Weather was a bit murky on our fifth day, so our guide took us on a very touristy trail up the bottom slopes of the Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve. We took the circular mountain trail and it's well marked with good paths. The descent is a bit tricky and steep, but you just have to take your time.
It starts on the banks of Loch Maree.
And the higher you get, the more of the surrounding mountain ranges you see.
This is about mid-way along the trail and where I separated from the group. They wanted to go up that mountain in the background (which is a lot higher and steeper than it looks in this photo - for scale, if you peer closely, you can just see the colourful jackets of the group just heading towards the hill above the water). But I saw grey clouds in the distance and the wind was already fairly strong, so I chose to head back to the van. Our guide assured me I would not get lost as long as I stuck to the path. He gave me the car keys and said they would be about two hours behind me, but that was just fine as I had my knitting with me (of course!)
Being alone, I could also take my time and stop and take as many photos as I wanted to. I love the deep ochre and brown colours of this lochan.
And it was great to see a rainbow over Loch Maree on the descent. The circular walk takes about four hours at a steady pace and a good choice if you don't have a guide and want to get up into the hills.
Finally, on our last day, the sun shone brightly and we headed up to the Rua Reidh Peninsula, northwest of Gairloch. As we climbed a small hill, we had the Minch behind us and could just see the outline of Skye in the distance.
And then we came upon a really spectacular view on the other side. From this one point, we could see the landscape of all three of our last Scotland holidays. Looking north, we could see the hills around and away from Ullapool and could just make out Suilven which remains one of my favourite climbs ever. To the west, we could see the outline of Harris. And to the southeast, we could see the Torridon mountain range. It was quite emotional, especially since this was our last day and not only had we had the same guide for three years running, but four of us in the group had been on all three holidays.
The walk ended with several miles of coastline.
Until we got to Rua Reidh Lighthouse which you can actually book if you'd like to stay there.
And so ends another Scottish adventure. I don't think I'll ever tire of visiting this beautiful area. So many more walks to do. . . .
1 comment:
Mark and I remember the Beinn Eighe nature reserve - we holidayed in Gairloch/Badachro a couple of times, over twenty years ago, and went up that walk at least three times.
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