Ariundle Oakwood to Strontian Lead Mines

Ariundle Oakwood is part of the ancient Sunart Oakwood and is located about a mile from the small village of Strontian. It is classified as a temperate rainforest, comprised mostly of broadleaved trees which receive heavy annual rainfall.

 
Setting off from the Ariundle car park, the wide track followed the course of the River Strontian, the banks of which were studded with Marsh Marigolds and Cuckoo Flowers. 

The Cuckoo Flower is so nicknamed as its appearance generally coincides with the arrival of the bird of the same name. Indeed, there were numerous Cuckoos calling endlessly from dawn until dusk during our week long stay in the Ardnamurchan area, despite reports of their being in serious decline in other areas.

Eventually we crossed the river by a wooden bridge, having first enjoyed our flask and sandwiches on a conveniently placed seat!
 
The craggy outline of "Sgurr Dhòmhnuill" (Donald's Rocky Peak) came into view further down the Glen.

The track now led to a boardwalk through Oak and Birch trees, interspersed with Hazel, Rowan and Scots Pine. 

Climbing gently we passed through a large metal gate into a fenced off area, put in place to prevent the trees from being grazed by deer. A short time later we passed through a second gate and emerged onto open moorland.

 From here the path petered out somewhat but we headed upwards diagonally, towards a rocky outcrop at the top of a hill. On reaching this we were suddenly looking down into a small but steep ravine, within which were a stream and several rocky waterfalls.

Keeping the ravine to our right we soon found ourselves amongst the spoil heaps of the former lead mines where over 600 miners once worked. Lead from these mines was used to make ammunition for the soldiers fighting in the Napoleonic Wars. French prisoners of war were transported to the area to work in the mines.

The mineral Strontianite, from which the element Strontium was first isolated, was discovered here, taking its name from the nearby village.

Our path now started to descend, back towards the ancient Oakwood.

 

Reaching the car park we decided to visit a nearby tea room for a well earned cuppa. The Ariundle Centre proved to be a bit of an Aladdin's cave, having within it a tearoom (which sold proper tea, made with tealeaves), an all day meal service, a takeaway service, accommodation and offering local craft courses.
 Click here for more information about the Ariundle Centre

Back at Stag Cottage  later that evening, the garden had plenty of visitors again!

Thanks for visiting my blog. I hope you've enjoyed the photos.

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Stag Cottage Ardnamurchan; a little piece of Heaven on Earth

After an unhappy series of personal events in the first few months of 2017, a long planned and much postponed visit to Scotland was just what we needed to get away from it all and recharge our batteries. Stag Cottage, tucked away beneath soaring pine trees at the end of Loch Doilet, proved to be exactly the right place.
Our trips to Scotland have invariably been wet and dismal, weatherwise, and as we set off sure enough down came the rain! Stopping for lunch at Inverbeg on Loch Lomond, we wondered if we would be in for a full week of wet weather, as we had on our previous trip, to Skye. As we headed towards the ferry at Corran, for the short crossing to Ardgour, the skies began to clear and the sun peeked out at last.

On reaching the village of Strontian, the route to Stag Cottage then climbs steeply upwards on a winding unclassified road, by the side of which Red Deer graze unconcernedly.

Reaching the top of the hill there is an equally steep downward descent towards the Glenhurich Estate. A sudden breathtaking glimpse of Loch Doilet appeared before us.

Finally, we had arrived. 

Within an hour of our arrival we saw our first Pine Marten, albeit briefly, scurrying along by the perimeter of the garden. The local Siskins seemed very pleased with the peanuts we put out for them.

After quickly unpacking, we had a stroll beside Loch Doilet towards Polloch. Peace, quiet, birdsong. Peace, peace and more peace. A single car passed us, other than that we saw only nature. 

 Stag Cottage is tucked away below the tall pines on the right of the photo.

 Returning to the cottage we were delighted to see a Pine Marten feeding on the peanuts we had left out earlier. The cottage looked very welcoming in the pink light of sunset.

As darkness fell, we set up our Trailcam to see if we could capture footage of any night time visitors. As you can see it was a busy night!

The following day dawned bright and sunny and word must have spread about the replenished supply of peanuts, jam and sandwiches on offer on the picnic bench in the garden!

 

This Pine Marten was our most frequent visitor. We could identify different individuals by the unique markings on their chests.

This one was a little more shy and hid at the edge of the garden, waiting for the first one to bring the picnic! 

 

The Pine Martens had a definite preference for jam, however I only put it out once as when I saw how this one demolished the whole lot in one go, I thought it seemed all the sugar in jam might not be a good idea for a wild animal. Probably peanut butter sandwiches are not the best thing either? There were no crumbs left though, that's all I can say about that!      

Honestly, I could have spent the entire week just watching these gorgeous little fellas. The nearby oak woods were calling however. More of that in my next blog post. 
Thanks for visiting; I hope you've enjoyed the photos.

More about Stag Cottage and booking options  here...

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