Two Lochans and a Bog

Today there was actual sunshine, so after a morning of churning out the words and hunting down the ancestors we went for a walk up a river valley. Elgol, where our cottage is, is at the end of the Straithaird peninsula on Skye. There's a 17 mile single track road back to Broadford, the nearest town, which takes about 35 minutes to drive. Single track means one way basically, and there are 'passing places' which are little aprons of tarmac where you can pull over and let people past. It's a bit famous/infamous as there are many blind hills and bends where you can meet unexpected persons coming the other way. The drive seemed endless when we first did it, but now we know the road quite well. Each time we drive it we see new things though, and most of our walks have just been on our little peninsula so it's an interesting place. Part of the reason why it's so long a drive is that there is a loch in the middle of it that you have to go around - Loch Slapin (Lochs are sea inlets, not lakes, by the way). At the end of Loch Slapin there's a river valley that curves off into the hills - and that's where we went today.

Here is an OS Map clip to show where we went. Lochans are little lochs. The two lochans we walked to were Loch na Sgusbaidh and Lochan Sratha Mohr. The bog was, well, the bog was everywhere - but especially after we lost the path. Turns out it was on the other side of the lochan!

This is not the bog, this is the path. The water was actually running.

Still can't get the grandeur!

Path rocks - these are in the path-stream, but the water is so clear you can't really tell.

The thyme is starting to flower...

A newt in a puddle! Don't see that every day.

'Yellow flags' back at Loch Slapin

The coos with views

Nice to be out in better weather. First walk without my raincoat on at all!