South of the Sonachan

Just beyond the Sonachan Hotel on the way to Portuairk, the road plunges into a deep valley which runs away southwards. The purpose of our walk this morning was to explore this valley and the area between the Sonachan and the rugged crags of Beinn na Seilg. A start can be made along a marked path which dives into dense woodland, but this veers away westwards, so we left it and struck up hill. After the recent rain it was rough walking across heather, bracken and tufted grasses, all of which hid deep pools of peaty water.

The valley, which is called Garb-dhail, is well-wooded, most of the trees being birch, and there are plenty of signs of field workings and peat cutting. This view looks across the valley towards the distant village of Achosnich and the peaks of Beinn Bhuidhe with, to its left, Sgurr nam Meann.

The valley is formed by the small stream called Allt Garbh dhalach, the stream of the rough level field by the river, which runs from the western slopes of Beinn na Seilg to Loch Grigadale. It descends the early part of its course through several small waterfalls.

This picture, taken at the furthest point of our walk, looks northwest across the valley to Loch Grigadale, with Sgurr nam Meann to its right. By that time the sun was making a feeble attempt to shine across the damp landscape, but it gave up shortly afterwards and the rain recommenced.