Into Scotland's Great Wilderness

About trip

Minimum Time: 2hrs 45mins Ascent: 250ft Difficulty Level: 2 - Medium Paths: Mostly good, but one short rough, wet section, 3 stiles Landscape: Moorland and loch side Dog Friendliness: Close control on moorland and tracks carrying estate traffic Parking: In Poolewe, just up B8057 side street Public Toilets: At start Description: As you walk inland from Poolewe, you’re entering one of the largest empty areas in Britain. Turn left instead of right at Kernsary Farm, and you can walk for two full days before you reach any road. Great Wilderness On the slight rise before Loch Kernsary, you get a surprise view right into the heart of this mountain wonderland. At the back of the view is A’Mhaighdean, The Maiden, Scotland’s most remote mountain. It takes half a day’s walk to get to this hill from anywhere. That walk will be along the edges of long dark lochs and under some very large crags. Beinn Lair has a quartzite cliff with an evil north-face gleam that’s 3 miles (4.8km) wide, as big as the north face of Ben Nevis, but a whole lot less visited. Behind A’Mhaighdean is An Teallach, called The Forge because of the cloudy vapours that stream across its semicircular ridge. That ridge has great lumpy towers to scramble round, 3ft (1m)-wide ridges to walk along and an edge that if you fall off, it will take about four seconds before you land on anything at all. All this belongs to a gentleman from Holland called Paul van Vlissingen. In 1993 he signed an agreement with the Mountaineering Council of Scotland that first set out the principle of responsible access for all. Deer stalking restrictions would be only on days when deer stalking was actually taking place - a step forward when walkers were sometimes threatened with high-velocity rifle fire from August to February. The estate also undertook not to build any new landrover tracks. As a result, business here is carried out on foot, by boat and by pony. This Letterewe Accord became the foundation of the new century’s access legislation. Rights of Way. The paths used on this walk are, as it happens, established rights of way. Even so, you’ll notice a sudden change near the head of Loch Kernsary. The first part of the path has been rebuilt by the National Trust for Scotland, using their members’ annual subscriptions. One new member pays for about 2ft (60cm) of path. At the edge of National Trust land the path repairs stop abruptly, mid-bog. In Scotland, no one is obliged to build or maintain footpaths. The surprising thing, if you walk all of these walks, is how many people are doing it anyway. Paths in this book are looked after by charities such as the John Muir Trust, by Scottish Natural Heritage and Forest Enterprise, by private landowners in Argyll and Atholl, by regional and community councils and groups of ordinary walkers. While you're there: One of Scotland’s greatest gardens lies beside the Great Wilderness. In 1862, the Gairloch Mackenzies found themselves free of feuding Macleods and MacDonalds and turned their attention to gardening. Osgood Mackenzie planted trees to create shelter belts against the salt winds, improved (or rather, created) the soil using vast quantities of seaweed hauled up from the beach by basket, and found that the mild western climate would grow exotic plants from Chile and South Africa. Now managed by the National Trust for Scotland, Inverewe Garden is one of Ross-shire’s most surprising and popular attractions. What to look out for: The River Ewe may be short, but it’s very full of salmon. As well as stony piers for anglers, you’ll see artificial rapids where partial dams force the water into a central channel. Salmon will lie up in the pools below, waiting for rain to fill up the river, instead of proceeding immediately into Loch Maree. Where to eat and drink: The Poolewe Hotel was the original village inn. It has a restaurant, with fine sunset views (across the car park) and offers lighter meals in the bar/ bistro (children are welcome, but not dogs). Opposite the car park you will find the Bridge House Coffee Shop and Gallery. Directions: A kissing gate beside the public toilets leads to a path that crosses the Marie Curie Field of Hope to the main road. Turn left to cross the bridge over the River Ewe and then head all the way through the village. At the 40mph derestriction sign, there’s a white cottage on the right. Beside it, look for a tarred trackway that has a Scottish Rights of Way Society signpost for Kernsary. 2 Follow the track over a cattle grid to a new track that forks off to the left. After 50yds (46m), keep ahead on a path with a wall on its left. It passes through a kissing gate into Cnoc na Lise, the Garden Hill. This has been replanted as a community wood with oak and birch trees. Another kissing gate leads out of the young wood. The good, reconstructed path runs through gorse and then under a low-voltage power line. It crosses a low spur to a fine view of Loch Kernsary and the remote, steep-sided hills of the Great Wilderness, then goes over a stream to the loch side. 3 The path follows the lefthand shore of the loch, passing through patches of birch scrub. After a stile, near the loch head, it suddenly deteriorates, becoming a braided trod of boulder and bog. Once past the loch head, slant to the left down a meadow to find a footbridge under an oak tree. Head up, with a fence on your right, to join a track beside Kernsary farm. 4 Turn right, through a gate. Follow the track past the farm, to a culvert crossing of the Kernsary River. This becomes a ford only after heavy rain. If needed, you will find a footbridge 70yds (64m) upstream. After crossing, turn right on a smooth track. The new track bears left, away from Loch Kernsary towards the hollow containing Loch Maree. After the bridge over the Inveran River is a gate with a ladder stile. Signs welcoming responsible walkers (and even cyclists) reflect the principles of the Letterewe Accord. Soon come the first views of Loch Maree. The driveway of Inveran house joins from the left and the track starts being tarred. 5 At a sign, ‘Blind Corners’, a green track on the left leads down to the point where the narrow loch imperceptibly becomes a wide river. Return to the main track and follow it above and then beside the River Ewe. It reaches Poolewe just beside the bridge.