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Tuesday 28 August 2007

Claddach Loch to Lossit Bay

The Natural Arch near Lossit Bay
At last I have managed to get out and walk! I was beginning to shrivel up from being indoors too long. This was not a huge stretch of coast, perhaps a couple of miles (and a couple of miles back). I went, as planned, on Sunday with the weather looking a little ominous as I set off. It actually started to drizzle, but I have a strategy for that; start donning waterproofs - it frightens the rain off. So that's what I did - and it worked! I enjoyed glorious sunshine for most of the rest of the walk. Fulmars, Kittiwakes and Choughs entertained me en route with their aerial acrobatics. The Chough came quite close, displaying their bright red legs and beaks and the Fulmars came close too; too close for comfort! A peregrine flew off and round the corner before I got a good view of it. I've never figured out these duns (ancient forts), but apparently passed one en route. I didn't miss the natural arch though, quite an impressive specimen! It has to be said that this was one section that was more walker-friendly than a lot of other parts of the walk. There were a couple of stiles and no horrible barbed wire fences to cross (until, that is, I chose to struggle over one in order to avoid cattle!) And Lossit Bay is a beautiful place to end up at. I looked down on some other walkers on the sand before walking back along the road to the car.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Agree on some of the duns, most of them are next to impossible to find. I remember trying to find one just north of Lossit Bay last year, I'm still not sure if I really found it.

That natural arch looks impressive! A bit difficult to judge from the picture, how big is it? Almost looks like you could walk over it? Or would that be too dangerous?

Becky said...

The only dun i KNOW I've seen is Dun Athad on the Oa - now that IS impressive and visible from miles away too.

The natural arch was high enough to give me vertigo looking down (ie higher than 10 feet!!) No, probably about 25 feet, although i'm not good at guessing height. You're level with it as you walk along. I did think that someone braver than myself would try to walk over it but i wouldn't recommend it!