Knoydart Adventure - Part 1
- wildlife hiking scotland
Leaving Glasgow, it is grey, dull, and rather miserable outside. I am not looking forward to camping. When I left earlier today, just one minute out of my flat I realised that I forgot to pack my head lamp, and I didn’t go back for it, worrying about missing the bus. So I won’t have a torch. Naturally, I was six minutes early at the bus stop. Luckily, Scottish summer nights are usually not very dark, even in the wilderness.
The train is going past Loch Lomond which is beautiful in any weather but particularly charming in the gloomy low clouds today. We are passing Corrour, a train station without a village or road access - only a restaurant is here, and a hostel a short walk away by Loch Ossian. And lots of landscape. Kat and I spent a few days here a year ago, but in the muggy weather today I can’t make out any of the hills we climbed. The train goes on.
From Mallaig, I will take a ferry to Knoydart. Knoydart is a remote peninsula in the west of Scotland, facing Skye, without any vehicle access other than boats, and a tiny population. To get there by land one has to walk for 20 miles over a mountain pass. Knoydart has been on my list of places to go ever since my landlord of my Peebles residence told me about it. Every year, he makes the trip, walking in, camping on the pass, bagging a few munroes, walking out. I used to go on day walks with my landlord, I wonder if I should get in touch.
The train arrives in Fort William. People leave, people board, you can tell who is German by the jacket brand. I have been sitting on this train for three hours or so, reading away. The book is Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged”, a good read at 1200 pages in small print. I have seen Ayn Rand in a documentary (she invented objectivism - click), and it is funny to imagine her reading aloud her own words. In some scenes of the book, especially the ideological monologues, it is easy to hear her monotonous voice. It is more difficult during the (unintentionally) awkward sex scenes.
There is a semi-wild campsite on Knoydart, close to the village Inverie, the only village on Knoydart, where the ferry will land. I would prefer to stay in the bunkhouse but it is fully booked, presumably due to the Knoydart book festival this weekend. I do not enjoy camping but it is ok in nice weather. My tent was cheap and made for use in Australia’s dry season, and I do not trust it in Scottish summer weather. But here I am, on my way to spend a weekend camping on a beach on Scotland’s west coast.
We are past Fort William and it is getting brighter. I am getting glimpses of the sea, and with a touch of sun, everything is suddenly becoming really lovely. I am nearing the Glenfinnan Viaduct, known from the Harry Potter movies. And although a bit underwhelming it surely is quite picturesque, mainly due to the surrounding countryside. And maybe sitting on a proper steam train would make the experience grander.
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| Mallaig from the ferry |
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