Dùn na Cuaiche and Coille-bhràghad

Sunday 16th April 2017

When I started to plan 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 proved even less achievable there, 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 a holiday in the Yorkshire Dales I was actually a little disappointed to be actually 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 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 Argyll: Inveraray. In 2007 I 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 to follow 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 the 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 while 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 not a 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 was clearly filled with bluebells that next month would be putting on a spectacular display that unfortunately I wouldn’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 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, since it was Easter Sunday and there was no danger, 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 to where felling that taken place some time ago with some recovery having sunsequently taken place to produce 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 which made for a stunning scene and compensated for the cascades that claim to be a waterfall. Beyond the falls, the path began to descend and pass 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 had started 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. They can never have the same feel of a 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 eventually took me 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 I was 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, 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 do, and I had to respond that I wasn’t going to be doing much walking as my main purpose for being in Scotland 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 was not the main goal of this holiday.

Dimminsdale and Calke Park

Saturday 4th March 2017

Apart from a brief outing at Christmas I consider my walking season to be from March to October as outside of those months the weather is not really good enough for me to have a satisfying walk (since I am not interested in winter sports). Last week I described the final walk I did last year (not including my week in the Lake District at Christmas) and now I am moving onto the first walk I did this year. Throughout last year I had been walking around the Ivanhoe Way and I had intended on starting this year with my last section of the trail from Ashby-de-la Zouch to the Dimminsdale Nature Reserve. There is a stunning display of Snowdrops at Dimminsdale in late winter that I wanted to see again and completing the last section of the Ivanhoe Way would have made a good excuse, but in the end I decided it wasn’t necessary as I’ve already walked that section before during the National Forest Way and I don’t need an excuse to visit Dimminsdale. All I needed was some good weather in late Winter and that came on the first weekend in March.

I first came to Dimminsdale two years ago on the National Forest Way and without realising it I had timed it perfectly to see the snowdrops at their peak. Last year I started the Ivanhoe Way in Dimminsdale at the same time of the year to pay those snowdrops a return visit and now I was back this year just so I could see those snowdrops. The paths through the Dimminsdale Nature Reserve were very muddy underfoot, but that wasn’t my biggest problem. When I tried to take some pictures of the wonderful displays of snowdrops I realised that the batteries in my camera were flat and all the other batteries that I had taken with me were also flat. This was really frustrating as I had come all this way to take photos of snowdrops, and although I would be able to use my phone it doesn’t take as good pictures. I headed around the muddy reserve, past the remains of the limekilns and up to the site of the mine manager's garden where all the snowdrops are to be found.

Snowdrops are an introduced flower to Britain so are only found in the wild where someone has planted them and after several hundred years these snowdrops have spread over all that corner of the reserve to produce a gorgeous display. I did another circuit of the reserve while trying to get my camera to work, but to no avail so I made use of my phone before heading off along a path beside Red Brook out of the reserve and onto the road. On the other side is a National Trust sign directing a route to the right, which I followed through a wood and into Calke Park, a National Trust property. I first came to Calke Abbey two years ago on the same stage of the National Forest Way previously mentioned, and I returned last year to see their bluebells. I was keen to explore this fascinating area further, so after a brief visit to the centre buildings I started off along the red way-marked trail past the abbey and towards St Giles’ Church.

Turning off the track I walked past a derelict deer shelter, where I had my lunch, and through the damp, grassy parkland. The sun was shining brightly, which lifted my soul and made me happy to be out walking in the countryside with the promise of spring just around the corner. The Red Walk took me through a wetland area to join up with the National Forest Way, which I followed, leaving the Red Walk which was heading back towards Calke Abbey. At a tunnel I turned right off the National Forest Way into the Ticknall Limeyards, which was an area I was keen to explore. It is amazing that a place that was heavily industrialised a couple of hundred years ago is now completely taken over by nature to a tremendous effect. The woodland that now covers the limeyards will probably look even more spectacular in a couple of months when there are leaves on the trees and flowers on the ground. The old tramway that I was walking on and the heavily undulating ground were the only signs that there had been any previous industrial activity.

I followed the path through the limeyards, branching off several times to explore, walking past the old limekilns until I eventually left the woods and crossed several fields to re-enter Calke Park on the route of the National Forest Way on its entry into the park. Rather than following the trail towards Calke Abbey, I turned right to head through Serpentine Wood where last year I had seen a fabulous display of bluebells. There were no signs of bluebells now, so I kept on going through the wood and out at the far end to cross the drive and rejoin the National Forest Way on its route out of Calke Park. Before reaching the tunnel I once again left the trail and this time I turned left onto the course of the old tramway as it leaves the Ticknall Limeyards. This tramway has only recently been restored so I had an easy walk along the course of this little railway that for several miles took me around the edge of Calke Park and eventually back to Dimminsdale. This walk was a good start to my walking season after my winter exile where I felt I had been released back into the countryside so I could once more enjoy the sunshine and open spaces. On this walk I was really just wandering around with no real route in mind except to visit the snowdrops in Dimminsdale, and to explore the limeyards, including the tramway. However, the real goal of this walk was to be back out in the countryside and enjoy the sunshine and the dawn of spring.