[This walk was completed on 30th April 2023]

I hide my bike behind a large rock just off the main road. It’s a murky, miserable sort of day, but I’m in surprisingly good spirits – because tonight I’m moving to a hotel in Rhiconich, and I’m looking forward to decent food and an ensuite shower!

Yesterday, I ended my walk with a painful foot. This was very worrying, only a few days into my month-long trek. But, after taking ibuprofen and a PPI to protect my stomach (yep, I’m a doctor and worry about everything) my foot feels absolutely fine this morning. Such a relief

Rain is forecast. I’m wearing an enormous mac that comes down nearly to my ankles and seems 100% rain proof. Underneath I have a thick fleece on. It’s cold.

As I set off, a woman comes towards me walking her dog – a big, white fluffy thing. It starts growling and pulling on its lead – and definitely doesn’t like me! Whether it’s the mac, or the ruck sack, I’m not sure, but some dogs take a dislike to a human that looks the ‘wrong’ shape. The owner of the dog had to struggle to keep control of the animal and it was a relief to get past and put some distance between us.

What a lovely little road this is. It swings round past a loch (Loch na Beiste Brice, which seems to mean loch of the brick beast – I think something is lost in translation) and rejoins the main road a mile of so further along.

But, I soon come across a turn off to a place called Skerricha.

I was thinking I might go down and explore Skerricha, and so I stand and look down the road… and it’s so beautiful. How can I resist?

Up and down. It’s a switchback sort of road. Nobody on it. I set off, pass another little loch, and climb the hill on the other side, before dropping down again.

Towards the end of the road, I spot a small car park and an expanse of water. Loch a’Chadh – Fi. It’s a sea loch that empties into my old friend, Loch Laxford.

Scotland seems to be 90% water. Either lying in lochs or falling from the sky – you can’t escape it.

The car park is for “Ridgeway Adventure” and a sign warns you not to take your vehicle any further. I carry on down the road, keen to see more of Skerricha. Ah, this seems to be all there is. Two barn-like structures which might be storage sheds or might be accommodation blocks for the school. Hard to tell.

The track continues a little further along the side of the loch and the adventure school itself seems to be at the end of a path, and in the middle of nowhere. I don’t go as far as the school but I wonder what adventures it provides – walking, mountain climbing, boating, kayaking?

I was thinking I might walk across open countryside to link up with the next dead-end road, which is less than a mile away across the valley and on the other side of the loch. But there is no obvious path, and my map suggests obstructions in the form of fences and rivers.

So, I chicken out, and turn back along the road instead. The view is even better heading inland, despite the misty clouds hanging low over the mountains.

There’s the main road ahead, and another loch (Loch na Thull = loch of the hole?).

After a mile or so on the main road, I reach the next turn off and the next possible diversion. This road leads to a place called Ardmore – hmm, that place sounds familiar. Then I realise it’s not the first Ardmore I’ve come across in Scotland. They are very economical with names! And it’s also the name of a reasonably-priced whisky.

How could I resist visiting this version of Ardmore? Definitely another diversion worth doing.

But first, I have to walk to my van, which is parked a little futher along the main road, drive back to collect my bike, park again, eat my lunch in the van, and then cycle back to the Ardmore turnoff. I don’t want to drive down the dead-end road, because there may be nowhere to park at the end, and it might be difficult to turn my van round. To avoid taking the van, I’m planning a there-and-back walk.

With all the toing and froing, it’s nearly 3pm by the time I set off walking along the road to Ardmore.

Unfortunately, I’ve only walked a mile or so when it starts spitting with rain. The rain was forecast ‘later’ and it’s definitely later now!

Still, I can enjoy the scenery, pulling my camera out from time to time to grab the occasional photograph. Look, that’s Skerricha over there. So close! Pehaps I should have tried harder to find a way across.

I keep an eye out for any signs of a path across to Skerricha. It’s too late now, of course, but if I spot a path I can beat myself up (mentally) for not being braver. Luckily, there is no sign of a path. And the countryside looks very boggy and tricky. In the end, I’m glad I didn’t attempt it.

The road looks reasonably straight on the map, but that turns out to be an illusion. After an initial straight stretch with a slow climb, the road crests a hill and corkscrews down the other side. I risk another photo.

Look at that view! Loch a’Chadh – fi, which empties into Loch Laxford. The photos really don’t do the view justice, because the hills and the lochs are obscured in the misty rain. I think the green sward with a few building on it is, in fact, Ardmore. It looks like it’s raining even harder over there. Oh dear.

I reach the end of the road. There are a number of cars parked here (I could have driven and parked, after all!) and an old landrover with vegetation growing around and over it, that has obviously not been moved for a long time.

A private side road leads down to a couple of properties, but a footpath sign points forwards with “Public Path to Ardmore, 1 mile”.

I shuffle round past the landrover, and set off up the path.

It’s beautiful, but wet. The surface is slippery and, in anticipation of road-walking I haven’t brought my walking pole with me. So I become increasingly nervous as I climb higher.

The path bends around the back of a hill (Cnoc Muilinn = Mill Hill) and begins to descend. Ardmore is half a mile away now, but I’m uneasy. The rain is falling heavily now, the ground is slippery, and there is no-one and nothing in sight.

At this point, I decide not to risk a fall and turn back. So, I never make it to Ardmore after all.

At the top of the hill, I stop to take photographs of the two houses below me, and Skerricha across the loch. (Yes, it’s still raining and the splodge in the middle of the photos is a raindrop!)

I pull my hood up, stow my camera in my rucksack, and put my head down. It’s a 40 minute yomp back to the car-parking area on the main road. I pick up my bike on the way and wheel it back to the van.

I’m damp by the time I get back to the shelter of my van – not so much from the rain, but from the enormous fleece I’m wearing under my huge mac, which I can’t take off because I can’t stuff it in my rucksack, it’s too bulky! My plan was to walk on and into Rhiconich itself, where I’m staying in a hotel, but I feel too tired and the weather seems too miserable to go any further.

Here is a photo I took earlier, showing how close I am to the hotel – which is the long white building to the right of the photo. It will be such a relief to have some decent food, a hot shower, and sleep in a warm room with a proper bed.

After I’ve checked into my room, changed into dry clothes, had a cup of tea, and eaten all the free biscuits, I realise it’s stopped raining. Seems a shame not to finish today’s walk and so I set off along a little side road (once part of the original old road, I suspect), then along the main road to the car parking area, and then back along the main road to my hotel.

No back pack, no camera, and no photos this evening – but job done!

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Miles walked today = 7.5

Total around coast = 4,894 miles

Route:

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