A Damp Morning's Walk

The day started chilly, damp and overcast but, with the promise of an improvement by midday, we set off early for the north coast.  After the wet weather of the last few days we didn't feel like braving the quagmires in the hills so opted for the walk from Ockle to Gortenfern.

The first part of the route is along a rutted track only used by the Ockle crofter, the occasional resident of the only house along this section, at Eiligadale, and HM Coastguard as this is the only access to this part of the north coast.  The telephone lines which used to be strung above the track have long gone, replaced by an underground cable.  If they continue to stand much longer, the poles will become historical monuments.

It had been drizzling when we left the car, but by the time we reached the cairn half way along the track the weather had deteriorated further.  However, this section of coast is so spectacular that one can easily forgive the weather.

Beyond the Eiligadale turn the track reduces to a narrow and, in these conditions, slippery path which turns away from the coast, hugging the steep side of the valley of the Allt Eiligadale.  The only sign of recent use were sets of deer hoof-prints and, puzzlingly along one section only, the marks of a bicycle tyre.

This view - taken at nearly midday, though it looks like evening - looks back down the valley.  The thick stands of bracken are a sure sign of relatively good soil, and their neat edging evidence that the land was once used for agriculture.  The Eiligadale settlement must have died a long time ago as, although the 1872 OS map shows seven structures, all of them are marked as unroofed.

A little further on there is a view across the valley to this little waterfall, on a tributary to the Eiligadale burn.  With the weather continuing dreacht, we turned back at the point where the path fords the Allt Eiligadale, and made a damp return to the car.  But by the time we crossed the watershed back to our side of the peninsula, the clouds had cleared and Kilchoan lay in bright winter sunshine.