Laggan Reservoir

I seem to have struggled to stay dry this weekend.

Earlier this morning we took Caley to a new walk; a track which leads off the Camesky road down to the River Lochy. As the crow flies this spot is very close to the outskirts of Fort William but with an approach from the other direction and with the town still out of sight there remains a feeling of being well out in the country side. The River Lochy is actually the same water course as the River Spean and its name changes after the Mucomir Hydro scheme tail race and Loch Lochy over spill add to its flow about six miles upstream. We walked on a huge shingle river bed and cobbles (the river is very low) and Caley had a few swims. M had great delight in telling me to take care on the slippery stones. That was the morning walk and is the subject of Mrs Cakes’ blip.

It was home for lunch and we had a visit from M’s Mum and her good friend C. C had previously stayed at our house when we had a short break away without the dogs. She had been particularly fond of Bruce and initially found the prospect of a visit to our home without the usual Brown Boy welcome a daunting one. It was a lovely afternoon blethering over a cup of tea. I did the chicken fillet thing , made the marinade too and tasty stock for the soup tomorrow.

Caley had that look of still needing another daft run. It’s a short drive up to Laggan Reservoir; the dam retained upper reaches of the River Spean. As mentioned above the river is low and this is reflected in the “low tide” level in the reservoir. It exposes a landscape that is often hidden and, at the point we scrambled down to, there are vast flat grassy flood plains designed for Labradors to gallop across at full speed.

It was dull with blustery showers. My feet got soaked in some swamps on the approach and it proved very difficult to get a photo without an accumulation of droplets on the lens.

I liked this spot because you are out of sight of the main road and it’s a wee bit different.