Wigtwizzle - Norman Smith's Travel Blog.: camas na muic

After breakfast I took the back road out of Banavie to Spean Bridge but turned off it part way along to take me to Clunes on the banks of Loch Lochy. Took some good moody shots of the Loch with the distant Grey Corrie hills as a backdrop before heading along The Mile Dorcha (The Dark Mile) to Eas Chia-aig waterfall at Loch Arkaig.

The dark mile got its name from the fact it is a narrow wooded valley which gets very little sunshine, thus the walls are all thickly covered in mosses. Legend has it that when Bonnie Prince Charlie fled Scotland, he buried a stash of gold in this area, which the French had sent him to finance the 1745 rebellion and, to this day, it has never been found.

I then retraced my tracks and headed to the coast, stopping off at Arisag for a coffee in the harbour tearoom. It is an unlikely place to have a cafe but in my opinion, it serves the best cappuccino I have ever had. I have been there twice now and each time it's been top notch; very strong and very frothy.

There isn't much roadside parking on the Coastal Trail now but I managed to get the last parking spot at Camas Rubha a Mhurain where I did a bit of beach combing and photography but didn't even attempt to get in to the Camusdarach car park as it was crammed full. It was be expected as it was July and the height of the holiday season so it didn't bother me too much as I like my beaches quiet.

I timed my arrival at Mallaig just as The Jacobite steam train was departing so got a good photo of it and also managed to get one of it crossing the distant Allt a' Mhama viaduct as it enters Loch nan Uamh.

Not wanting to waste such a nice day, in the evening I had a drive down Glen Nevis to both the Upper and Lower Falls. A fitting way to end a lovely, if hectic day.

Loch Lochy

The Dorcha Mile

Eas Chia-aig Waterfall

Traigh

Camas Rubha a Mhurain

The Jacobite

Loch nan Uamh

Glen Nevis

Upper Falls, Glen Nevis

Glen Nevis

Lower Falls, Glen Nevis

"Where Loch Ewe opens up to Mother Sea,
at Cove, still stands this crumbling concrete testament
to world war two and all those brave-heart men
who dared to face the elements, the enemy

In their so fragile ships, they left these shores,
last sight, these wounded rocks of Wester Ross;
last sounds they left behind - the crying of the gulls - as they
sailed north to Russia and the Arctic wars

Although this place of peace now holds scant trace
of what had come to pass those years before
and rust away as may the swords
we shall recall the poet's words:
We shall remember them

Long after all the blood and all the bedlam;
long after time has healed this wounded rock
and all war's echoes fade away."

~Poem by Bryan Islip~

A cloudy day, so we decided not to travel too far and just to go to the WWII Arctic Convoy Site at Cove which is situated at the top end of Loch Ewe. The village of Poolewe is the next one up from Gairloch and then it is just a case of following the coast road along the peninsula to its end at Cove.

You have some stunning views across the Loch. North to The Summer Isles and Coigach hills, and east to An Tealloch and the hills of Loch Broom. Part way along the road is a superb beach at Firemore called Camas na Muic. The weather had brightened up a bit so we spent quite sometime exploring it and taking photos.

Then it was on to Cove and the Convoy Site. The weather had drawn in and it was starting to rain a bit but this only added to the atmosphere and wildness of the place. It is so easy to envisage what the poor servicemen must have gone through whilst trying to get provisions through to the Russian people who were being starved in to submission by the German army. Many lost there lives on all sides and there is now a monument to the soldiers.

It is a very sobering experience standing next to one of the pill boxes, which are still scattered around the area; looking out to sea, and reflecting on what these brave men must have endured in such adverse conditions.

Never have the words "Lest We Forget" felt more apt.