The head of Loch Shiel is among rugged mountains which enclose Glenfinnan and line both sides of the loch. You get a feeling of being in a fjiord, and this is exactly what the loch was, a glacial trench carved out by ice which originally connected to the sea at Loch Moidart. The uplifting of the land of the western seaboard of Scotland following glacial melt (isostatic rebound) has raised the outflow of Loch Shiel by some 5 metres capturing the water and it's now a freshwater loch.
Paddling away from Glenfinan, the mountains get more impressive; tough and rocky hills with bvious signs of ice scouring and plucking. None of the hills on either side of the loch top the magical 3000 ft/914 m contour which would confer Munro status - though there are some very fine Corbetts (hills between 2500 and 300ft). The result is that these tend to be much less frequented than other hills - and are further defended by difficulty of access. Until quite recently there were no roads on either side of the loch but there's now a forest track on the east shore for timber extraction.
After a few kilometres of paddling we pulled around a corner to an idyllic beach of pale sand sheltered in a small bay. We have used this beach each time we've paddled the loch; for second breakfasts and for the inevitable readjustment of packing to trim the kayaks at the start of a trip. Douglas also took the opportunity to adjust the rigging on Lorna's sail.
This beach is a very popular camp site for open canoeists - and there were a supply of logs laid up under a carved tree stump with a prepared fire ring - which was at least off the grass and in a place where higher loch levels would wash it away. While this beach is probably a couple of hours paddling for an open canoe and therefore a logical first camp on a journey, the camp site we planned was some 18 kilometres further down the loch so we didn't linger long after lunch.....
...and were soon on our way again with a light breeze behind us and the sun warm on our faces.
Ahead, the length of Loch Shiel beckoned - and once again we subconsciously moved out into the middle of the loch to align with the convergence point in the far distance, something which has happened on each occasion we've paddled here.
With the sun beaming down on us and the fresh green of new leaves beginning to open in the woods on the west shore, it really felt that Spring had arrived.
Great photos. One advantage of our Scottish hills I've noticed is that they are mostly all climbable by reasonably fit walkers needing no special skills. Higher mountains abroad (Norway, New Zealand etc) may be spectacular,soaring above lochs/fjiords but many of them look hard/impossible to climb without technical mountaineering skills. Maybe one reason why Munro bagging is so popular even for overseas tourists.
ReplyDeleteYou're right Bob, the Munros are a long but achievable challenge, and maybe with more variety than most of the higher ranges too
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