Part V: Doune to Inverie

Cath and Julia

Well, things didn't go the way I expected they would last night, and I ended up at a party after work! As I was leaving the shop at the back of 11.00 I met Julia who was on her way to meet Cath at a local bar where there was a music gig on! She invited me along so I reckoned why not! It was a local band and very good they were too. Then we went back to Cath's place and drank a few glasses of wine with two Spanish friends of Cath's, Francisco and Manuel, who had just returned from touring Scotland. What I hadn't realised was that Cath had lived in Spain for 15 years and was fluent in Spanish. However, my school Spanish came back to me in bits and I found I could follow little bits here and there (as Julia said - she could follow every 19th word !). Oh we didn't speak Spanish ALL the time! Francisco spoke good English and much of the conversation was in English. It was really good fun, lots of discussion about this and that, and several glasses of wine! It would have been about 4.00a.m when I decided it was time to go home, and at that time in the morning I wasn't starting any blogging. However, here I am today - albeit in the afternoon, having slept through till 11.30-ish! So back to Doune and that trip to Inverie done three ways, as I cryptically mentioned the other day!

The weather had warmed up considerably and the day was fine so it was decided that we would all head off to Inverie. That would mean a climb up the hill to the road, turning right, and a 5 mile walk to the village. My left hip and knee had been bothering me for a while so I was a bit hesitant at the thought of the hill, even using my two walking poles. The road would have been no bother, but to get to the road you have to climb first! Joan had already decided she wanted to walk the long way round, heading left along the road to Airor, on by the track to Inverguseran and through the pass to Inverie, about 10 miles or so. The rest of us would go the short way - at least I was ready to try the hill! Then I discovered that some of the other guests were being taken to Inverie by boat to do some route from there! A-ha!!! A way out of the hill walk! Morag and I opted for the sea trip with Martin in Gripper, Joan leaving about the same time for her long walk while the others were to set off up the hill later on!

On our way Martin slowed Gripper right down so we could get a good view of the seals lounging on a small rocky island at the entrance to Loch Nevis . They have such beautiful faces, and were just as curious about us.

Then we passed the statue of the Virgin Mary on the mainland rocks - irreverently nicknamed Plastic Mary, as she reminds you of the plastic statues of Mary you can buy in souvenir shops - and entered Loch Nevis at the south side of the Knoydart peninsula. Inverie is tucked into a sheltered bay away from the sea wind, and is a long village of white painted buildings with the pub at one end and the post office/shop at the other.

We landed at the new pier - the first time I had seen it since it was finished a year or two ago! It's certainly much more useful than the old pier was. All traces of it are gone now, and the new pier has already weathered well, looking like it has "aye been" (always been there)! In fact from a distance you hardly see it, it has blended in so well!

We waved Gripper off again, having arranged to be picked up at 5.00pm. It was a lot hotter in Inverie than in Doune, and I knew I'd not be able to do much walking - I am miserable in the heat as most of you will know, and to me this was already too hot! However we walked along the village, stopping to have a cup of tea and a scone in the new teashop that I am sure was a building connected with the old pier in the past. Onwards again to look at the Knoydart Foundation office window with its notices about what was happening where, etc. and the monument built outside the village hall to commemorate the actions of the Seven Men of Knoydart , who returned from the war thinking they'd be welcomed home as heroes only to find they had no land to work. The estate owner was not a sympathetic man to the local population and despite legal attempts to win land for themselves the estate owner managed to see off their claims. The link explains the whole story better than I have done in a few lines. Then we were off to the P.O. to buy some stamps. The shop/PO was shut for the day!!! Oh well.

The road continues a little further before degenerating into a rough track, so we walked a bit further, passing the old church or was this the chapel -not sure - that has now been converted into a holiday home with glass conservatory to the seaward sunny side hardly visible from the road! Good move, that!

Even though we were in the shade of the woodland by this stage, it was getting hotter. We continued to where the rough track started and turned back towards the village again. A pint of orange squash on ice at the Old Forge pub - the remotest pub in the country - seemed to be a good idea!

It was! It was cool and comfortable and the iced drink went down a treat.

We could have stayed there all day, but we had things to do, people to meet and places to be! First I took Morag to show her the A-frame homes that had been built by the Foundation, and where Ann Marie had stayed for a while after leaving Doune and the Ark. They are cosy wee places, basically one room at the end, with access to a bathroom and kitchen in the centre, shared with the person in the room at the other end. Then we stopped off at Ann Marie's new home, a single storeyed house a bit beyond the pier, just past the school, hopefully to say hello and catch up with her news. Unfortunately she wasn't in. The picture of Morag, below, shows Ann Marie's house on the extreme left of the photo, next to the wee school. Click to enlarge, as usual.

A bit further along the road we found shelter under a tree almost on the shore, with a couple of handy looking flat rocks to act as seats, so there we ate our sandwiches and cake from the Doune kitchen! The sun was far too hot to do any more walking so we stayed where we were, and waited for the rest of the group from Doune to arrive along the road. A rough estimate gave us 4.00pm, but despite lying back in the shade of our tree for a snooze, by 3.30 we were ready for another long cold drink. Heading back to the pub, we met Liz and Ewan in their car, complete with passenger! Joan had arrived in Inverie from her long walk and was taking the chance of a lift back early! We waved them off and found ourselves a seat in the pub from where we could see anyone walking into the village. Margaret and Norma arrived first, and joined us after a quick look at the village. They thought Sheila might have turned back as she had been having a problem with a foot. However Sheila and Janet appeared on the road a wee while later. She'd managed to keep going and said her foot seemed OK now! They had all enjoyed the walk but even they had found the heat wearing! I'd never have coped! Thank goodness Martin had been bringing the others in by boat, and thank goodness he was taking us back! We watched Gripper coming into sight, getting closer and closer, until she berthed at the pier and Martin came striding along the road. He had a few jobs to do before heading back, but eventually everyone was aboard and we were off. It was delightful in the breeze, but of course you forget about the sun's effects when you are on board! By the time we reached Doune, my forehead was sore, as if it was bruised, and a few days later when the ache subsided and the skin began to peel I realised I had been burnt! It's fine now and no ill effects!

Back in Doune Bay at low tide the only option was to go ashore in the rib, something that I'm not fond of doing! I waited for the last journey and took photos of the others going first! These are the Irish guests we went to Inverie with.

So that was another enjoyable day. The week passed so quickly and suddenly it was Saturday again and we were saying goodbye to our friends at Doune, and each other at Mallaig. I think we were all happy with the achievements we'd made in our lacemaking - after finishing the robin, I'd started a Bucks point bookmark I designed myself!!! - and we had had fun, eaten well, and played well! Next year's visit can't come quickly enough. We don't yet know when it will be, but Liz usually lets us know around Christmas/New Year time!

After the goodbyes at Mallaig, Norma, Morag and I bundled into the car again with all our stuff and began our journey home - all in one this time - detouring round Loch Leven instead of crossing the Ballachulish bridge then stopping at the Glencoe visitor centre for something to eat. Outside there was a viewpoint, where Norma's hawk eyes spotted this wee guy, a wee lizard, on the wall. He very obligingly stayed where he was while we got our cameras out and took photos, and was in fact still there when we went back inside again! He's about 6 inches/15cm long from nose to tail.

I have never seen Glencoe so full of cars before. We were OK on our side going south but the traffic coming through the glen towards Glencoe village was piled back nose to tail for miles! Roadworks at the northern end of the glen must have been responsible. Obviously more people were heading north than south that Saturday afternoon!

So all too soon we were home again, and back at work! I haven't even unpacked my lace pillow yet - too many other things to do - but I must try and get the bookmark completed soon.

It has been fun blogging the week's events, but now as we say in this part of the world "It's back tae auld claes and parritch!" Literally "It's back to old clothes and porridge", it just means it's back to normal again now! My blog is going to be very ordinary for a while! Oh well, maybe not! The Edinburgh Festival and the Festival Fringe are on in Edinburgh just now, and tomorrow I am meeting Janet from Inverness (not lacemaking Janet) to wander around and see what's going on! The atmosphere in the city will be quite exciting, I should think!

SO! That's it from Doune!

Talk again soon.