Following on from a visit last October it seemed a good time to visit this area of NW Scotland one more time, particularly as the weather forecast was good.

As for my last visit the  first stop on the road from Ullapool was the car park  alongside Loch Assynt and Ardvreck Castle

The skies towards Lochinver (destination) looked inviting, beckoning me on with that promise for two days of fair weather.

It was a fabulous feeling to be up there again at the side of Loch Assynt like a welcome for the long days and blue skies of a Scottish summer to come.

nDay One.  Coigach and the peninsular of Rubha Coigach

The drive from Lochinver to Reiff took an hour or so. Reiff is where the road ends and lies at the base of Rubha Coigach, a remote peninsular to the North.

I took to the western edge of the bay and walked north heading for some distant cairns, making it as far as Faochag bay. Looking west there were clear views of the Hebridean islands of Harris and Lewis. Looking back to the south Reiff Bay was a desolate sight with its backdrop of the Coigach hills and the peak of Anteallach even more distant on the far horizon. I took the linear route back, skirting the edge of the freshwater loch back to Reiff then from there cut across the southern edge of the peninsular heading for Achnahaird Bay and a short walk to explore another scenic jewel of the area

Day Two. Assynt

The weather was perfect for a second day of walking, this time to the north west of Lochinver along the road to Diabeg. I drove through Clachtoll and stopped up on the hill just above the beach, down from the parking space there was a gate, opening to a path that led through the meadow towards one of the finest beaches anywhere in Scotland.

The area of Clachtoll is of huge interest for its geological past, evidencing the  collision of techtonic plates over a billion or more years ago. The view across Split Rock tells its own story 

The beach is edged with massive boulders of Lewisian gneiss and Torridonian sandstone, then raised up from the edge are wonderful flower meadows of machair.

Day 2 (evening). River Inver

Back in Lochinver there was good time for a walk alongside the River Inver. This is a spectacular river cascading its way down from the lochs of Assynt through beautiful native woodland and rocks of gneiss and sandstone laid down from earlier geological times. It was a good space to relax and reflect on a wonderful two days of walking in North West Scotland