Dùn na Cuaiche and Coille-bhràghad

Sunday 16th April 2017

When I started planning this holiday I wanted to go somewhere new and the lure of scotch whisky soon drew my attention to the Isle of Islay, which is famed for its distinctive distillations. However I was having difficulty coming up with a coherent plan so I ended up spending a lot of time planning a holiday in the Yorkshire Dales instead. I became very keen on the idea of going back to the Yorkshire Dales, but a coherent plan there proved even less achievable so in the end I turned my attention back to Islay and finally came up with a plan that I was happy with. Nevertheless I had spent so much time planning for a holiday in the Yorkshire Dales I was actually a little disappointed to be going to Scotland instead. Despite my intention to go to new places, this holiday actually started and finished in exactly the same way as a holiday that I did in 2007, ten years ago. That is also the only other occasion that I’ve been to Scotland at Easter, and it started by catching a bus from Glasgow to the traditional county town of Argyle: Inveraray. At that time I’d enjoyed some good weather that enabled me to do some walking in the Arrochar Alps, but when I got up at the start of this day for a return visit to the Arrochar Alps I found that it was raining.

A walk up the Corbetts to the west of the A83 road would have to wait for another time and instead I decided to do some walking around Inveraray. Just outside the town is Inveraray Castle, ancestral home of the Duke of Argyll, Chief of the Clan Campbell, which I visited ten years ago. The website for the castle describes two walking routes on the Argyll Estate and after walking past the iconic castle I started following signs for the first of these routes: The Dun na Cuaiche Woodland Walk. As the rain continued to fall I passed over a bridge and took a narrow path through lovely plant-(though no flowers)-filled woodland. After passing across a narrow field the walk progressed through conifer woodland that showed nothing of interest except for a fleeting glimpse of a red squirrel before it darted across the track and up a tree. As I climbed, the misty views east opened out over Glen Aray while some woodland flowers began to appear beside the path including primroses as the path narrowed near the top and snaked up to reach the prominent tower that stands watch over the castle and town of Inveraray.

Daffodils have been planted around the tower and celandines have also taken advantage of the clearing to share the view across the town and down Loch Fyne. Despite the misty views and rain I enjoyed wandering around the top of this grassy mound and gazing down the precipitous tree-clad slopes. There is a higher hill behind Dùn na Cuaiche, named Dùn Còrr-Bhile that has a trig point on it, but since there is no clear path through the trees, although I considered attempting it, I decided against it. Once I was all the way back down, by the way that I had come, I was struck by the tremendous promise in the wood near the bridge as it is clearly filled with bluebells that next month will be putting on a spectacular display that unfortunately I won’t be able to see. On the lane heading away from the castle there were some delightful, delicate pink flowers that are probably cuckooflower, which are so common I have some in my own garden, but still brightened an otherwise dull day.

The second walk described on the Inveraray Castle website follows this lane beside the River Aray and through Carloonan Farm to reach Carloonan Bridge where the river passes through some spectacular rapids. The directions had me turn left after this bridge but muddy paths encouraged me to turn right past Balantyre Lodge and onto the A819 road. A forestry track on the other side of the road was no better than the paths that I had been trying to avoid, but after rejoining the original route, and crossing the Allt Bail’ a’ Ghobhainn burn, I came across signs warning of forestry operations that barred access. If there had been actual forestry operations taking place at that moment I would have turned back, as I did last September, however it was Easter Sunday and there was no danger so I proceeded along the churned up track, past the abandoned forestry vehicles and the tall piles of cut logs that were giving off the unmistakable and pungent smell of fresh timber. The path improved as I passed beyond the felled areas and into areas that were felled some time ago where some recovery has taken place producing lovely displays of primroses as well as more depressing bushes of the invasive rhododendron.

As I made my way along the track the rain finally stopped, which made the walk a little more pleasant even though it was still rather grey and dull while low cloud spoilt the view, though Dùn na Cuaiche could now be clearly seen with Loch Fyne beyond. Eventually I reached the waterfall Steallaire Bàn that was surrounded by leafless trees covered in luxuriously soft, green moss and made for a stunning scene and compensated for the cascades that claim to be a waterfall. Beyond the falls, the path begins to descend and passes through Eas a Chòsain, a ravine that was gorgeously filled with plants from moss on the trees to small flowers on the ground and up the steep sides of the narrow gully. I was in awe of this magical place and even though it was starting to rain again I enjoyed every step as I slowly made my way down this explosion of green. This gully is shrouded by deciduous trees, which marks the difference with the conifer plantation that I had passed through earlier on the trail. Conifer plantations can never have the same feel of a good natural wood, and can never produce the reaction that I got from this gully.

Eventually this magical delight came to an end at the bottom where I turned onto a minor road that took me eventually back into Inveraray. Neither of these walks were great, except for the descent at the end through the gully that ultimately made the walk worthwhile. They hadn’t taken me very long and brought me back into Inveraray by two in the afternoon leaving me to wander around the town for the rest of the day including visiting the nineteenth century Jail in the town, but the day had already been ruined by the rain. Before coming to Scotland, I had been asked how much hiking I was going to be doing, and I had to respond that I wasn’t going to be doing much walking as the main purpose was really just sight-seeing. Even though I did manage to do a bit of walking on this day most of the afternoon was spent being a tourist. If I had gone to the Yorkshire Dales then I would have done a lot more hiking, but unfortunately that is not the main goal of this holiday.