[This walk was completed on the 2nd July 2022]

I hide my Scooty bike between a green box and a stone wall, and set off walking onwards from Aultbea to Laide.

First, I must cross a river – the Allt Beithe. A new modern bridge exists, but the old stone bridge is much more photogenic and still available for pedestrians to use. I stop on the other side and take a photo, looking back towards the now-closed hotel.

Then, up a very ordinary residential street, I pass a public toilet, a doctor’s surgery, a fire station, and a war memorial, before arriving at the junction with A832. Here there is a little museum with an exhibition about the Arctic Convoys.

It’s 4.30pm and the museum is closed. But, I stop to take photographs of the wonderful bench beside the front steps. “Lest we forget.”

The wastebin is equally wonderful – a thing of beauty…

… on all sides. Shame to fill it with rubbish.

Leaving Aultbea behind, I turn northwards and plod up the A832. No pavements, but traffic is light.

I make rapid progress, and soon come out of the trees to reach an extensive plain of high grassland. It’s an empty landscape, with nothing much except for a few cattle, some sheep, and the occasional house.

The road steadily climbs higher, and the wind picks up. Even the rubbish bins have to be tied down.

A few cars whiz past, along with the slower camper vans. Ah, here is a post office van. So good to see them trundling around.

Across miles of emptiness, I can see distant mountains to the west, their tops covered in clouds.

After a mile or so, I seem to have reached the highest point (the incline is gradual and its hard to tell). Now, having reached the top of the rise, I can see the blue waters of Gruinard Bay. And a parking spot.

The parking spot is marked on my map as a “viewpoint”, but it is set slightly over the brow of the hill and has a disappointing lack of views. There is the remnants of a path leading up to a higher point. I beat my way up the slope – which is overgrown with bracken. Here is a bench where you can sit and admire the view… if you can actually find the bench.

There is also a plinth with information – possibly a map – except there is nothing there anymore. Well, I can admire the view anyway.

The area has a great deal of impressive new public infrastructure to commemorate the Arctic Convoys, and it’s a shame they haven’t maintained some of the older points of interest.

Back down on the road, I stop to photograph some of the wayside flowers – like this beautiful orchid.

One high peak in the distance is particularly eye-catching and always covered in a topping of shifting clouds. I take a quick look at my map. Maybe that is Meall Buidhe, or possibly Beinn Dearg. Or maybe something else entirely.

It would be cold and misty up there – why would anyone climb high mountains when you can stay down near the coast and enjoy beautiful views?

I’m coming down off the high plains, and passing through a wooded area. “Laide Wood” says a sign, and it promises “Forest Walks”. Oh, that would be lovely, and would be good to get off the road. But I’ve been taken in by the lure of forest walks before, and I suspect this one would be like all the others – a circular meander to bring me back to exactly the same place.

So I stick to the road, and soon get some lovely views over Gruinard Bay.

I pass an overgrown driveway, take more photos of road-side flowers, and soon see speed-limit signs ahead. I must be getting close to Laide.

I pass the entrance to a Free Presbyterian Manse. The walls on other side are decorated with rather stern texts and messages. “Repent ye”, “Prepare to meet thy God” and “Remember the sabbath day.” Also, next to a group of beautiful violet irises – “The wages of sin is death.”

Hurrying on, I reach another sign for woodland – “Laide and Aultbea Community Woodland”. This time, I can’t resist and turn in to the woods to have a quick look.

Here is a handy bench, and some new-looking signs. What a nice place! But… look at that path through the woodland. I bet it joins up with the “Woodland Walks” path I saw earlier. Oh, what a shame, I could have walked through the woods after all!

After a brief stop in the lovely community woodlands, I rejoin the road. Am approaching Laide now. The road gets steeper, but at least I am going downhill, unlike this poor cyclist puffing upwards towards me.

Laide isn’t exactly a big village, but there are more houses here than I imagined, and quite a few spread out over the surrounding hillsides.

The centre of Laide appears to be the small local shop, which is also a post office and filling station. I will be coming here in a few days to pick up some new reading glasses, becuase I left mine at home and have ordered some more from Amazon. Luckily, Amazon still does deliveries to these remote regions – but they take several days to arrive!

Tomorrow I will be doing another detour from the main road, and will be heading out along the other side of the peninsula. But my walk is over for today.

---

Miles walked today = 8 miles

Total around coast = 4,741 miles

Route (morning in black, afternoon in red)

---