Day 13 – To Glen Nevis

Sunday 9th May

Started the day with a walk around the headland to the old crofting village of Smirisary, where all but a couple of the eight crofts have been renovated as holiday homes. I chatted with one owner, walking her dog, and she told me her family had had the house for the last 40 years, but only renovated it in the last 15 years. It had entailed a helicopter drop of materials in, which cost £6000.

Onward around the headland to White Sands, which I had to myself until a group of sea-kayakers landed for lunch, bringing with them the group of seals that had been entertained by them. It was clients from London with a local company; young people, a long way to come for a weekend. They have the late train back tonight.

It’s a narrow and up and down path in and out, along the cliff.

Quite spectacular views the whole way, and not just looking upwards, downwards as well.

These are mating silkworms. Silkworms are neither worms nor snakes, but legless lizards, and May is their breeding season.

The male, silver, can be very aggressive. DurIng courtship he often takes a hold of the female by biting her neck, as in the top photo, and they intertwine their bodies. Their mating often lasts 10 hours. They were on the path, so I passed them coming in, and on the way out (the second photograph) it looks like they had just finished..

I travelled on in the early evening, half thinking about stopping at Glenfinnan, but none of the parking spots I could find where off the road, so I ended up at a place I would usually avoid, like Tarbet in Loch Lomond, due to the crowds, Braveheart Forest car park in Glen Nevis. It had just a few other vans, and was really pleasant as the day’s squally showers cleared for a fine evening, not dark until after 10 pm.