Bay circuit and Rock Route.

The Rock Route travels north from Ullapool through the North West Highlands Geopark.

The landscape in this area is built on the oldest rock in Britain. Lewisian Gneiss. Some of this can be seen along Oldshoremore beach which was our destination to walk today.

We stopped en route through Assynt at a coffee shop above Kylesku which last year was a museum of childhood and craft shop. We knew the lady was retiring and selling but on arriving today we found the Rock Stop and Geo-centre, with coffee and cakes thrown in. It was excellent. They had made picture windows overlooking Loch Glencoul where there is visible evidence of the action of 4 thrust planes. There was a video presentation going on in one room with lots of other information and a Geo physicist, apologising for his lack of detailed geological knowledge and making our coffee!
They are aiming to get UNESCO status.

He gave us some leaflets they had designed to encourage people off the main Rock Route onto the lesser routes they have named 'Pebble Routes'! One of these was the route we were taking anyway to Oldshoremore..

The information added to our enjoyment of this walk which we did in April last year and we will definitely be revisiting the Geo-centre when we have more time.

We crossed Oldshoremore beach and the headland beyond taking us to Polin beach, both beautiful and white and almost empty. (Surfers had just arrived on Oldshoremore beach but there was no one on Polin beach.) Crossing the next headland we came down to the small harbour seen here at Port Chaligaig. The sun came out whilst we sat and ate our sandwiches listening to the Oystercatchers and gulls on the cliffs. We saw a number of Wheatears on the way. We only seem to see them up here.

We decided not to continue over the next headland to Sheigra and the campsite there but to cut off a bit of the walk by ascending through the hamlet of Droman to Balchrick and the main road back to Oldshoremore.
This is one of many crofts left dotted about the landscape mainly roofless and abandoned. The sheep are in an enclosure of Marsh Marigolds not buttercups as it appears from a distance.

The beaches of Oldshoremore and Polin are the ones crossed on the walk but if you kept going far enough up the coast you could get to Sandwood Bay, the remotest beach in Britain! You can cut a corner off by walking across country from Blairmore on the road we were returning on. It is 4.5 miles there and, of course, back but worth it. There is no road access. We did it about 3 years ago.
A lovely walk today but even the shortened version seemed a long way back along the road!