TRIP 10 - THE GAIRLOCH LOOP

We are living through some tricky times at the moment. Nothing is the same as it used to be and we are all having to adapt to changed circumstances.However, time is a constant and it marches on. It marched on to Sharon's birthday on the 19th March.

What plans we had! It had been some time since we had been to the fabulous Monachyle Mhor hotel. Time we went back, we thought, so, we booked a couple of nights and we were all set. We had discussed the route we might take. Where we might stop for lunch. Where we might walk. Should we get the champagne picnic lunch for one of our walks?

Oh! Foolish dreamers we were. The virus came and laid waste to all our plans. Monachyle Mhor would have to wait.

How to celebrate when we couldn't go to a restaurant? Or a bar. Or a theatre. Or a cinema. Where could we go without bumping into more than 5 other people?

The west coast, obviously. It was cold, but the sun was shining. Let's go, we said, so we did, but only after we made up a picnic and bought a sticky cake from the baker's at the bottom of the road. Then we were off.

Soon, we were thinking that we might just have made a bit of mistake as short, sharp showers swept over us not too long into the journey.

But there were little hints of blue sky further west, so we pressed on.

There were also some very fine views of sparkling white snow on the hills.

We decided to go through Achnasheen to Gairloch. That means you pass over into Glen Docherty, which takes you down to Loch Maree. There is a viewpoint as you reach the top of the pass. You get fantastic views down to the east end of Loch Maree, so we stopped for a good look, and it was a good look.

Loch Maree is one of the most beautiful lochs in Scotland and it is impossible not to stop for a wander on the shores. There are a few places to stop and we took advantage of the sun to have a wee look about.

You can tell it was a little cool, because we didn't go for a quick paddle.

It did look inviting, though.

Sharon did want me to go a bit further to get a good photo, but I saw through her plan.

Next stop was Victoria Falls. No, we hadn't taken a wrong turning and ended up in Africa, there is a Victoria Falls just off the road along the loch. It is quite spectacular and the recent wet weather and melting snow must have added to the water flowing over the falls.

From the falls you also get a nice view to the loch and the islands,which make it so attractive. That view is going to be lost once the trees grow a bit more.

It is not terribly far from there to Gairloch. We both like Gairloch a lot and there is no doubt that part of the charm of the place is the fantastic beach. If it was in Spain, it would be full of high rise hotels. That's why we have to stop global warming!

What adds to the attraction of the beach, is the backdrop of some fabulous mountains.

However, all this stopping to look at scenery makes a man hungry, so it was time to find somewhere for lunch. Restaurants and bars were out of the question, so we had to find somewhere nice to park the car and enjoy our picnic. We needed somewhere nice, but we were not going to sit outside sipping non-alcoholic wine on the tartan rug in the cold.

Big Sand was just the place, so we drove through the caravan site and parked overlooking the dunes. It actually got warm enough in the sun for us to open the car roof!

We had a very nice lunch of crudites, smoked salmon, Bob's marinated olives and homemade harissa Mayonaise (actually Hellman's with a bit of Harissa spice added in). We also had some non-alcoholic white wine that we have been wondering how to get rid of for some time. It was better than you might think!

Sharon did nip out for a quick photo opportunity.

She didn't scare the skylarks which were singing their magnificent hymns to the sun and the heavens. A real sign that spring and then summer are on the way.

Big Sand isn't called that for nothing! After lunch we wrapped up and headed for the beach. It is in the most stunning setting. It was also a bit crowded. There was one woman and a heap of seagulls and ringed plovers.

See - nobody else in sight!

Look at the sky!

We kept our social distance from the only other person on the beach

Sometimes we kept a decent bit of distance from each other as well!

Just because it is so amazing, here's the beach and the mountains again!

I told you there were seagulls.

This is one of the ringed plovers. You can't see the ring round its neck, because it was facing the wrong way, but it is there for sure, although it seems to have mislaid a leg.

After lunch and our walk on the beach it was time to move on. We passed this hovering buzzard on the way back into Gairloch.

Before you get to Inverewe with the famous gardens, there is a nice view back to the end of Loch Maree, and this is that view.

Beyond Inverewe is Loch Ewe, which is a sea loch. It also has the Isle of Ewe in the middle of it. Loch Ewe is famous as the place where huge numbers of ships gathered during the Second World War before they formed up into the Russian convoys. The Ministry of Defence still maintains huge fuel dumps, piers and other paraphernalia. There is a Convoy museum and memorial in the nearby village of Aultbea, but we did not have time to stop - next time, we will.

Time for something else to eat. Remember the sticky buns Sharon bought before we left, well it was time to find out if they tasted as good as they looked. Well, yes they did.

We had them overlooking Gruinard Bay.

Time to walk off the pastries, so we headed down to the little beach. There were three people there, but it was hardly crowded. There is a handy boardwalk to get you onto the sand from the roadside.

It is a lovely little beach.

There are fine views out to the Atlantic.

The Little Gruinard river flows over the beach. It has recently eroded a bit of the sand bank.

This has left little mounds of sand standing on top of some of the boulders that once would have been completely buried.

Quite odd, really.

This is Gruinard Island and it is very famous, at least in Highland terms. It was inhabited up until the 1920s. However, it was rendered unfit for human habitation in 1942. The government thought it would be a good idea to test out biological weapons. Clearly that would have been unacceptable in the Home Counties, so a wee island in a remote part of the Highlands would fit the bill perfectly. They requisitioned it infected it with anthrax, killing sheep specially imported to check that it was all working OK! It soon became apparent that anthrax would stay in the soil for decades, so access to the island was prohibited. It was only decontaminated in the 1980s and the warning signs were taken down in 1990, when the original owner's heirs bought it back for the requisition price of £500.

I'm not sure I would go over their despite reintroduced sheep being apparently healthy.

From Gruinard, we started to head for home. The route takes you along the shore of Loch Glascarnoch and you get wonderful views into the west slopes of Ben Wyvis, which is also the mountain that dominates the view from our living room.

As we got nearer to the mountain, the snow became even more spectacular against the blue sky.

Even more amazingly, there were people climbing down the mountain, presumably having been to the top. They are there, honest.

The zoom lens showed them in a bit more detail.

From here, it is not too far to get home. We had a really great day out for Sharon's birthday. Whilst it would have been good to have gone to Monachyle Mhor for a bit of luxury, we had a fabulous time and we still have the hotel to look forward to sometime when the virus is just a memory.