Inverie at last

At last I’m in Inverie on the Knoydart Peninsula! Hooray! This hill-walking club trip was originally planned for April 2020 and I was really looking forward to it. I had never been to Knoydart before and had heard that it’s very beautiful; also I really fancied the boat trip from Mallaig to Inverie. However “the best laid plans…” and horrible Covid intervened. However, here we are, two years later, and I’m very excited to be here! 

We travelled to Fort William yesterday afternoon and had a lovely dinner at the Crannog with Davie and Chanel, followed by drinks and chat in the Ben Nevis pub. Then today, after a delightfully inexpensive breakfast in Fort William Morrison’s, we made our way to Mallaig. The last time that I was in Mallaig was many years ago and I remember walking around deserted streets, looking in vain for somewhere to have lunch. To be fair, this may have been out of season, I can’t remember. Well, what a difference today! The little town was positively bustling, and after parking the car (in the long stay spaces, as advised by Cat and Ally who had caught an earlier ferry) we quickly found a very pleasant little restaurant where we sat outside in the warm sunshine for a light lunch with Davie and Chanel. We spotted the familiar faces of various hill-walking club members strolling around the town. We all met up at the pier and piled on to the busy 2.15 p.m. ferry. The luggage was loaded on first and then we were all called forward by name to board; it was lucky that we had booked. Of course most people heading to Inverie were self-catering so there were mountains of bags of food as well as rucksacks and suitcases.

The crossing was delightful; only about forty minutes as we journeyed towards the mountains of Knoydart which were spectacular. 

Soon James and I were installed in our comfy little studio apartment at River Cottage, only five minutes walk from the bunk-house where the others are staying. I feel a mixture of delight and guilt at arranging different accommodation from the others; I have stayed in my fair share of bunkhouses and bothies over the years but I do like my comforts. We had dinner in the bunkhouse with the rest of the group later, and it is perfectly acceptable, but I do not regret my choice! Meanwhile James was feeling very ill with a bad headache. He had woken with it this morning and despite taking pain medication it was still plaguing him. So he sensibly went for a nap for the rest of the afternoon. I went for a wander down to the bunkhouse where I met Davie and Chanel and we went for a walk to the beach. It was still warm but the sky was quite dark grey in the distance and we could see that it was raining over Skye. 

Later there was much heating of food and a convivial evening ensued. I was delighted with how my lasagne turned out; it was well up to standard.