9 April 2010
After our lunch stop, we took the A837 out of Lochinver and then the small B869 road northwards.
B869 is a narrow, winding single-track road. We saw some sheep that came onto the road, so we slowed down to a crawl to avoid hitting them. The local Scottish drivers were used to such encounters, overtook us and sped right through. For us, it was quite a sight. Later on, we actually saw a dead adult sheep (road kill) on the left side of the road. Was it the guy who overtook us a while back that did this?
As we had enough time, we took a detour off the B869 to see the Stoer Lighthouse. Leaving the narrow B869, we took an even narrower single track road that led to the Stoer peninsula. The landscape here was mostly grass fields, with sparse farm buildings and sheds. We passed by some hairy cows on the track near the coast.
Scottish hairy cows or highland cows on the single track road towards the Stoer lighthouse.
The track led to a car park near the lighthouse. Surprisingly, there were some cars parked there but no else were seen near the lighthouse. We had to walk up a tar road leading to the lighthouse.
The Stoer Lighthouse built in 1870 at the headland of the Point of Stoer. This is the most Westerly point on the peninsula.
The tower of the lighthouse is only 14 meters high but 54 meters above sea level. It was one of the 200 lighthouses located in Scotland’s coast.
The engineers that built the lighthouse were related to Robert Louis Stevensons, the author of the books Treasure Island and Kidnapped. It is said that the author visited the lighthouse as a kid and his time spent here was thought to be inspirations for those books.
The lighthouse is unmanned now. The switching of the electric lights are now automated using light sensors and monitored from Edinburgh.
The remains of stable, cow and cart shed, pig house that were used by the previous lighthouse keepers could be seen at side of the road leading to the lighthouse.
This is supposed to be a good place to watch whales and dolphins and there is a sign board explaining this.
To see any of the whales, sharks or dolphins, be prepared to sit for hours with a pair of binoculars. No thanks.
On the tar road leading to the lighthouse.
View of the coast from outside the lighthouse. The long and winding road that we took to get here could be seen in the lower right hand corner.
I wanted to shoot some pictures of the coast and mountains in the distance, so I ventured down onto the grass field.
Have to be careful not to go too close to the edge, as it meant a vertical drop of 50m into the sea.
After some time, the family decided to follow me onto the grass field.
Big vast open green fields near the Stoer Lighthouse.
Have to beware of these “land mines!” Actually sheep droppings.
Once we were tired of the coastal views and sheep droppings, we went back to the car and took the same route back. This time, we stopped quite close to the herd of highland cows to take some photos. I wanted to take a photo of a bull with the long horns but all we saw were females and calves.
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