Loch Barnluasgan and Bellanoch Viewpoint

This started out as a short, flat walk, just round the loch along a path suitable for baby buggies or wheelchairs.

 

It's a pleasant spot with water lilies flowering in the calm waters of the loch, trees covered in weird and wonderful lichens, and in summer dragonflies flit around. 

It's close to the main Knapdale beaver watching site, and their activity - distinctive gnawing of fallen trees and such - can be seen here though I've never spotted them themselves.

Things got more energetic - and tiring  - when I decided to add on a walk to the Bellanoch viewpoint. 750 metres can't be far, I thought. And anyway, it's uphill, so every return step is downwards. I can turn round when I start to feel I've gone too far.

The route follows a forest road - in fact cars can allegedly use it to reach a wildlife visitor centre but it's loose gravel and while it's a good path, I'm not sure it's a good road unless you've got a 4x4. After the visitor centre the road deteriorates but is still clear  

 But having gone up ... and up ... and up it turned out that I then had to walk DOWN to see the view. 

I nearly gave up then. I could see the view - sort of - and didn't expect it to be much different at the viewpoint. But worried about missing something wonderful I sent my more energetic husband ahead to check how much further I had to go, and how good the view was, and he came back with photos that inspired me to walk that bit further, even knowing I was going to end up walking back uphill. 

So I, not quite inched, but walked gradually downhill, ready at any moment to turn round if I thought the walk back would be too much, till the trees fell away and the horizon opened up before us with the most amazing view out over Crinan Ferry past small islands to Mull.

Closer to hand, though partly hidden by the hillside, was Bellanoch canal basin, with Crinan canal winding past it on its way to the sea, and the river Add running alongside while the tide moved in over the wide expanses of sand and mud-flats.

Inland the river snakes across the tidal flats that lain Banks in The Crow Road turned into Upper Loch Crinan, with his fictional town of Gallanach situated somewhere on the edge of the distant hills.

It was definitely worth making the effort for, though my legs weren't too happy at the first uphill section as we walked back, but at least the remaining bits were downhill then flat around the loch!