Lochan Druim na Claise

With a fine day forecast today we set off to find one of the lochans we haven't yet visited. Since unexplored lochans are becoming scarcer, this entails longer and longer walks to reach them. Today's objective, at the southwest tip of the peninsula, south of the Lighthouse, was Lochan Druim na Claise, druim meaning ridge and claise a narrow valley. The name describes the lochan perfectly as it is an unusually elongate, almost 500m long, hemmed into a narrow valley between two ridges.

Leaving the car on the Lighthouse road at NM423669, we passed through a gate into the wild country to the south of the Lighthouse. It's extremely hard walking, through long grass, marsh and over rocky ridges. Much to our surprise, tucked into a small valley, we came across evidence of human habitation, what might have been a small house, pictured, along with dry stone walls and a byre. This might have been a summer sheiling, but it might have been a place where someone lived permanently, a lonely spot cut off from the world.

Due to a slight navigational error by The Diary, we drifted west, reaching the high ridges that run along this coastline below Garbhlach Mhor, NM428653. We then followed the ridge southeastwards, climbing until we reached a well-built cairn from where he had wonderful, 360-degree views, southwest towards Coll, Tiree, Mull and the Treshnish Islands, and north towards Ardnamurchan Lighthouse, Bay McNeil with its white beaches, and, at the right, Grigadale farm; beyond, in the distance, is the Isle of Eigg.

We stopped for lunch a few metres further along the ridge, propping ourselves against the concrete pillar of the trig point at NM423645. On one side the slope fell almost vertically into the Sound, so we looked straight down on passing yachts, on the other it dropped steeply to the lochan.

In all, we covered some six kilometres, our only company being wheatears, a marsh warbler, pipets, seagulls, hooded crows and a ewe with twin lambs near the trig point.

A map of the walk area is here.