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| Shieldaig |
The day was fine so we spent a day revisiting some of Aileen’s favourite places around Shieldaig and the Torridons. We had spent a week at the cottage here in October 2020 during an interlude between lockdowns and made the best of every day. We decided to reprise the best of them, a drive over Bealach na Ba to Applecross and Shieldaig involving the spectacular coastal road. In the afternoon we walked out from the primary school in Shieldaig to reach the overlook of Loch Torridon, this was Aileen’s must-do walk.
The forecast had been for sunny periods but they were interspersed with unpredicted odd showers. The winds were a reminder that winter was pressing in. First up was a drive to Bealach na Ba, one of the UK's highest roads. Gregor had managed to record the second-fastest run up the road during the last visit and Aileen was immensely proud of his achievement, whilst Gregor was quite nonplussed as he began the run down towards Applecross as his warm-down run. We had taken a socially distanced lunch in the Applecross Inn. Today was back to normal and the Inn had had a refurbishment since our last visit. We contemplated going to one of the beaches to the south but the threat of rain suggested it might be better to head off on the magnificent coastal road to Shieldaig.
As on previous visits we were compelled to stop every few miles to enjoy the views across to Raasay with the northern Skye skyline from the Quiraing to the Storr visible behind the long intervening islands of Raasay and Rona. There is an overlook just before the coastal road joins the main road and we stopped to enjoy the view. I teared up, Aileen and I had often stood at this very spot mesmerised at the splendour of this view, a forever memory.
We walked out to Camas Ruadh, the peninsula north of Shieldaig, and inhaled the freshness of the air and the never-forgotten views of the Torridon Mountains across Loch Torridon. The walk never ceases to lift me, not least because Aileen found it equally inspirational.
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| Bealach na Ba |
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| Raasay and Skye from the coast road |
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| Rona and Skye |
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| Loch Torridon and the Torridons |
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| Beinn Dearg and Liathach - my final Corbett and Munro respectively |
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| Shieldaig as a shower rained in |
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