Scotland Diary

Saturday - Two days after leaving Oxfordshire we were on the Road to the Isles. It was a beautiful sunny day. The mountains looked sharp and dark against the clear blue of the sky. The sunshine was the pale silver of late summer. We stopped in Fort William where a band of kilted pipers were playing in the open air.

Monty the Labrador, who had sulked during the long drive north, became very excited as we drove over the top of the hills and down the track to the little cottage by the loch. He discovered his inner puppy and ran around madly, jumping in and out of the river.

Sunday - Our first day, and it was straight on with the full wet weather gear to walk the dog. In the process I discovered that my waterproof coat and trousers weren’t waterproof at all. Let’s hope the weather improves. Weather watching can be a full time activity here. The cloud formations change every minute. One moment they are obscuring the tops of the mountains and the next the sun is streaming through the gaps like a spotlight.

Despite the rain we decided to walk around the loch in the afternoon. It was seriously wet – great drifts of mist were blowing across the water and drenching us. Monty looked very sleek and was as soft as a mountain spring-washed dog can be. The water was thundering down the heathery hillsides and into the loch. Every so often the clouds would lift to give a hint of sun and a sparkle on the water before the rain came across again like a grey curtain.

Eventually the rain stopped and the sun came out. So did the midges. Fortunately we had remembered to bring the repellent spray. Never has there been so effective and hideously smelly a concoction. The midges fly towards us and then veer away violently. So did the dog, who stopped begging for treats and looked at us with undisguised horror. Andrew got some excellent moody photographs of the scenery.

Monday – We found Monty a bone down by the river. We have been looking for antlers but they are hard to find. The Coulin estate runs a business selling antler powder as an aphrodisiac! No wonder there are so many puppies around here!

We walked to the lookout on Lake Clair this afternoon. The water in the ford was too high to walk across so we did some SAS style gymnastics and wriggled across using a tree trunk that had formed a natural bridge. This proved to be such hard work that on the way back we took our boots off and waded across instead. It was very refreshing (cold). We went to see Beauly’s puppies. They are a week old and have not opened their eyes yet. They are like little velvet moles.

The Red Deer came at twilight. Several of them came into the garden and cropped the lawn. There was a fine young stag and some beautiful fawns. We woke in the night to find the moon pouring down and one of the deer right outside our window. It was magical. They were still there at dawn. Andrew got up to take some photographs. It was a beautiful day. I took a dip in the river. The water was peaty brown, incredibly clear and icy cold. After about a minute I hopped out again, unable to breathe!

In the afternoon we climbed a mountain. There was an excellent path for some of the way and this was the moment when Andrew missed the photo of the holiday. I’d asked him to stop so I could take some water from the rucksack. He was about to change the battery in his camera… and two Tornados flew past us down the valley at about 100 feet! Now that’s what I call a low flying aircraft!

Once the path had finished we struggled on to the top of the mountain. And I mean struggled. We are both older and more unfit than when we climbed a mountain last year and I honestly do not know how I got to the top. What I lacked in stamina I made up for in determination, I suppose. We were coming up to the final ridge when six deer popped their heads up for a look at us. They seemed more curious than nervous and stared at us for a long time, no doubt wondering what on earth we were doing there, before running off up the hillside. Running. That made me feel a lot better.

Normally the descent of a mountain is a lot quicker than the ascent, for obvious reasons. On this occasion, however, it wasn’t. The heather hillside was tough going without a path and we were pretty tired and kept falling over. Monty was also tired and trudged along giving us reproachful looks. No doubt he’ll refuse to go out if he sees the rucksack coming with us again. We finally reached the car park as dusk was turning to darkness. It would have been the ideal time to see a Wild Cat slinking across the hills although I was so tired I would probably not have noticed one sitting on a rock next to me!

Wednesday - After such an active day yesterday we decided to take it easy today and sat around reading. Monty, however, was bursting with energy and bounced around down by the loch chasing his float. When we got back to the cottage it was to find two elderly ladies in a silver Volvo. They had been following the satellite navigation on their car and were completely lost in the wilderness.

Thursday - It was another lovely sunny day today. We went to Diabeig and walked around the bay. It was a tough scramble in some places and in others it was a yomp through the heather. We found a lovely pebbly bay that we had all to ourselves (not surprising with that path) and ate our lunch under a rowan tree. Monty found a dead bird to roll in. On the way back we met a group of young men bickering over whose fault it was that they had lost the path/ gone too slowly/shown themselves up in front of their mates. It felt as though we had stumbled into an episode of Lad’s Army. It can’t have helped that they were overtaken by a middle-aged woman (me) and a dog.

Today we decided to climb another mountain. This was rather brave in view of our showing the previous time, but according to the book it was “subdued” and “undistinguished.” It was still hard work, though Monty and I both preferred the smooth grassy slopes rather than thick heather and bracken. And it was still a Munro no matter how undistinguished. Actually we rather liked it. There were some stunning views on the way up and from the top you could see the whole of the Letterewe wilderness stretching away with no roads, no people, no civilisation… At least you could see it a bit, in between the drifts of mist and rain. We found a slightly sheltered spot for our picnic and all huddled up together. By the time we were ready to descend it was raining properly and we were obliged to rely on Andrew’s good old-fashioned compass for directions (no satellite navigation here!) We trudged on, getting wetter and wetter and with perfect navigation eventually found ourselves back in Achnasheen. We saw a lot of deer on the way down, including a group of stags.

Back in the cottage we wallowed in a hot bath and a sense of achievement and listened to the wind and the rain outside. How nice to be so cosy when it’s so wild. Later went out for Monty’s evening stroll, or in this case, and evening slink. It was a very windy, wet and stormy night.

Monty refused to get up this morning. Is he trying to tell us something? He finally struggled off the bed to go for a run by the river. Andrew was playing some Torran golf, which mainly seems to involve losing your balls in the river!

This afternoon we went to Victoria Falls. Not the more famous waterfall of that name but the one named after Queen Vic’s visit to the West Highlands. It was very pretty. QV thought so too. She commented in her diary how beautiful the scenery was but that nobody much lived here. Had our afternoon tea by Loch Maree, which is apparently one of the three most beautiful lochs in Scotland. There are sea eagles nesting there.

Andrew’s parents and his aunt have arrived, with her dog, Beckie, who is a Dandie Dinmont terrier just like the one in Walter Scott. Beckie has taken well to being a mountain Dandie. She romped through the heather on her first day and although her undercarriage became somewhat muddy she was a very game little dog. When we came to a river crossing she even plunged into the water up to her nose, encouraged by Monty who came back to help her across the river. Bless!

Monday - We went up Beinn Eighe. According to Wainwright, this is a mountain for heroes. Monty definitely qualified; he scrambled up the scree slopes and only made his sad noise once or twice. There were spectacular views from the top. It was amazing to be as high or higher than everything else round about, and incredibly beautiful. This was the highest mountain I have ever climbed and it felt like a great achievement as well as providing stunning views. There were some deer near the top, sunning themselves and clearly wondering why everyone bothered to struggle up the mountain. Monty was extremely good and didn’t chase them. Andrew found the GPS very useful although when it came to locating our lunch Monty was there much quicker.

Our local mountain is Beinn Liath Beag, a bright white quartzite mountain. We did think about climbing it and re-enacting the Battle of the White Mountain (1820) with me as Frederick of Bohemia, Andrew as General Tilly and Monty as the opposing armies. However after yesterday I can’t see many more ascents in the offing. Our legs ache!

Tuesday - Today we went to Gairloch and to the beach at Red Point. In the harbour we saw porpoises, seals and otters! It was another fantastic sunny day and we paddled in the sea and looked at the view across to Skye and the Outer Hebrides.

It is getting colder at night now. The skies are very clear and the Milky Way very beautiful. Each morning there is a mist over the loch and then the sun comes up and it vanishes slowly. Today is a cloudless blue sky – just right for eagles and for swimming in the river.

Friday - Ate fish and chips outside at Applecross, looking over to Skye. Saw an otter and a basking shark! What a fabulous fortnight and a wonderful holiday! My discovery of the holiday was Arran Aromatics, a superb shop selling the smells and tastes of Scotland. Check it out at www.arranaromatics.com (And no – they aren’t sponsoring me to say that! I wish!)

Andrew and Nicola’s Scottish Diary 2004