Wednesday 5th June 2024
The weather during my second week in the Scottish Highlands was cold, windy and showery so the mountains that I had planned to walk up were not going to happen. Instead I had to be content with low levels walks that I was surprised to find were very enjoyable, possibly even more than going up a mountain. At the end of the previous day I had driven to the town of Ullapool whose sole attraction for me in the past has been the ferry to Stornoway and I have passed through there on several occasions on my way to or from the Isle of Lewis. So I have not done a walk from Ullapool or in the area, but with bitterly cold, strong winds keeping me low I had to look for local inspiration and initially found it on the ‘Welcome Ullapool Map’ freely given to visitors which mentions a coastal path to Rhue. I decided to follow that and started by crossing the Ullapool River and following the shore out to Loch Broom soon passing a golf course where no one appeared to be playing in these strong winds. A heavy shower had fallen while I was having breakfast, but now there were blue skies ahead of me while the mountains behind clung onto the rain. Soon, the path dwindled to nothing but navigation was never difficult as I kept the sea to my left and a fence to my right walking on either the pebbly beach or the grass verge while red posts marked a safe route past the golf course.
The sunshine didn’t last very long and soon it clouded over before suddenly I saw a flash of lightening and, a second later, a very loud crack of thunder, which prompted me to hastily disappear below a nearby rock while the thunder storm passed overhead. Once the rain had stopped I moved on again and later I found rock dominating the ground which was fun to walk on but tricky as sometimes I encountered sheer drops that had to be negotiated until finally Rhue Lighthouse came into view. There was not much to see at the wind-swept point so I soon turned around onto the path that brought me to a small car park. I could have returned to Ullapool by the way I had come but the coastal path had not been easy to follow so I decided to just walk along the road, which was not a problem until I reached the main road where the cars were travelling very fast so I kept to the grassy margins while several showers passed overhead. My interest was maintained by the colourful display of wild flowers beside the road until eventually I came into Ullapool where I immediately turned my attention to my next walk. When driving into the town the day before I had seen a sign for the Ullapool Hill Walk, so at that sign I now turned off the road to follow a path steeply up the hillside.
The sun came out for my climb up out of Ullapool providing me with great views across the loch and out to sea while gorse and rhododendron lined a great path that steadily climbed the hill to an awesome viewpoint. It was amusing to compare the sunny views out to sea with the views in the other direction towards the head of Loch Broom which were always misty and filled with rain. The mountains seemed to be always shrouded in cloud while I enjoyed lovely sunshine, though the wind was now getting stronger as I climbed. The prominent peak of Meall Mòr, otherwise known as Ullapool Hill, dominated the view uphill with a clear path that led all the way up to the top so I eagerly made my way up the path until at the summit I had fabulous views in all directions including now east towards Loch Achall. However, it was exceptionally windy at the top of Ullapool Hill despite this really being a very low hill, so I soon made my way back down to a junction where I could have turned left towards the Braes of Ullapool but instead I turned right to cross the northern slopes of Meall Mòr gradually heading towards Loch Achall while the rain returned again. I went all the way to the shore of Loch Achall even though this was not necessary, but in the end I decided to follow the track to the shore where I could see the sun was shining at the far end of the loch but grey clouds lingered overhead.
From a photography point of view, it wasn’t worth the effort as the best picture I took of Loch Achall was taken from the top of Ullapool Hill, but I think it was still worth it to walk to the shore of the loch before finally returning to Ullapool alongside the Ullapool River. The weather this day was very changeable from bright sunshine to heavy rain and thunder storms with the only constant being the strong winds though I was often sheltered from the wind so it was only when not sheltered that I felt the full force of those cold winds, while at Rhue and on Ullapool Hill. These low-level walks had a curious appeal for me which I may not have felt when I was younger. Twenty years ago I may have gone up the mountains despite the poor weather (I’m thinking about when I climbed Ben Lawers in 2007), but now I am enjoying these walks that show there is more to life than Munro-bagging.
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