Progress down Loch Shiel was impeded by frequent photo opportunities.

 As we made our way SW down Loch Shiel the sun broke though and despite it being mid October the temperature soared.

 Due to glaciation the west coast of Scotland is riven by many U shaped valleys which were cut by glaciers moving to the SW where the melted into the sea. Some of these valleys are flooded by sea water and some by fresh water but the bodies of water are both called lochs.

 So though our progress was slow, not only were we following the route of a long gone glacier we were making considerably faster progress than it had done.

The scenery in Loch Shiel is truly stunning.

The sunlight enhanced the shades of autumn and our progress was frequently impeded by...

 ...photographic opportunities or...

 ...by stunning shingle beaches where we stopped to...

 ...sit on a log under the shade of a great Scots pine and admired the dramatic mountains...

...which towered far above. I even went in for a swim but the water molecules had clearly retained a memory of the Ice Age.

For the full stereo vision experience read Ian's account here...

A low point on the horizon but not in our spirits on Loch Shiel.

I have not updated the blog for some time due to ill health but I do make more regular posts on my Facebook page. Ian has started to post on his blog about a great trip we made back in October 2016 and this has prompted me to help create another of our stereovision adventures.

Mike and I travelled from SW Scotland and Ian and Lorna travelled from the NE. Sadly Lorna's husband Allan was not feeling 100% and didn't make it. This put a damper on our spirits  but what a great excuse to do this marvellous trip again, with Allan! 

We met at the Glenfinnan House Hotel where we had arranged to leave one car and launch from the hotel grounds into the fresh waters of Loch Shiel. Mike and I ran a shuttle car round to Samalaman Bay on the south side of the Sound of Arisaig.

Once on the water, we soon left the Glenfinnan Monument, which commemorates the fallen during the ill fated 1745 Jacobite rebellion.

We passed the Loch Shiel ferry, the MV Sileas. 

There is no public road along the length of Loch Shiel, so for most people a trip on the Sileas is the only way of seeing the isolated beauty of this Loch.

The hills on the SE shore are rugged and bare and...

...tumbled steeply into the silvery waters of the loch under dark grey skies.

Soon we were out in the middle of the loch where our bows naturally turned to the low point on the horizon. Somewhere beyond lay the sea, some 30km away.

From the middle of the loch we caught a better view of the marvellous mixed woodland of native deciduous and Scots Pine that has survived on the NW shore since the last Ice Age. A flash of brightness...

 ...attracted our attention to a marvellous golden leaved aspen whose leaves were shimmering in the light breeze.

Gradually the equinoctial grey skies brightened, a patch of blue sky appeared and our spirits soared....

For the full stereovision experience see Ian's account here...

The end of winter and the end of the loch, in Loch Shiel.

We now entered the shallows near the mouth of Loch Shiel. The sandy bottom was visible most of the way across the loch except for a narrow channel in the middle. There was complete silence except when some...

 ...loud Canada geese honked by.

 Looking back up the loch, the mountains now seemed a very long way away.

 For the first time since leaving Glenfinnan we caught sight of a group of houses,...

...the village of Arachacle with its jetty lies at the west end of the loch. Before the modern roads were built this was a very remote place. In 1893 David MacBrayne ran the first weekly launch service on the loch to connect Arachacle and Glenfinnan. This was replaced by a larger steamer, Lady of the Lake, in 1898 by Lord Howard of Glossop, who owned Dalelia estate. It linked up with the mail coach service from Fort William to Arisaig.

The current boat service is operated by Loch Shiel Cruises from end of March until beginning of October. The MV Sileas spends the winter at Moss, on the opposite side of the loch from Acharacle.

We had an enjoyable chat with Jim Michie who has run Loch Shiel Cruises since 1998. He was getting the MV Sileas ready for her annual inspection prior to her summer season. She was built in 1940 at Rosneath as a harbour launch for the Royal Navy. She is 52 feet long and built very strongly of double diagonal teak on oak frames. and Jim told us a little about her history. In the summer her trips from Glenfinnan would be an excellent way to see the loch if you do not have a boat of your own.

Leaving Jim in the warm spring sunshine we realised that we had passed imperceptibly from the loch to the river, from the mountains to the lowlands and from winter to spring. The current in the River Shiel was now carrying us towards the sea.

Leaving Dalelia on the shore of Loch Shiel: tales of war, loss and peace.

We relaunched our kayaks and left the peaceful Green Isle of St Finan with its graves surrounded by...

 ...the loch, forests and mountains.

We were now in the shallow basin at the SW end of Loch Shiel. The loch side was now backed by green fields of Dalelia estate and...

...cattle made their way to the shore to drink.

 Dalelia estate lies on the NW shore and we passed some attractive mixed woodland in...

...which we spotted a tall stone cross, almost hidden by the trees. It is a war memorial erected by Dalelia's then owner, Lord Howard of Glossop, to his son. Lt. Philip Howard. Philip was only 23 years old when he died in action in France in 1918, near the end of WW1. His family's wealth could not protect him from the ultimate sacrifice and waste of war.

Of course other young men from this part of the highlands also died in WW1 but their families could not afford to erect a monument. However, their 13 names are listed on the war memorial at Acharacle village at the lower end of Loch Shiel. Philip Howard's name is not on it as he was from Glossop in Derbyshire. His father had wanted to build a memorial to his son and have it sited in Norfolk Square in Glossop but it was never built. Instead a memorial to all of Glossop's dead (including Philip) was erected in Norfolk Square and Lord Howard sited the personal memorial here on the shore of Loch Shiel.

The breeze now meant we were making good progress while paddle sailing and soon we...

 ...passed Dalelia house at the centre of the estate. It was built by Alexander MacDonald as a tacks-man's house about 1795 and extended by Lord Howard in 1907 as a holiday home. In 1745 at the start of his ill fated rebellion, Bonnie Prince Charlie made his way to Dalelia over the coffin road (to St Finan's Isle) through the pass in the hills from the head of Loch Moidart. From Dalelia he was taken by boat to spend the night with Alexander MacDonald at Glenaladale before going on to Glenfinnan at the head of Loch Shiel to raise his standard the following day. This was the start of his ill fated rebellion to regain the British crown for his father.

From Dalelia Glenfinnan is 22 kilometres away (beyond the distant mountains to the left of Mike's head). This is the view that Prince Charlie would have seen at the start of his futile rebellion. It is also a view he would have seen nearly a year later as he escaped this way after the final defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. Perhaps it is also a view that Philip Howard had also enjoyed before he went to war and his untimely death in France. Perhaps this why his grieving father built his memorial here rather than in Glossop. We were fortunate that we were leaving Dalelia on a peaceful voyage and were now reaching the end of our journey down Loch Shiel.

Ringing down the years, the bell of St Finan.

As we entered the dog leg in Loch Shiel we found that the way ahead was almost completely blocked by...

...the Green or St Finan's Isle, which is topped by the ancient stones of St Finan's chapel and the graves of the those who have inhabited these lands since mediaeval times. This narrowing of the loch is where the original glacier that cut Loch Shiel would have met the sea and melted, depositing its moraine.

We landed at the jetty where generations of mourners have landed to carry the coffins of their deceased up...

...the hill to the...

...graveyard at the top. Some of the older grave stones are simple boulders half buried in the grass while...

...other stones from the 18th century bear upright crosses, some of which are simply carved. Later stones are...

...not only taller but...

...some are elaborately carved. This one was erected by...

...the grateful parishioners of Reverend Charles MacDonald who died in 1894. He was also a local historian and author.

At the summit of the isle is St Finan's chapel. It was built in about 1500 by the chief of the Clanranald to  replaced an earlier wooden structure. It was abandoned in the late 1600's so was already a ruin by the time Bonnie Prince Charlie came this way in 1745 on his way to Glenfinnan at the head of the loch. Almost certainly the Prince would have stopped here and made his way up to the chapel. St Finan (the leper) was born in Ireland and is thought to have lived between about 520 and 600. Several places in Scotland and Ireland are named after him. He is not to be confused with the later St Finan (of Lindisfarne) who died in 661 after becoming Bishop of Lindisfarne.

Today the ruins are very peaceful and seldom visited. They are surrounded by the loch, forests and mountains of the lands of Moidart, Ardgour and Sunart from where the deceased were brought to be buried. At the east end of the chapel a simple slab alter survives. In a recess above it...

...is a carved stone cross. On the alter itself is a remarkable object. It is a Celtic seamless cast bronze bell. Amazingly it has been here for over a thousand years. Nowadays it is chained up but it is remarkable that it has survived the millennia without being plundered. Of course there is a dreadful curse attached to the bell and any one who stole it would regret doing so for every second of their few remaining days... During an internment the bell is taken down to the jetty and rung at the head of the cortège as they slowly make their way up to the waiting grave.

The bell has a remarkably clear and pure tone and as I rang it...

...deer on the far hillside broke off from their grazing, raised their heads and listened in the same way that countless generations of their ancestors must have done. We had lost all sense of time as we had explored the small isle, over an hour had passed since we landed. We were glad we were not headland to headland paddlers. Each of us felt a strong connection with the landscape and the generations of people who had lived and died here. We reflected on our own mortality and felt a deep joy in being able to experience such a place. Paradoxically we had never felt so alive than here in this place of the dead.

By coincidence St Finan's Saint's Day is the 18th of March, the very day we were there. Perhaps that may have added to the ambience we enjoyed though we did not know it was that day at the time.

We were still in no hurry as we made our way back down to the jetty where...

...we enjoyed a peaceful coffee break with the silvery song of a robin and the echoes of an ancient bell ringing in our ears.