookshops, we had morning coffee / tea scones in the cafe above the gear shop. A photography gallery here, too. Afternoon tea in The Ceilidh Place cafe. The mist lingered all day, though cleared a bit in the afternoon, with a view north from the higher ground back to Loch Broom from the Laide road on the way back. 

Highland Stoneware

Highland Stoneware

In the afternoon, we looked round Highland Stoneware, the outside walls were decorated with mosaics made up of broken pots and tiles. Munros Man bought another half pint mug, rock pool design, to add to the other three this size back home. A wide variety of designs on their ware: birds, flowers, sheep, various l NW Highland landscapes. Their main shop is in Lochinver, visited on our last trip up this way (2007) - recall the big ceramic  / mosaic  sofa outside with a view of Suilven behind.

http://www.highlandstoneware.com/

Wester Ross May 2013 - Around Gruinard Bay

Mellon Udrigle beach

We visited this lovely beach, on the west side of Gruinard Bay with views out to the Summer Isles, An Teallach and the mountains of Assynt and Coigach, three times during our week in the area.

Sunday 19th May 

After a leisurely start, we headed north along the bay to Mellon Udrigle. Here, we explored the sandy beach and did a short walk to the headland at Rubha Beag. Parked near the beach. A campsite, some chalets.

Hazy over the hills, though a brighter, much warmer day then so far, the cloud lifting over the hills from about midday, revealing An Teallach, Beinn Ghobhlach and the Assynt-Coigach hills. Breeze along coast kept away any bugs and stopped it feeling too muggy. Got several sketches done while we were out, as well as a couple of postcard size watercolours of Gruinard Bay viewed from the cottage.

Shells on the beach

A very rocky coast, comprised of Torridonian Sandstone.  A few granite and gneiss boulders. Some shelly areas of beach and dune bedding along the small stream coming out of the sand dunes. On the cliff on the south side of the beach, an unknown artist had been at work - seriously at work, building a pod of dolphins, complete with fins, from the sandstone boulders. Also a turtle, and an eel a bit further up the hill.

Did our walk above the cliffs on the north side of the beach, climbing up three hills with cairns, round to Rubha Beag and the inlet on the north side. A bit boggy in places with sphagnum moss, but were able to avoid the worst of it. Interesting rock formations with jointing and swirly pattern in places. Could see the Summer Isles to the northwest. By early afternoon, An Teallach was clear. To the northwest, the Assynt Hills, including Stac Polliadh and the very faint whaleback profile of Suilven.

Wednesday 22nd May

My sketch of the sandstone sculptures (unknown artist)

Another trip here during the afternoon, after going to Firemore Cove in the morning and our second visit to the Mountain Cafe in Gairloch. Sketched the dolphin sculptures, artist unknown. Perhaps they lived in one of chalets on the southern side of the beach. Views with striking lighting of An Teallach. Oyster catchers chasing seagulls. A gannet.

Friday 24th May

The author on the beach, Friday evening

A short visit in the evening, after dinner. We had our best view over the mountains yet. We could see north beyond Suilven to Arkle and Foinaven. The sun was now quite low, behind the beach in the northwest, yet there was still plenty of light (gone 8pm). We reflected on our holiday, thankful we'd made it up here inspite of everything else (during the second half of last year).

"A lot has happened since we were last up in Scotland, but you've bounced back and it's gone really well.", Munros Man reflected as we left the beach. The take home message,  even if the long journey home still needs work.

Here's to the next trip :))

Back at the cottage, the full moon rose out of low cloud, 10.15pm, after sun had set. Still lots of twilight. It never really gets dark in northern Scotland at this time of year.

Inverianvie burn and Little Gruinard beach

Inverianvie Burn - sketch of the split rock

Friday 24th May

Came to this part of Gruinard Bay on Friday morning. First we revisited a walk we did when we were up here in 2005, along the steep valley of the Inverianvie burn which flows into Gruinard Bay, under the road and across  Little Gruinard Beach. The cloud was slow to clear, so the morning was cool. It brightened up later in the day, while we were on the beach. We walked as far was the upper waterfalls, where the path became more craggy and petered out. When we returned back down the valley to the beach around midday, the tide was going out, revealing the wide sweep of sand and channels formed by the Inverianvie burn and smaller rivulets. Boulders of gneiss on the shore. Gather, too, there are raised beaches around Gruinard Bay - the green area just to the south of this beach, across the burn, possibly. These were formed when during a period of higher relative sea level at the end of the last ice age. The land has subsequently rebounded with the weight of ice lifted, exposing the beaches high and dry a few metres above the present beach level. We explored the main beach and coves on the north side of the burn, though much of the sand was wet sands, due to rivulets trickling out of the rocks. A sneaky rivulet near the middle of the bay, heard trickling out of a slope of big boulders and emerging onto the sand at the base of the slope. From the cove on the north side, views of Gruinard Island, aka Anthrax Island. During WW2, military scientists contaminated the island with a highly virulent strain of anthrax bacteria. Thankfully and sensibly, this form of bio-warfare wasn't taken any further, but the island remained contaminated with anthrax spores for decades to come. It wasn't until the early 1990s, following decontamination, that the island was declared fit enough to be returned to its owners / heirs by the UK government. More about the whole grisly business at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruinard_Island

Gneiss boulders at Little Gruinard Beach

Laide

Postcard sketch of the view over Gruinard Bay looking east from Laide, early morning , 19th May.

Our base was in this area, on the west side of the bay. In between coming back from Little Gruinard and a last look at Mellon Udrigle at the end of our week (Friday 24th May), I came down to the this bouldery beach. The tide was now in. Gannets offshore. On shore, two oyster catcher perched on a rock, looking out to sea; and a ringed plover. By now the cloud had cleared, revealing the montain tops, including An Teallach. 

Wester Ross May 2013 - Around Loch Ewe and Gairloch

Firemore Cove - Loch Ewe

We visited this beach, on the west shore of Loch Ewe on a morning of very dynamic weather. Exciting skies, good lighting and  colours, though not to be trusted for walking any distance or going anywhere too far from shelter.  Provided shelter nearby, great for artwork. Got several sketches done during the course of the day. Very cold in the wind, wish I'd worn warmer trousers.

Stayed there until early afternoon, occasionally dashing back to the car from the beach as dark clouds came in from the north / north west. When not raining, we had views of Torridon hills. Rabbits scurried in and out of burrows in the dunes.

Line of Loch Maree fault along the ridge to the west.
Loch Ewe, WW2  Arctic  convoys.



Gairloch and Redpoint

Redpoint - Tuesday 21st May 

9 miles from the A832 Gairloch road to Redpoint, along single track road. Parked in the car park at the southern end of it.  Short walk to beach along Redpoint Farm path - surreal line of baths

Baths  - Bonnard, death/coffins, tombs. Boats in dried up river or sea, Aral Sea. Ghosts of bathers, detritus, water use, rebel blue bath.

From name, expected lots of red sandstone - Torridonian, indeed boulders / large pebbles of Torridonian Sandstone conglomerate containing gravel, small pebbles. Also some gneiss. Also sand dunes. Spent most of time on beach on s side of headland, with Eilean Tioram islet,  being cut off as tide came  in during afternoon. Derelict stone cottages  - fishing station, sketched. Cloud base lifted from earlier in day, some sunshine. View up Loch Torridon towards Ben Alligin, across to Rona  - lighthouse and Trotternish Peninsula of Skye with basalt landslip cliffs around The Old Man of Storr. Birds - plovers, oyster catchers, gannet, shags on rocky outcrop offshore.


Walked back long way round, around Redpoint headland, about 2 miles, but felt further and time consuming because no clear path. Was a trodden path, but had to continually dodge sphagnum  bogs, zig zagging towards boulders, jumping worst bits etc. Also obstacle course when got to northern beach crossing rivulet and sand dunes. Made for a later supper etc.  -  back at car about 5.20pm, cottage about 40 minutes later after drive back.

Thursday 23rd May

After our excursion up Loch Maree to the Ben Eighe Nature Reserve on Thursday, we headed back to the Gairloch area, hoping that thinking it would be clearer by the sea. It was, but seemed it didn't follow that it would be dry.  We stopped at the Old Inn, south of the centre Gairloch around Flowerdale Bay to look round Sòlas Gallery, run by Rob Howard, Lyn Beckett. We particularly like Lyn Beckett's loose semi-abstract mixed media, landscapes.

We then thought we'd pay another visit to Redpoint, only the 18 mile round trip along single track roads, with some  pushy drivers hanging on the bumper was a washout.  It was raining just as much as it had been further inland near the mountains and showing no sign of stopping. After about 15 minutes sat in the in the car, feeling rather stupid, watching a couple of fast, expensive looking cars  pull up and promptly head out again, we came straight back again. For the third time in as many days, we found ourselves back in the Mountain Café. This time, they had the giant scones in. I bought another of their postcards - Crisis Capitalism (RMS Titanic), which pretty much sums up the economic situation in Britain and Europe since the banking crisis of 2008. This  comes from Schnews, a weekly online newsletter from a direct action group in Brighton. Scones eaten, we didn't need much supper...

http://www.solasgallery.co.uk/

http://www.schnews.org.uk/index.php

Wester Ross - A wintery May day around Loch Marie and Ben Eighe Nature Reserve

Thursday 23rd May - The top photo is more dabbling in digital art (Samsung Galaxy tablet, Sketchbook Pro). It is a semi-abstract of Loch Maree, evoking snowy moutains, dynamic weather and the Loch Maree Fault running along the line of the loch.

Slioch

In contrast to last Thursday at Spey Bay, we had some very uncooperative weather. More like a February day than a day in late May. Some glimpse of the sun shedding light on the mountains, but overcast, frequently raining and very cold. There were fresh dustings of snow on the tops - An Teallach (viewed from Gruinard Bay), Slioch, Ben Eighe.  We went over to the Ben Eighe Nature Reserve anyway, dressed for winter. 

Artwork near the Ben Eighe visitor centre

From Gairloch, continued along the A832 past the hydroelectric dam at Loch Bad an Sgalaig, then along the southern shore of Loch Maree to the Ben Eighe visitor centre, near Kinlochewe and the head of Loch Maree. Had a look round here, before doing a short walk along one of the trails around it, to try and warm up a bit. The content here could have been more informative; I felt it was overly kiddy orientated. Keep the kids happy in the sog fine, but there could have been more for the grown-ups. Some more specifics about the geology, perhaps something on the lines of Knochan on the Moine Thrust in the Assynt area, with a few rock samples, would have been good .  As at Knochan, there's quartzite overlying Torridonian Sandstone, which in turn overlies metamorphic Lewisham Gneiss, the oldest rock in the British Isles. Here, they just said 3000 million years old rock underlying some 800 million year old rock, then quartzite a few hundreds of million years younger. the Torridonian Sandstone, deposited by big rivers on the edge of a supercontinent / large landmass during the Neoproterozoic period, takes its name from the Torridonian mountains, of which Ben Eighe is one, the other two main peaks being Liathach and Beinn Alligin. The quartzite tops these hills. This was laid down in shallow seas during the Cambrian period, around 500 million years ago. It includes the pipe rock comprising some of the blocks we saw making up the paths through the nature reserve. The pipes were formed by aquatic worms burrowing in sand, if I remember rightly from Knochan. Perhaps a mention of the Loch Maree Fault, running NW-SE along the line of long narrow loch, too. 

The take home message I latched on to was that the annual rainfall around Ben Eighe is about 3m and it rains (sometimes snows) 2 out of 3 days a year. The native pine forests in the nature reserve form a temperate rainforest.

Ben Eighe

From the visitor centre, we did the Ridge Trail, the longest of the paths, but still only about half a mile. Quite a bit of artwork - wood carvings, giant pine cone sculpture built out of blocks of dark crystalline rock. The burns here had pale grey, pinkish pebbles of quartzites. Despite being kitted up in winter woollies, both felt too cold hanging around and badly need to get moving. Much of the Ben Eighe mountain top above us to the south was shrouded in cloud. Occasional, very brief glimpses the bleak looking snowy flank facing the loch.

From the Ridge Trail and visitor centre, headed to the next car park along the loch, close to the loch shore. The water very choppy with waves. From here, we did the Woodland Trail, with views across the loch to Slioch. The snow higher up the mountain brought out the horizontal rock layers and texture formed by gullies and rock falls. Views along the loch to its head at Kinlochewe and outlet of the Kinlochewe river - Munros Man tells me he had his Scotland-in-summer-Never-Again midge swarm experience here. Narrow burns  and falls cascaded from the hillsides into the loch. The wet weather brought out woodland colours  - birch tree barks, junipers, mosses. A relatively sheltered lunch stop overlooking Slioch - we  got the sandwiches in but had to move on before anything more as more rain and hail swept in and went.

Early afternoon, we headed back to the Gairloch area, thinking it would be clearer by the sea. It was a bit but no drier, as I've said in the Around Gairloch and Loch Ewe entry.