Tuesday 26/10/04

Woke up to the sound of rain. How odd. Annual rainfall total at Kinloch 2,500 mm, 100 inches. London, for the sake of comparison, has 800 mm (32"). Looked out of topfloor window at 8.30 to see the top of a waterspout. By the time I got my camera out it had faded. After breakfast and the preparations for lunch, I set out for Harris at 9.45. This involves an 8 mile road walk. As mentioned before, the roads on Rum are atrocious. First you go to the Kilmory turn, then past Salisbury's dam. This is a failed attempt by the then owner Lord Salisbury to dam the waters of Kinloch River in 1876. When the dam broke, it caused a massive flood in Kinloch Glen. In the distance to the west Fionchra and Orval rear up, the former wreathed by a rainbow. Ard Nev towers over the road just to the west. Barkeval stands to the east, followed by Glen Harris. Crowned by - clouds. In clear weather there would be the Rum Cuillins, with tops rising to 823 m, 2864 ft. Today's weather is mildly showery. See them rolling past all around, but only get 1 or 2 myself. Beautiful view over Harris to Coll and Tiree, and the Treshnish Isles as you descend. The roads deteriorates from atrocious to abominable but I manage to blast along at a steady 4 kph (2.5 mph). Find a jeep, surrounded by mating bovines, containing Tom Keane and another chap surveying the road. Tom is to assess the amount of money needed to improve amenities on Rum. It will cost millions to upgrade the road. In the days of yore, a car was raced from Kinloch to Harris in 8 minutes... Nowadays it takes more like 60 minutes. Reached Harris at 1pm. Thoughts of continuing to Papadil are thwarted by distance, terrain and diminishing daylight hours. Looked at the mausoleum. The western lintel is in danger of collapse, but a company has been found to amend this. The only thing is, they'll have to helicopter their gear to Harris, because of the state of the road. Brief moment of silence to remember those at rest here. The three members of the Bullough family who built Kinloch Castle. Gorgeous location. Temperature is 10C, according to thermometer outside the non-bothy. It's actually the HQ for the goat project. Found the goats alright, long-horned ones. Back up that bloody hill again, then plain sailing all the way to the junction. Found the path to Bloodstone Hill at Malcolm's Bridge. Reached the Kilmory fork at 4pm, and decided I had time in hand to go there. Not quite, as it turned out. The road there was extremely wet, at times I needed a boat. Met the treehuggers, who recommended I go into the first wood along the road to view the waterfall. Wood is wild, wet and beautiful. Saw plenty of deer, in between dodging puddles. Stopped at 5pm, about 3/4 mile short of the beach. Sunset is at 6, and I still have to walk a mere 6-7 km back to Kinloch. This took me the anticipated 90 minutes, and I just beat the darkness to it. Although I had planned a break at the roadfork, I found myself in a stride and decided to press on. The moon rose in front of me and gleamed beautifully on the Kinloch River, when I reached there at 6.30. It was dark. Dived into the shop, which was full of drinkers. Had a coke, then bought me baked beans & fruit cocktail stand-by for supper. Total distance walked today: 34 km (21 miles) a new record.