A Favourite Walk

Leave the car at the sharp turn at the southern end of the basin, half a mile short of Camas nan Geall, and cross into Estate land via the five-barred gate. Within a few hundred metres one starts to come across stone-built structures....

....this one being what may be a large shieling hut from which there are fine views down the glen of the Allt Torr na Moine to Camas nan Geall. It may not be part of a shieling, as these are usually some distance from the clachans, and the clachan of Torr na Moine, to the right of the trees, is only a few hundred metres distant.

At the southern end of the low hill called Torr na Moine there's a broken stone wall which is described as being part of an iron age hill fort. The view is across the Sound of Mull to the northwest coast of the island.

From here one drops steeply....

....to the coast, where a series of lonely shingle beaches stretch away almost as far as the point called Maclean's Nose. The lumpy peaks at top centre are Stellachan Dubha.

Even on a warm August day, the chances of meeting anyone are small, but scattered along the beaches, which are some of the best for driftwood, are signs of people who have come here wild camping.

Almost at the end of the beaches are two houses on the edge of the shingle. I had always thought they might be fishermen's houses of the same age as the other houses in Bourblaige, but this is unlikely - see one interpretation for these dwellings on the Heritage Ardnamurchan website, here.

There are several good routes back to the car but the most spectacular is to follow the ridge in the centre distance of this picture....

....which gives good views back down into the open bowl of land that is part of Bourblaige - the two beach-side buildings are at the end of the further curve of shingle.

The view eastwards from the ridge looks across the beaches you've just walked to Ardslignish Point and Loch Sunart, with Morvern to the right while....

....on the other side lie the ruins of the cleared clachan of Bourblaige. Its sad story is told on the Heritage Ardnamurchan website here.

Because so few people visit this stretch of coast, it's very good for wildlife. On the late April day when we last walked the route, a stone chat scolded us for our temerity from the ruined walls of a Bourblaige house.