Out West - A trip to Ardnamurchan

ARDNAMURCHAN The Bell Rock, Heisker, Dhu Artach, Skerryvore and Muckle Flugga, to those in know, there names conjure up thoughts of adventures on the edge. Just getting to these places is no easy task and many Scottish natives will have no idea that they are around the shores of their country. These locations share a couple of features. Number one, they are hard to get to. The first four are well off shore and Muckle Flugga is an island where the North Sea and the Atlantic meet. You can imagine what the weather is like there, at the north end of Shetland and with no other land between it and the North Pole. The second feature they share is that they are all home to some of the finest structures in the country, and sitting on these rocks in the middle of the seas, for that is what they are, are lighthouses. They're tantalising places.not just hard to get to but hard to see. They sit on the horizon as we look out to sea and get a glimpse of a distant pencil sticking up or at night the wink of light that, if we know the signal, allows us to identify the light and for sailors, even in this time of GPS and navigational software, provide a reassurance that there is something solid out there keeping ships safe. It's hard to get an impression of these remarkable buildings. Most of us just don't get there, certainly they are not on the the tourist trail. However if you go west, and go as far as you can, 22 mile west of Lands End to be precise, you end up at Ardnamurchan. The great point of the sea ( as the English translation goes) points west just south of the Small Isles of Muck, Eigg, Rum and Canna on Scotland's west coast. Here sits another of Scotland's great lights but this time you can drive there. The road is long, 25 miles of single track from Salen, which goes up and down like a fiddlers elbow, and it can feel like you are never getting there, but persevere, it's worth it. After 19 miles, at the village of Kilchoan, there is a shop, hotel, ferry to Tobermory on Mull and a couple of campsites. Six miles further, and at the westmost set of traffic lights in Britain, you're there. For somewhere that's thats at the far end of nowhere it's very civilised. Not just the lighthouse and it's attendant exhibition, but a fine cafe and gift/book shop. Either before or after you explore the buildings have a coffee and a bit of millionaires shortbread, I recommend them both, but before long you you will be drawn to the lighthouse. Built in the 1840s to a design by Alan Stevenson it's stands 33m high and the top is 55m above sea level. It flashes twice every 20s and can be seen at 22 miles distance. There are regular tours and you meet the guide at the top of the tower. As you enter the tower there is painting on the wall referencing the Northern Lighthouse Board who monitor all the lights round Scotland's coast. In common with all the other main lights, Ardnamurchan is controlled from the offices on George Street in Edinburgh. The climb to the top gives you the opportunity to examine the tower. The sheer build quality of the construction is astonishing. It must have been a wonder of planning to get the granite from Mull, dress the stone and dovetail it together, and all this at the western extremity of Britain. Now, think about doing the same thing on the more remote lights. The Bell Rock on the East Coast, Skerryvore, Dhu Artach and Heisker on the West, required the construction teams to live in temporary accommodations on these remote reefs while they lights were built, and all the materials had to be constructed on land before being transported to the site, many miles off shore, and subject to the worst of the Scottsh climate. The Stevenson family, who for five generations were engineers and designers for the Northern Lighthouse board, built most of the main lights and the most famous member of the clan, Robert Louis, although he didn't follow the engineering route, travelled with his father, uncles etc to the sites and used this experience in subsequent novels. Read "Kidnapped" and you will realise that RLS know the West Coast well and the are around the South end of Mull in particular. The island of Erraid was the base station during the construction of Dhu Artach and features strongly the novel. So, visit Ardnamurchan, go to the lighthouse and marvel, walk on the great beaches and watch the sea and sky for whales and eagles. There is so much to see, I haven't even mentioned the volcano!