Jen and Dave: Adventuring

Preparing for another day of hiking, we decided to make it a slightly shorter day. We were dropped off in Low Kildonan, along the water. The plan was to follow the official Inland route from here – it is best to have the cooperation of the tides to do the coastal variant, and they were not on our side.

The walk starts along a neighbourhood waterfront road in Low Kildonan. The uninhabited private island, Pladdah, adds interest to the coastline, particularly its lighthouse. Ailsa Craig towers as a pyramid on the distant horizon.

We then turned up a footpath between homes, and then through cattle and sheep pastures, climbing our way to High Kildonan.

A short ways along the road, and we turned into the footpath for Giant’s Graves. There was a picnic table at the turn, a lovely spot, so we sat for a bite to eat.

The footpath wound single-track through meadows of heather punctuated with fireweed – purple on purple amidst verdant green.

Eventually the footpath joined a deactivated industrial road – wide, graded gravel meandering along the hillside, then eventually beginning a descent after passing a deactivated quarry.

As the way wound around a corner, an expansive view came before us. One hundred eighty degrees of coastline, from bluffs to gentle slopes, from pasture to villagescapes, with the Holy Isle as a relief from a stern horizon. It was breathtaking. To our amazement, there was a lonely picnic bench perched to the side of the bend, overlooking the vastness. Best break spot of the trip.

After enjoying a leisurely break and gazing at the surf, we reluctantly continued our trek. We made good speed, and quickly came to the Giant’s Graves, two Neolithic chambered tombs (the Neolithic age was 10000 BCE to 2200 BCE).

The trail then wound down and up a glen, to Glenashdale Falls (Eas a’ Chrannaig).

The first platform revealed some very pretty falls, with a decent drop.

The second platform revealed those were just the upper, lesser falls. The full run was beautiful and had a fantastic tall, clean second drop.

After the falls it was only another three and a half kilometres back to the hotel… or, more importantly, the small store that sold ice cream and would still be open.

For the late afternoon Jen rested a bit while Dave explored the beach. A light dinner of shelf-stable provisions in the room rounded out the day.