The Beach East of Choiremhuilinn

The poor forecast had suggested we take a gentle walk along the sands at Sanna yesterday but, for the first time, we changed the route to a potentially more exposed and muddy one on the basis of what rain we could see coming towards Ardnamurchan on NetWeather's radar forecast, here, which suggested a break in the rain between about nine and midday.

The rain was, on schedule, thinning as we left the car at the first turn out of Kilchoan, near the silage rolls, and walked out onto Estate land. Picture looks across the Allt Choire Mhuilinn northwestwards to the peaks of Glas Bheinn, left, and Meall an Tarmachain, lost in low cloud.

Almost immediately we spotted a small group of red deer, which we took to be a bachelor herd of young stags who were patiently waiting out the rut. Although they were well aware of our presence, they seemed in no hurry to move.

Reaching the sea near the site of the old mill at the cleared clachan of Choiremhuilinn, we turned east along the rock and shingle beaches which form a series of small bays in the direction of Maclean's Nose. By this time the rain, as predicted, had cleared, but the rocks remained slippery and progress slow.

It's a little-visited beach: the only person we've ever met walking along it was the Raptor, though we did once meet two Dutch kayakers who were landing to spend a night on the shore. There's plenty washed up along its tide line, including a fair amount of plastic rubbish much of which seems to have been blown across from Tobermory.

One thing that remains on the beach, despite our having reported it to HM Coastguard, is several lengths of the floating oil boom which was laid around the Lysblink Seaways.

Finding it coincided with an email from Jim McQuarrie attaching pictures of the Lysblink Seaways under tow again en route to Rosneath where, finally, she is being scrapped. Many thanks to Jim for the picture.

There's a point where the shingle runs out and the remaining section of shore is covered with very broken rock, so we stopped there, sheltering from an increasingly strong southerly wind while we looked back towards Mingary Castle, now much more visible in this sort of mucky weather because of the light mortar used in the re-pointing process. Rising behind the castle is Beinn ne Seilg and the ridge of Druim na Gearr Leacainn at the back of Ormsaigbeg.

We arrived back at the car after a walk of over two hours to find that some cattle had been using it as a scratching post, fortunately doing no more damage than knocking back one of the wing mirrors.