The lure of a cooked breakfast in Acharacle has me packed and on the move by 8 am.
My overnight beach, another of those “Singing Sands” that never perform, is highly recommended on several walking sites. I’m not sure why. It’s the most dispiriting section of this beautiful peninsula, with tyre tracks on the beach, heather flattened by vehicles and grass burnt by campfires. So much for “Leave no trace”.
My mood is not improved by a landscape ravaged by deforestation, looking more like the Somme.
Leaving the “forest”, the vast Kentra Bay is surprisingly quiet, with only a solitary curlew calling across the exposed mudflats.
Dangers lurk for the unwary traveller.
Schoolchildren cycle past. It seems as though they are heading towards a dead end until a small cleft appears between the hills, where a narrow road winds through to the village school on the far side.
Acharacle nestles in a beautiful spot at the foot of Loch Shiel, with Glenfinnan at the far end, which I visited earlier in the year: Day 300.
After topping up the calories over breakfast at Cafe Tioram, I take the road south to Salen. Now I have witches on my mind. I know that’s Salem, but still.
Turning west, the road hugging the shore of Loch Sunart twists and turns for seven miles. Despite pausing at promising inlets lined with seaweed-covered rocks, all I see are herons. Come on, otters, they’re stealing your fish!
I’ve no idea what this is all about. Behold the ship’s mast? Google is my Latin teacher. Perhaps the name of a holiday cottage?
Completing my circuit of the peninsula, I rejoin the builders and decorators at the Ardnamurchan Bunkhouse. They may be tough guys, but a shout from the back door brings everyone running out to smile at the small herd of deer watching us in the dark, no doubt regularly fed by visitors.
Two women arrive to talk to the builders, part of the estate management team. They hope to open the castle by Christmas and invite me back to stay next year. Once they leave, someone chuckles.
“More like Christmas 2026!”
Building work. We’ve all shared that experience.
A rest day tomorrow. Snow is coming!
Total distance: 5,487 miles.
So Google gives me “behold the evil one” and the symbol looks very much like a telephone mast with signal – but what does that have to do with a sailor? Love the image of children cycling through mountains to school – that must give them a good start in life.
The sign did look rather evil.
On a separate day, I watched the schoolchildren arrive at the school in the snow, pulling their sledges. It looked very idyllic and sweet.
I think behold the apple tree? But that makes on sense either.
Hmm. You would think there’s a nautical connection.