The Valley of the Millburn

This view was taken today from the slopes of Druim na Gearr Leacainn, looking across the valley of the Millburn towards the broken heights of the land to the north of Kilchoan township. The highest point is Meall an Tarmachain, ptarmigan hill. A century and more ago, the lowland would have been divided by neat stone walls into parcels of land intensively worked by a thriving population, and the shy ptarmigan would have been common in the high tops. Today the fields are deserted save for a few sheep, the only stone enclosure standing is the fank in the right foreground where the sheep used to be gathered, and ptarmigan are unknown at this end of Ardnamurchan.

A tributary of the Millburn, Abhainn Chro Bheinn, flows down the small valley above and beyond the two houses. Just below the bridge across the Sanna road is the waterfall which froze so spectacularly in mid-December. After joining the Millburn the stream turns sharply to run across the low land where the water was used to turn the millwheel which ground the local grain.

We climbed the Abhainn Chro Bheinn valley, following the track cut by Scottish Water to access the water treatment works, passing a contented herd of highlanders, cattle which are increasingly common on the local crofts, which peered at us from under their fringes.

The stream has cut a steep-sided gorge through which it descends in a series of cascades. It's a hidden, peaceful place, silent except for the sound of rushing water, and almost lifeless except for a rock pippit and, surprisingly for the time of year, a small swarm of midge-like insects.

Looking back across the Millburn's valley from the burn's upper reaches, a sheltered field lies in a cup of land below the slopes of Beinn na Seilg. This is Lag a' Choire, another name which remembers the people who have gone. The name means the corrie of the still, a secluded place where whisky could be distilled out of sight of the excise men.

A map of the area is here.