Another day, another change of pace on the North Coast 500, with less driving, a mere 53 miles on the road, and more walking.
NC500 Day 3 – Ullapool to Lochinver
Today's priories were threefold, a mountain, a ruined castle and no more dognapping. So having packed my rucksack and walking boots it was finally time to find a mountain worthy of them and as luck would have it today was the best day of the trip weather wise...
Stac Pollaidh
Stac Pollaidh (and Suilven) have been on my bucket for some time and the NC500 was the excuse I'd been looking for to have a crack at them, weather and fitness permitting. A mere 17 miles from Ullapool with a roadside car park Stac Pollaidh, with an out and back walk of around 3 hours, was the obvious choice to start the day.
It's not a massive mountain by any means just breaking the magic 2,000ft mark that's the generally excepted unofficial height that qualifies it as being a mountain rather than a hill. Its actual height being 608m (2,008ft). It does however have a remarkable profile, as many mountains in this region do, rising up like an extinct volcano from a wilderness landscape of moorland, bogs and lochans.
However it’s not a volcano, but a nunatak. An island of 750 million year old Torridonian sandstone that sat defiantly above the ice sheet during the last ice age, exposed to the elements. This weathering gives its summit a rocky crest full of pinnacles and steep gullies, while its lower grassy slopes were worn smooth by the ice.
A well maintained footpath encircles the mountain and behind it a spur runs off the path to the summit ridge. This rocky ridge provides ample opportunities for exploring and scrambling, with a 'bad step' over a nasty drop that must be negotiated to obtain its true summit. Although there is little to be gained view wise from doing this.
My advice? Bring a camera, forget the true summit and make the most of the surrounding scenery and jaw-dropping views, because I can think of few other walks that offer so much for so little effort. Nothing to offer so much stunning scenery per footstep, on a clear day. It was, is and probably always will be one of the best walks I’ve ever done.
So, having played around on this wonderful mountain, made a few friends, and got every so slightly high drinking in the amazing views, it was time to bid a reluctant farewell and return to the road and the NC500.
Ardvreck Castle
The ruins of the Ardvreck Castle (actually two ruins for the price of one) can be found sitting on the imposing banks of Loch Assynt. Built around 1590 as the home of the Clan MacLeod who then controlled the Assynt lands, it has had a long and often bloody history.
Many ghosts are said to haunt it. A mysterious tall grey man stalks the ruins. While a weeping daughter of one of the Macleod chiefs, who is reputed to have married the devil to save the castle and drowned herself in the loch, wanders the beach beside it.
The marriage to the devil it seems may have been in vain. The MacLeod’s rule of the Assynt lands came to an abrupt end in 1672 when, after a 14-day siege, the Mackenzie’s captured the castle and the Assynt lands. The final ignominy coming in 1795 when the castle was destroyed by a lightning strike.
Calda House
That’s not quite the end of the story however, as a short distance from the castle can be found another ruin. It was commission by Kenneth Mackenzie II in 1726 for his wife who felt the castle too austere for a lady of her refinement. An imposing building in its day, dressed in imported white sandstone, it is still referred to locally as the White House.
A mere 10 years after it was built the Mackenzie’s were forced to sell it to the Earl of Sutherland to pay off their debts. Due to the life-long enmity between the clans the Earl’s enjoyment of Calda House was short-lived. In 1737 supporters of Clan Mackenzie, vowing no Sutherland would ever live there looted and burnt it. Fifty years later stones from the ruined house were used to build a local schoolhouse.
Clachtoll Beach
Having made a brief stop at Lochinver for supplies and encountered a deer casually wandering through a car park on it outskirts, it was time to find another amazing campsite for the night. This time at Clachtoll beach. The campsite was of the usual high standard I'd come to expect, with a warm, friendly welcome from the wardens and a personal introduction to the site and its facilities.
A short walk away you'll find a beautiful beach with crystal clear waters and more examples of Scotland's Heritage. This time in the form of a salmon bothy perched on a small outcrop that divides Clachtoll's sandy beach from its rocky bay.
The Clachtoll salmon netting station was based here till it closed in 1994. Today you are free to wander among the salmon netting poles, ice-house and bothy. The bothy contains displays about the history of salmon fishing and one of Clachtoll's most famous sons the Rev. Norman MacLeod. Who also has a nearby monument dedicated to him.
Born in 1780 to a family of crofters and fishers he made his name as non-conformist preacher, who's followers ('Normanites') followed him halfway round the world in one of the largest peacetime migrations of modern times.
Arriving in Pictou Canada in 1817 before moving on to St. Annes, 30 years later they set sail from St Helens in 1851 heading for Australia. After 2 difficult years in Melbourne they moved again, this time to Waipu in New Zealand, where they established a religious community of over 800 'Normanites'. While the Normanite community no long exists many people in Waipu in New Zealand can still trace their Macleod heritageback to Scotland.
Finally, and much to my embarrassment, I completely missed another fine example of an Iron age Broch a short walk away, An Dun. Which if nothing else is an excuse to go back and do the NC500 again.
So that's day 3 of NC500, a mountain summit, a haunted, ruined castle, a stunning beach, an historic bothy and a religious migration. Whatever next?
Skippy goes to Scotland Index
Part 1 Getting there
Part 2 North Coast 500 Inverness to Applecross
Part 3 North Coast 500 Applecross to Ullapool
Part 4 North Coast 500 Ullapool to Lochinver
Part 5 North Coast 500 Lochinver to Durness
Part 6 North Coast 500 Durness to John O'Groats
Part 7 North Coast 500 John O'Groats to Inverness
Part 8 The Jounrey Home (Samye Ling Monastery)
Postscript