Visit to Knoydart

Yesterday I went to Knoydart. While most of the country basked in Spring sunshine there was unrelenting rain here in North West Scotland but Knoydart is a magical place that I would gladly visit whatever the weather.
Whilst waiting for the boat I saw a large seal lolling in the water just metres from the jetty, only when the ferry approached did it lazily roll over and disappear.
Knoydart is a peninsular but might as well be an island. You can walk or run in but it is 14 miles from the road end at Kinloch Hourn  (itself a very long drive on single track roads from Invergarry) to the village of Inverie. It is a lovely trek but not ideal if you need to be back in Fort William the same day. Instead the boat form Mallaig only takes half an hour. I enjoy visiting Inverie because it has such a friendly atmostphere- the villagers wave to each other when they meet and of course everybody knows everybody else . Its remoteness and small size determines that co operation amongst its one hundred or so inhabitants is a necessity.
 It wasn't always like this; in the 18th century Inverie was one of many townships and Barrisdale Bay would have been busy with merchant ships . In the days when roads were very poor or non existent then good access by sea gave an area far better connections and so less remoteness than corresponding inland villages. Nowadays we think of a ferry trip as time consuming, complicated and uncomfortable - you have to get out that warm metal cocoon known as a motorcar and climb aboard a small draughty boat  pitching about in the sea. Two hundred years ago it would have been a swift  and efficient way of moving people and cargo, far better than walking or riding through bogs and hills. Having said that I do know a man who used to farm on Knoydart who  on leaving the area drove his cattle out on foot overland . That must have been fun!

The Helmsman on the boat to Inverie, Knoydart.