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There are two main roads through
the Guisachan
estate and the higher of the two is open to the public by car as far as
the Plodda Falls car park. Plodda is three miles distant and we could
have
driven this, but chose not to. Pictured: a road junction near Knockfin
Bridge, just west of Tomich. |
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The Guisachan Estate lies in upper
Strath
Glass and, like much of the country around here, is extensively
wooded. |
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The estate road passes several
lodges and
estate cottages, many with beautifully manicured gardens. You get the
impression
that the sun always shines here. |
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The path makes a significant dogleg
to the
north of the ruin of the principal estate lodge, Guisachan Lodge. |
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Beyond the environs of Guisachan
Lodge the
track runs past Hilton Lodge, a very grand and very secluded house set
behind a lake covered in lilies. The road pictured here is just short
of
the lodge. Beyond Hilton Lodge a hill track goes off to the left to
Glen
Morriston, and a few hundred meters past this path junction is the
Plodda
Falls car park. We left the main track there to cut through the car
park
and down the path to the right. |
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Not far along the path we heard the
sound
of rushing water and found this cascade just to the left. Plodda Falls,
presumably. |
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Yes, very picturesque and most
pleasant.
Time to turn back, then. But we decided to vary the route and follow
the
path downhill, to the north, to take the lower estate path back to
Tomich. |
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A good thing we did, for it was
five minutes
later that we discovered the real Plodda Falls. The cascade
we'd
seen a few hundred yards back wasn't Plodda Falls at all but simply a
prelude.
There's an observation platform built out over the vertical drop and
this
is the view looking straight down. |
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The exact same view but this time
portrait
rather than landscape. |
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The path wandered down through the
trees
and a side path, almost hidden, gave access to the foot of the falls. |
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After a quick look at the cascade
issuing
from the rockpool at the base of the falls... |
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...I made sure I'd got a handful of
good
photos of the falls. West-facing, they get the best of the light in
late
afternoon. |
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These four shots... |
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...are close-ups... |
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...of the falls... |
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...from lip to foot. Nice, eh? |
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From Plodda Falls a beautiful
woodland path
wanders further downhill. It's not easy to get blasé about this
- when the sun shines the sheer beauty of the Scottish Highlands never
fails to take your breath away. |
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There was a lot more breath to be
taken away
that afternoon. Here, the Allt na Bodachan downstream of Plodda Falls
joins
the Abhainn Deabhag (the river of upper Strath Glass). The continuation
of the valley track westwards to Garve Bridge and Cougie goes through
that
gate in the middle of shot. If you want to get there you have to wade. |
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Sheer paradise, isn't it? |
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Graham commissioned this shot of
him standing
in the shallows. |
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Before starting back on the main
track, we
thought we'd explore a narrow path along the edge of the stream back
towards
Plodda Falls. |
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It didn't go very far, but was
worth it just
to see this... |
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...and this. |
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So now it was time to make our way
back to
Tomich, by the lower estate track near the river. Plodda Lodge is the
first
cottage passed en route. |
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The estate track through the
grounds of Guisachan
Lodge. |
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This is Guisachan House, once the
main house
of the Guisachan estate, now a ruin. |
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The track crosses a greensward... |
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...to come out onto the estate road
from
Hilton Lodge, behind us to the west. |
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The two miles from here back to
Tomich were
just glorious. |
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Here and there the road passed
isolated estate
cottages. |
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Elsewhere, green pastures stretched
down
to the river. |
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An ornamental tree stands proud of
the woodland
to the right. |
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The road reaches a tiny cluster of
cottages
named Balcladaich. |
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I want to buy this! (One can
dream...) |
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The road approaching Tomich. |
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Balcladaich. I ran out of film at
this point. |
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Fifteen minutes later we were back
at the
hotel. There was still an hour before dinner and, not wanting to waste
the light I reloaded the camera, gave Graham first turn in the shower
and
wandered back down the road. Tomich is a beautiful little place, a
model
village constructed by the Guisachan estate for its staff in the
nineteenth
century. |
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Tomich's main street from the west. |
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Tomich's western outskirts. |
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The main Guisachan estate road. |
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With the light this good it was
just about
impossible to get a bad shot. I could almost point the camera at random. |
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The trees and meadows glowing gold
in the
early evening sun. |
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Has Scotland ever looked so
beautiful? There
was a strong temptation to use up the whole film. |
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Every few yards brought forth a new
vista
of sunlit meadows. |
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Another one. Words aren't really
necessary
here. |
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The sun was very low and I realised
I was
going to run out of light within a couple of minutes. |
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The last one - and arguably the
best - before
the sun set over Beinn nan Sparra. Wistfully, I made my way back to
Tomich
and dinner. |
