Sunday 23rd March 2008: Craignish Peninsula

After yesterday’s exertions I had a slower start to the morning – a run to Dunstaffnage Castle and picked up the paper. I even had a wee nap late morning before leaving for Caorbh Haven for a circular walk – long a ridge and then back by the shoreline. This was a fascinating walk. There were gaping holes in places where rhododendrons had been pulled up and destroyed to try to stem the spread of phytophthora ramorum (sudden oak death) which affects an increasing number of woodland plants. This had been found just up the road in an NTS Garden at Arduaine. The walk took me past an old watermill with the skeletal waterwheel still in place, and Iron Age fort Dun Ailne. From there I could see the white water around Corryvrechan and the Paps of Jura. Just as one starts the return journey is a wee rocky mound with a carved stone lying prone. This is the “stone of the just man” Leac an Duine. On the shore I also past a huge boulder poking up through the tress like a huge fang. This according to the book is part of part of a geological dyke running out into the sea