South Loch Ness Trail

Friday 24th May 2019

After five days trekking across the North-West Highlands of Scotland in mixed weather I had returned to civilisation in Inverness and for the next three days I planned to do some low-level walks to enable me to recuperate before heading back out into the mountains. However, the weather forecast for the next week was very poor which made me very depressed, but there was one day when the forecast was good, and that was this day. This actually didn’t help my despondency as I’d not planned to climb a mountain although it seemed like being the best weather to do just that. There are no mountains near Inverness so I would have to travel a long distance, there and back, to climb a mountain, so eventually I decided I would do the planned low-level walk, mainly because I had nothing better planned to do. For this day I wanted to explore the area to the south of Loch Ness making use of the South Loch Ness Trail that has been created specifically to encourage people into this less frequently visited part of Scotland. My biggest problem with this trail was that it starts from Torbreck on the edge of Inverness, four miles from the youth hostel in the centre of the city. This walk out, at first, was quite interesting as I followed the River Ness upstream, though it was very cold at this early hour with a cold wind blowing down the river under overcast skies with no sign yet of the forecast sunshine.

It wasn’t long before I had to leave the river’s side and follow a boring leafy lane for several miles slowly leaving the city of Inverness behind. After passing a large roundabout I left the city and entered the countryside walking on the road with fast cars driving straight at me until, thankfully, I safely reached the turning for the minor road to Torbreck where I found the path into the woods at the start of the South Loch Ness Trail. The change in surroundings after walking through the city and dicing with death on the country lane was dramatic and welcome. I now had a lovely walk through the mostly conifer woodland where the sun finally made its first, though brief, appearance as this walk started to come good. Beyond the all-too-small wood the trail climbs to the edge of Drumashie Plantation on the northern slopes of a broad hill. Following a forestry track I headed along the trail beside banks of pungent smelling gorse and broom while to my right the wide valley of the Great Glen could be seen, though with still no sign of Loch Ness as I had not come far enough yet. After a while young deciduous trees appeared beside the path to my right and when I left the plantation behind I had views across Drumashie Moor to my left where gorse dominated the scene under persistent overcast skies.

The South Loch Ness Trail runs for thirty-four miles from Torbreck to Fort Augustus so I was not going to be able to complete the whole route in one day and as I walked I considered my options for a return path. Upon reaching a road the South Loch Ness Trail descends along the road to reach the lochside village of Dores, however another trail, primarily designed for horse riders, called the Trail of the Seven Lochs, continues straight ahead and I thought it might be a good idea to take that route and keep to the higher ground. Soon after parting company with the South Loch Ness Trail the view to my right finally revealed the northern end of Loch Ness, though it was not looking great under the hazy light and grey clouds. Much of my walk along the Trail of the Seven Lochs was through the conifer plantations of Clune Wood and Dirr Wood on rather muddy paths that made the walking tiring and frustrating. Slowly I made my way along the trail passing several farms and through more conifer plantations until I reached one that was in the process of being felled, and this afforded me with an unrestricted view across Loch Ness with Urquhart Bay behind.

I was now at the point where the South Loch Ness Trail rejoins the Trail of the Seven Lochs and rather than continue heading south where I would soon have to climb up to the top of Fair Haired Lad’s Pass I turned right to head back towards Inverness along the South Loch Ness Trail. I had contemplated continuing to head south and eventually catch a bus in Inverfarigaig or Foyers, but I wasn’t sure of the times of the buses and I wasn’t keen on rushing the walk to be in time to catch the bus back to Inverness. I prefer to take my time on a walk and hate having a deadline. I walk for enjoyment and did not want to stress myself trying to catch a bus, so instead I slowly followed the wide forestry track that gradually descends to the shore of the loch. The point where I turned was decorated with wild flowers including bluebells and stitchworts that had taken advantage of the tree-felling to produce a delightful display and brightened the otherwise dreary surroundings. Eventually the forestry track brought me onto the lochside road where upon crossing the Allt Dailinn I entered a fabulous deciduous wood that was liberally festooned with bluebells and provided me with a great walk before kicking me out again onto the road. After passing Baile-a-chladaich a path between the road and the loch provided me with more bluebell-filled delights and sunny views up and down the loch.

The Trail of the Seven Lochs had not provided me with any of these delights and made me wish I had stayed on the South Loch Ness Trail throughout. All too soon I reached the village of Dores where I discovered I had almost two hours to wait for the next bus, but this was not a problem as the map indicated some good walks through the nearby Torr Woods. The skies had finally clearing revealing blue skies so I enjoyed the sunshine as I crossed the bay to enter Torr wood and turned right to do a walk around the hill of An Torr. At one point I found a covering of bluebells in an opening in the trees which produced a splendid sight that would not shame anywhere. Slowly I wandered along the paths through the wood not really knowing how far I had gone, so I was rather surprised when I found myself back at the start without realising I had gone all the way around the hill. To waste more time I made my way down to the lochside to take some pictures and eventually found myself at Torr Point with a view down the length of Loch Ness. With the sun shining this was a lovely and relaxing end to a day that could have been considered frustrating and a wasted opportunity, but I must not dwell on what could have been and simply enjoy the sunshine that eventually graced me in the afternoon.