It was difficult to spot where the track started. Initially I drove passed it, as there is just a closed gate with no name on it. After careful consultation of my Explorer map, I realised it was the start of the Shona Beag track. There was just about enough parking for one small car without blocking the driveway. It was then a delightful walk in the sunshine down the tree lined track to the ford marked on the map as Atha a' Chaolais.
I arrived about an hour before low tide and the causeway was clear. On each side of it was mud, so I presume that the causeway has been deliberately built up slightly and made firmer with gravel. There was no ford to cross. I met no one on the way down or on the island and there are no notices saying Private, Keep Out. However I still felt slightly uneasy about being there without permission, so only walked a short way up the track and didn't go as far as the small cluster of houses on the south side of the island at Invermoidart. The track on the island had been mended recently but the only cars I saw were parked on the mainland side of the causeway.
Shona Beag is covered in widely spaced mature oak and birch trees with heather in between.
A few days later when I was at Castle Tioram on the opposite side of Loch Moidart I watched a boat arrive and depart at Eilean Shona House on Shona. There is no road access to this house.
Mainland from Shona Beag |
Mainland from Shona Beag
Mainland from Shona Beag showing the causeway
Shona Beag from the mainland.
That Island is private property. You were trespassing, that's why feeling uneasy.
ReplyDeleteNot in Scotland since 2003 "right to roam" laws:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.gov.scot/policies/landscape-and-outdoor-access/public-access-to-land/
Anonymous, you show really check your facts - and what a nasty post. The Land Reform Act of 2003 gives everyone rights of access over land and inland water throughout Scotland, subject to specific exclusions set out in the Act and as long as they behave responsibly. These rights are sometimes referred to as 'freedom to roam'.
ReplyDelete