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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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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.
