I was extremely hot in the sleeping bag during the night finding it surprisingly uncomfortable. After leaving the dive centre the night before I set off to look for somewhere sheltered or flat to set up camp and had decided to pitch near the shore. The following morning it was considerably cooler. Turning my phone on to check the time I received a message from Paul alerting me to the highly likely chance that snow was on its way to the west coast and judging by the drops in recent temperature I truly believed that he was right and that it was a real possibility. The skies were covered with a thick cloud lining some white others black. I was taking the day off anyway but as I looked across the loch I couldn't help but wonder how the extreme change in the weather would affect my crossing in hoolley and the subsequent hike along the coastline ahead of me.
Having drunk the two ltrs of milk I'd taken from the shop the evening before I'd left none to have with my breakfast in the morning. Leaving the tent pitched I set off back to the shop to get some more. As I was walking along the road towards the store a car pulled up alongside me the passenger window wound down. It was the columnist who'd written the piece in the oban times that had gotten me recognised throughout the local area, he'd seen me on the road between Lochailort and Glenuig and as he'd passed I'd waved which he thought was odd but something I always do to thank drivers for pulling over as they passed to give me room on the narrow lanes. After a long chat, me leaning in to the passenger window, iain offered me the use of his bathroom to freshen up and join him for breakfast.
The following couple of days were to turn out to become a welcome break from the normal trudging through bogs and marshes. Iain, keen to shiw me the area and share his knowledge of local history extended his invitation of breakfast by offering me the use of the couch in his front room.
On the Thursday I was taken to the local estate iain helped manage and maintain to put out some salt blocks for the deer. Using an eight wheeled cat, which looked very much like a moon buggy we headed up into the hills over the marshes. The cat was unstoppable and a vehicle I'd never driven before. Picking it up quite quickly steering with motorcycle handle bars and controlling the throttle on the right grip we toured the boundaries coming across thick herds of deer grazing and seeking shelter from the winter winds. Heading up to the highest point, beinn itherlainn, I was able to view the loch and route I'd hiked from Strontian with a birds eye. It was quite surprising just how far I could see but what was more surprising was how cold it was up there.
On the Friday we headed back to the wishing stone where I was told the whole story of the tradition and how the unusual formation had been created and in fact stretched across the sound of mull to the shores opposite. A little further up from the wishing stone was a fresh water well, the tradition was to take a mouth full of water back to the stone before climbing through without touching the sides and how he'd often attempted it.
After a quick photo shoot at the stone which was too slippery for me to safely climb without using my hands we headed for the Silica mines Lochaline. Its fine white powdered sand is used in kitchenware, laboratory glassware and the protective glass covering solar panels. With over 60 miles of tunnels stretching beneath the village makes this mine the largest in Europe and the only one in Britain.
With the weather deteriorating it was decided that it would be best to wait it out and hope it would improve, which it didn't.
Iain very kindly let me stay longer and we planned to meet again at a small remote cottage he ownes on the shore of the next remote section of the trek.
The following day we went to Strontian, the small village I had passed through a few days earlier. Again I was enlightened by iains knowledge of the local area as he informed me that the village was where the element Strontian was discovered. After stopping at a small cafe in the hills above we went on to the lead mines where 800 locals had been employed and where iain had been brought up as a child, his parents house located in the glen not far from the site. As we drove passed iain pointed out the location of one of the mine shafts that he'd taken an aqualung into, as parts of the mine were submerged under water, to try and locate one of the veins.
My stay in Lochaline was turning into a welcome break and I was able to relax although all the time I was conscious that I would have to eventually leave and brave the weather no matter what was thrown at me. Making the decision to stay sunday and leave the following Monday seemed to make sense.
Being well fed with roast dinner chicken and custard. Venison with all the trimmings the following night and chicken pie followed by cheesecake on Saturday I was ready to tackle the terrain that lay ahead and the challenges I'd soon be facing.
No comments:
Post a Comment