Travelling to the remote Ardnamurchan peninsula on Scotland’s west coast for a week’s walking with a group of friends, Gillian Thomas felt more and more removed from the hustle and bustle of normal life.


The road to Ardnamurchan

As we soon discovered, Ardnamurchan has stayed remarkably remote and untouched, largely because it has just a single narrow twisting road (B8007) along its southern coastline past Loch Sunart. This ends at a lighthouse which marks the most westerly point of the British mainland.


Ardnamurchan Lighthouse

Getting there through the Scottish Highlands takes you either further north to reach Salen at its eastern end or you can shorten the drive from the south, as I did, by taking a Caledonian MacBrayne ferry from Oban to Craignure on the island of Mull, then driving north to Tobermory to catch another ferry to cross back to the mainland at Kilchoan, the tiny village which is the peninsula’s ‘capital’.


The Caledonian MacBrayne ferry

We had rented an airy well-equipped house with five en-suite bedrooms. Tucked away down a track overlooking the tiny Swordle bay on the north coast, it is one of several self-catering properties managed by Ardnamurchan Estates and had glorious views across to the ‘Small Isles’of Eigg, Muck and Rhum.

For provisions, the peninsula’s only shop was a 20-minute drive away in Kilchoan where there was also a garage which admits to sometimes running out of fuel. The only restaurants were at the Kilchoan and Sonachan hotels, both family-run.


The Tobermory Lighthouse on Mull

Five days of walks, with a mid-week break for a ferry-trip to Tobermory, enabled us thoroughly to explore the peninsula from Ben Hiant’s bare mountain top, 528 metres high, to the dunes, white sands and turquoise sea at Sanna bay.
Walking towards Sanna Bay

Rough tracks and paths, mostly unmarked, took us over grassy hillsides and boggy moorland dotted with a tiny flowers, through woods and across streams on wobbly stepping stones. We also walked past forlorn clusters of ruined grey stone cottages, a sad reminder of the 19th-century clearances when local people were turned off their land.


Ardnamurchan Black Faced sheep

Our companions were the local breed of sheep and their endearing black-faced lambs, Highland cattle whose long chestnut-brown coats rippled in the wind and deer grazing in the distance. Skylarks twittered and hawks wheeled overhead but other walkers were few and far between.


A fine example of the famous Highland cattle

Ardnamurchan’s volcanic past from around 60-million years ago was evident on our first day. Taking a circular route around Bealach Ruadh, ‘the red pass’, from Achnaha, a tiny settlement where we left our cars, we made our way across a wide expanse of moorland. The hillsides around us rose in a circle of jagged ridges, clearly showing how a volcano once erupted there. Outcrops of grey stone and strata in the cliffs and rocks were also evidence of the peninsula’s geology and its liquid past - glaciers and lava.


A ruined cottage - a result of the Highland Clearances

Next day an hour’s winding drive took us back through Salen to Ardmolich Wood, but it was well worthwhile for a delightful walk through ancient mossy woodland beside Loch Moidart. We looked across rippling grey water to the forests around Kinlochmoidart where Bonnie Prince Charlie secretly arrived back in 1745 in his vain attempt to capture the Scottish throne. The walk ended at Cul Doirlinn where the ruins of a small castle are perched on a headland.


Ben Hiant seen from the sea

Our most challenging day was climbing Ben Hiant, not least because it was very windy and the route up from the ‘main’ B8007 road from Camas nan Geall bay was unmarked. However the broad hillsides, though often quite steep, enabled us to pick our own route. Half way up we were surprised a herd of deer who promptly fled to the top of a ridge where they stood like statues silhouetted majestically against the skyline.

Two hours on, the first of the group to reach the cairn at the top in cloud and a howling gale came out with “This is not a particularly good spot for lunch” - the understatement of the week. Fortunately we found a suitable refuge behind a ridge for tucking into our picnics and were soon rewarded by clearing skies and a 360-degree view. We looked down over Kilchoan and the ruins of Mingary Castle on a promontory beside it and north towards Loch Mudle surrounded by forests. Across the channel, Mull was laid out like a 3-D map.

The descent took half as long, following another route along a path over a series of ridges. This was often rocky which necessitated some tricky clambering and made it more difficult than going up.

Reaching the road, weary but exhilarated, half of us piled into the car which we had parked there on our way to the start in the morning. The others had to wait to be picked up while we retrieved the two cars left at the start, a system which we used each day.


Sunset over Ardnamurchan

Visit: Caledonian MacBrayne ferry www.calmac.co.uk and for cottage rental www.west-highlands.co.uk/cottage_swordlebay.php