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After the perfect day before on Ben Mor Coigach I thought I'd not be able to compete with that and, besides, cloud was down on the hills and not expected to clear until late in the day so I opted for a low level walk straight from our accommodation door. WH, as often, had the solution in the Rubha Coigach circuit which sounded a bit low key but should be quiet and would have interest from the sea.
I walked the mile and a half to Reiff along the road, taking advantage of the smooth surface to look at the view out to sea and the wildlife - which wasn't much in evidence at this stage. I was overtaken by a couple of minibuses and by the time I got to Reiff there were 3 vans parked down by the loch. 'So much for a bit of solitude' I thought.
But they were all on the west side of the loch and I hurried (for me) along the east side to get ahead of them. I needn't have worried as they never went beyond the loch and I heard later they were probably rock climbing on the cliffs which is very popular here. Saw an interesting duck on the loch which identified itself as a wigeon by it's call but didn't seem to have the yellow stripe on its head that I expected.
Loch of Reiff
P9150344 by
Peter Lynn, on Flickr
The walk was largely a case of keeping the sea on my left until I got to Achnahaird Bay but I was intent on dawdling along, looking for wildlife - I thought there ought to be a white tailed eagle along here - and generally having an easy time. I rounded Camas Eilain Ghlais, passed a derelict house that was locked and headed over to the cliffs again
Looking back to Reif over Camas Eilain Ghlais
P9150345 by
Peter Lynn, on Flickr
The going here was pretty good over sandstone slabs and sheep tracks with views north to the lighthouse at Point of Stoer
P9150346 by
Peter Lynn, on Flickr
Soon, the best wildlife sighting came as, just after I crossed the Allt nan Clar-lochan, I turned back to see an otter running down the hill where I'd just been. It looked a bit like a very short legged chocolate labrador (used to have one of those). It ran for about 300 yards, turned to stand on a rock and sniffed the air. At this point I dropped my binoculars, got my camera out and got a good picture of the rock it had been standing on - which I won't bore you with. This was the second otter I'd seen on my Scottish trip - both of them on land. The previous one had been less than 20 feet away, dashing across the path into some bracken on the Isle of Ulva.
I continued north past this nice rocky inlet
P9150347 by
Peter Lynn, on Flickr
I was beginning to really enjoy the sense of space and solitude that you get with an open landscape and particularly on a coastline. Difficult to capture in a photo but this is about where I felt it
P9150349 by
Peter Lynn, on Flickr
It looks like a bit of a bog but the walk was actually much less boggy than the description on WH led me to believe. The next feature was Faochag bay
P9150350 by
Peter Lynn, on Flickr
Soon after this was one of the few easy to get at sections of shore where there was this nice pool, the rocks surrounded by lurid green seaweed/algae - not much life in the pool though.
P9150351 by
Peter Lynn, on Flickr
I then reached the turning point, Rubha Coigach really being a couple of little headlands, vying to be the top of the point. I sat here for refreshments with the sea crashing over the waves below
P9150353 by
Peter Lynn, on Flickr
You really need to see and hear the sea to get the full experience. This clip is 41MB so best to view only if you've got decent broadband
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I then headed off east, the promised views to the Assynt peaks being hidden for the time being by low cloud. As suggested I tended to cut across from the head of one geo to the head of the next - unlike blackpanther who, in the only other report of this walk, seemed to explore every nook and cranny of the coast along here and still complete in much less time than me! I lost track of where the following were but they are in order - going east!
P9150355 by
Peter Lynn, on Flickr
P9150357 by
Peter Lynn, on Flickr
P9150358 by
Peter Lynn, on Flickr
The hills ahead were starting to make a bit of an effort to shrug off the clouds but they were in no hurry - like me.
P9150360 by
Peter Lynn, on Flickr
There really wasn't a path along here - at least I saw virtually no boot prints. This shows that, round here, the paths are made by sheep for sheep.
P9150361 by
Peter Lynn, on Flickr
As in the walk description I passed this sea arch - stranded 50 feet or so above the sea.
P9150362 by
Peter Lynn, on Flickr
A wider view but
I'm not going down there!
P9150363 by
Peter Lynn, on Flickr
I trudged on across the moor, but it was a perfect time of year to enhance the view with the purple heather.
P9150366 by
Peter Lynn, on Flickr
The largest bay on this section was Camas Coille, just by the oddly well maintained houses at the croft? of the same name. In the bay were a number of seals on the rock but I don't think you'll see them in this distant photo.
P9150368 by
Peter Lynn, on Flickr
After this bay I saw another otter, down in the sea playing around in some kelp. It dived with a great splash but I never saw it again. Approaching Achnahaird the cliffs started to sport some bracken which I always go to great lengths to avoid.
P9150370 by
Peter Lynn, on Flickr
I was soon at Achnahaird bay and, along with a clutch of cars and people, out came the peaks south of Stac Pollaidh.
P9150373 by
Peter Lynn, on Flickr
The last 3 miles was a bit of a trudge along the road back to Altandhu but the view turning to look behind was improving all the while with only Suilven now reluctant to show all of itself.
P9150374 by
Peter Lynn, on Flickr
Over the high point and the view ahead to south was lovely
P9150376 by
Peter Lynn, on Flickr
Then it was back to our luxury cottage, a hot bath! and a beautiful sunset.
P9140343 by
Peter Lynn, on Flickr
The next day the kayaking party I was staying with kayaked this route in reverse and did see a white tailed eagle on the cliffs.
