The Woodland of the Allt Choire Mhuilinn

It's not unusual for us to set off on a walk with a particular objective and then find we do something rather different. This morning, starting optimistically in a brief moment of sunshine, we set off to explore the land to the south of the straight section along the Kilchoan road just before it enters the village (see map at bottom of post) but we ended up spending most of our time wandering slowly down the lower course of the Allt Choire Mhuilinn.

The burn's name comes from the clachan, Choire Mhuilinn, which once thrived on its eastern bank close to its mouth. Choire means corrie, and mhuilinn means mill. Although the mill race no longer exists and the mill building is no more than a grassy mound, this burn must have provided the motive power for the mill.

For most of its upper course this lovely little burn wanders through open country, then into a shallow glen which runs almost parallel to the Kilchoan road. As it passes the silage storage area it isincreasingly hemmed in by trees, but then it suddenly....

....plunges over an impressive waterfall and for the rest of its course....

....runs at the bottom of a steep gorge. The gorge itself and the land on either side is thickly clothed with deciduous woodland, the dominant tree being oak, and much of it shows every sign of being old, with very little new growth.

I don't like walking in woodland, feeling enclosed, hemmed in by it, but wandering through these openly-spaced trees was a pleasure. After the brief flash of sunshine when we started, the day reverted to grey, so the woodland wasn't at its best. In summer, this walk will be a joy.

Some sections of the burn are straight, while in others....

....the burn almost disappears from sight as it undercuts the already steep banks. Everywhere, the trees lean across it, turning the glen into a tunnel.

As can be seen in earlier pictures, many of the trunks and larger branches of these trees are thickly covered with moss, and within this carpet small ferns grow.

About half a kilometre from its mouth, a high wall - probably 19th century - and sections of fencing bar further progress towards the sea. There is a gate, but we chose to climb out of the glen and walk west along the ridge, from which there....

....were views eastwards towards Maclean's Nose and the Marine Harvest fish farm, lit by what turned out to be the last sun of the day. By this time the southeasterly wind was brisk, gusting to force 7 along the tops, with occasional flurries of rain, but high above us....

....a juvenile sea eagle soared, frequently harried by buzzards, hoodies and ravens. The object of their interest was to be found in one of the boggy sections as we headed back to the road - another blackface sheep dead in a morass of mud.

Map courtesy Bing Maps.

More Sunset Pictures

Last evening's sunset was so spectacular that many were taking out their cameras to capture the colours. These pictures come from Ritchie Dinnes, taken at Ardnamurchan Point lighthouse looking towards the north. The island to the right is Eigg, Rum is behind the foghorn, and part of Skye is behind them.

Ritchie also captured this image which shows four of the islands to the north of us, from left to right the low-lying Canna, the hills of Rum and, in front of it, Muck, and the mountains of Skye.

Many thanks to Ritchie for the pictures.

Sunset from Ardnamurchan Point

Kilchoan Early Bird's picture, taken from near Ardnamurchan Point a few minutes ago, shows the hole torn in the clouds which gave us the spectacular sunset across Kilchoan Bay - see earlier post. The darker line along the horizon to the right is Coll, while the northwest coast of Mull, around Caliach Point, is visible to the left, but Kilchoan Early Bird notes that it was so clear that he could see all the way down to the Treshnish Islands, just visible in the picture to the left of centre.

Many thanks to Kilchoan Early Bird for the photo.

Winter Sunset

After a day of high grey overcast the setting sun finally found a gap through which to shine, and we were treated to a spectacular light show. This is Maclean's Nose with Rubha Aird an Iasgaich in the middle distance and the island of Glas Eilean in the foreground.

As the sunlight spread across the hills, it picked out the houses in Pier Road and ever fold in the slopes of Beinn ne h-Urchrach standing behind them.

Looking straight across Kilchoan Bay from Ormsaigbeg, this picture includes the houses in the centre of Kilchoan and Kilchoan Hotel, and Ardnamurchan Estate land rising to the wooded slopes of Beinn nan Losgann, the green of the woodland almost drowned by the deep orange of the sunset.

A little later the shades deepened further as the shadow of the ridge of Druim na Gearr Leacainn behind Ormsaigbeg began to cut out the sun - and then, as quickly as it had started, the clouds drew across the sun and the show was over.

But.... is that a rainbow of some sort to the right of the picture?

New Year Aurora

We missed the new year's eve aurora for all the usual reasons - clouds - but we're fortunate to have a correspondent in the New World who dragged his poor wife out into the snowy and freezing Canadian wilderness in order to enjoy her company while he captured these superb pictures of the event.

Our son David also specialises in taking interesting photos of the many old sheds which are scattered around the Alberta countryside, so he was able to combine the aurora with a few more to add to his collection. He posts them on Instagram - his site is here.

Depending on how much you trust the Russians, it may be worth looking out during tomorrow night as the Tesis site, which uses satellite instruments launched by the Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Science, is predicting a minor event which we may be able to see - clouds willing.

Many thanks to David for the pictures.