Inverie Woods and the Mallaig Circular Walk

Friday 8th June 2012

After four days in Knoydart it was sadly time for me to leave this fantastically wild and remote area. Before catching the ferry back to Mallaig I did a quick walk around the woods above Inverie where there is a good selection of paths above the small community and provided me with an entertaining walk while I waited. These paths took me up the steep hillside, climbing as high as I could get, until I reached a viewpoint near the top fence where I had views across the bay and out to sea, and then I dropped quickly down the hillside along a bike track having just as much fun running down as I would have done if I’d cycled down. On the pier I caught the ferry and nostalgically looked at the view of Knoydart behind me as the boat pulled away from Inverie. The Corbett and the three Munros that I had climbed during my time in Knoydart came into view as the boat pulled away from the shore: Ladhar Bheinn on the left, Sgurr Coire Choinnichean in the middle, standing guard over Inverie, and Luinne Bheinn and Meall Buidhe to the right. They could all be clearly seen as a reminder of my time in the area.

In Mallaig, due to the sparsity of trains on the West Highland Line, I had a five hour wait for the next train. Fortunately while waiting for the ferry to Knoydart on Monday I had seen a notice board that mentioned circular walks around Mallaig. The Mallaig Circular Walk climbs from the East Bay car park up a clear, well surfaced path to a viewpoint that overlooks the port. The circular walk then continues along this pleasant path down to Malaig Bheag and returns to the start along the road. This is listed as a two mile walk, which wasn’t going to last the five hours that I needed to fill, so at the top of the hill I turned right following a marker that pointed towards “Loch an Nostarie and Loch Eireagoraidh”. However, I think I must have immediately gone the wrong way as the faint path that I was following lead to a tall deer fence with no way over it. Turning left beside the fence I dropped down into a grassy gully where I found the correct path and a gate through the fence, which led me to another fence from where views could be seen across the seemingly unspoilt Loch an Nostarie.

Since I had plenty of time until my train was due I decided to start following some of the paths that are marked on my map that I could just about make out on the ground and headed east. The path I was walking along was very faint and difficult to follow, which made me feel like I was walking in some really wild and isolated location, but the illusion of unspoilt terrain was ruined when I realised that I was following a pipeline that goes from Loch Eireagoraidh past Loch an Nostarie to the coast near Mallaig (supplying water for the village). Two paths go either side of the small hill of Beinn nan Caorach to a narrow gully between the rocky peaks of Carn a’ Ghobhair and Carn Mhic a Ghille-chairn before eventually reaching Loch Eireagoraidh. I took the northern path past Beinn nan Caorach but I turned back along the southern path before reaching the gully. I suppose it might have been fun if I had gone through the gap and seen the loch, and maybe even climbed the rocky peaks to their summits. With hindsight I wish I had, but at the time I was just thinking about getting back to Mallaig for something to eat.

The path I was following led me briefly beside the An Leth-allt stream before descending to the shore of Loch an Nostarie. A pleasant walk along the shore led me all the way to Glasnacardoch on the main road near the coast, and a walk along the old road past a swimming pool and the secondary school brought me back into Mallaig where I had my lunch. The rest of my day in Mallaig was whittled away doing little else. It’s a shame I wasn’t able to do a bigger walk on my last full day in Scotland as my schedule dictated that I needed to catch a train south along the West Highland Line to Crianlarich where a short overnight stop would interrupt my journey home. I quite enjoyed my walk around the hills overlooking Mallaig. The weather was as good as I had enjoyed throughout my holiday and afforded me with good views out to sea, towards the mountains of Rùm and south towards Loch Morar. I can’t believe how lucky I was with the weather during this holiday. This summer has been infamous for its bad weather and yet I found the only spot in Britain to have escaped. Not since 2006 have I known such consistently good weather during a holiday.

The negatives from this holiday are partly a result of the good weather: by the end of the holiday I was covered in insect bites from the midges that always plague the West Highlands during the summer. The hot weather had brought them out in their billions and they all seem to have made a beeline for me! Another problem I had on this holiday was my seeming inability to go uphill without quickly getting out of breath and exhausted. I put on a lot of weight over the winter and I think I was finally paying the price for it. Finally, I think a problem I had on this holiday, and indeed on other holidays in Scotland, is a lack of flexibility. I plan my holidays so rigidly that unless I have planned them perfectly, which rarely happens, I end up with things like a five hour wait for a train in Mallaig. My planning for holidays needs to be better or just a little less rigid in that plan. I had attempted with this holiday to stop my dissatisfaction with my Scottish holidays, and I can’t say this holiday was disappointing as I had a fabulous time throughout the fortnight. I climbed twelve Munros and two Corbetts while staying in some adorably isolated locations. The unspoilt isolation of places like Loch Ossian and Knoydart is the highlight of this holiday.