We've been up in Scotland for a week in the Cannich/Contin area. Here's our first ride.

I've passed by Cannich a couple of times either reccying the HT550 or doing it so we decided to stop there a couple of nights and explore a bit as there's a few things to see if you aren't in a rush. We decided on a short ride to visit Plodda Falls and then over into Glen Affric

A bit of road from Cannich to Tomich (which is just a few hundred metres from the HT550 route), in the centre of which is this.


The reason for this will become apparent in a while. And "Ahh, they've even given him a stick to play with."

We joined the HT route a little further on but rather than head uphill we kept to the glen floor until we came to Guisachan House. (pronounced Goose-achan). This is now in increased ruinous state, the large chimney at the far end fell down only a year or two ago, but it wasn't always like this and had an illustrious past. The full history may be found at https://friendsofguisachan.org/main/ but it's best known for where the Golden Retriever breed was founded in 1868 by Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks, later known as Lord Tweedmouth. Apparently the house used to have a third floor.



The village of Tomich was built by Lord Tweedmouth to house his workers so they didn't have to be near the big house! It's a conservation area so when the villagers asked for streetlights they were refused until someone remembered that they'd some replica Victorian lamps in one of the depots and they fitted those.

The house fell into disrepair: In 1938 it was rented as a training camp becoming the first Keep Fit Summer School in Britain. But storm clouds were on the horizon. Lady Islington, who resided at the former Tom Guisachan dwelling renamed Hilton Lodge, “was not enamored with the proceedings of the Fitness Campaigners.” Village lore tells of skinny-dipping being a common activity in Hilton Loch, so Lady Islington bought Guisachan House for 1500 pounds, stripped it of its furnishings, and had the lead and slates removed from the roof.

Guisachan was one of the first private houses to have electricity (Cragside at Rothbury is reckoned to be the world's first private residence with electricity) and to generate this it had its own hydro scheme - so nothing new about all the current schemes - and we'd been told how to find this. Well it's not too hard, you simply follow the water!

A bit of jungle



Some hints:



And then you come to:



Called either Guisachan or Home Falls, the main falls are around 25m high. At their base sits the old turbine house with brackets fixed to the cliff face above for the intake pipe.





History sated we carried on to Plodda Falls. There's been a viewing platform installed, not one if you suffer from vertigo! The falls are a 40m clear drop. We didn't figure out how to get to the base of the falls from the valley floor and didn't fancy losing all the height we'd just gained to do so.



Leaving the tourist behind we rode on towards Cougie, basically just a couple of houses that acts as a pony trekking centre. Some of the infrastructure leaves a little to be desired!



Then it was the track over to Glen Affric. Initially this was another rough estate track but the descent into Glen Affric was more, erm, interesting.





We actually missed the small pile of stones marking the start of the track and continued on the estate track for a while. The descent started off well enough but soon became a mixture of downhill hike-a-bike (chest high bracken over the path of boulders and holes) with short rideable sections. The tracks marked on either the OS or OSM maps don't exist on the ground.



Once in Glen Affric it was easy going. We stopped at the car park to have something to eat and nip up to the viewpoint.


Yep, the winged teeth were out!



A look up the glen with Affric Lodge in the mid-distance. Affric Lodge is available for rent - at $17,000 per night!



Then it was "just" a roll down the glen back to Cannich. Except that the lower loch seems to go on for ever.

First of all, my must prostrate myself in public apology. You contacted me to ask about routes and I didn't respond.

(a) I thought your request deserved a "proper" response so put it off unti I had time
(b) I had it in my head that I had more time to respond
(c) there is stuff going on at home which has most of my attention at the moment and my head is often full of mince.

I really am very sorry. For a start, I'd have warned you about that track from Cougie to Loch Affric. A mate and I rode it a couple of winters back, with the fatbikes, and I recall the descent being absolutely rubbish, even harder to take after the big climb out. The wee hydro scheme was quite fresh and the bottom bit of the track was swallowed up by that too, which didn't help. Having said that, the RoW sign in Glen Affric is actually at the wrong side of the river. It should be on the west bank.

Cougie is one of those palces (like the Fisherfield causeway) I discovered from reading maps. It always looked so intriguing - this little clearing surrounded by forest. I passed through many years later on a bike trip, heading back to Ceannacroc via Coire Dho and got chatting with Ian, one of the owners. Very friendly guy and we shared some snacks of mine over a cup of tea he made me. I visited it a couple of years later with my daughter, taking her there for some horse riding. At that time, I asked Sasha where husband Ian and the kids were. "Away to Fife buying a couple of horses" was her reply "and I'm worried they'll not be back in time for the start of the school term". I couldn't figure out why they'd be taking 4 days to get back to Cougie until she explained that they were riding the horses back I don't know if it's still there but the primary school at Tomich also used to have a rail at the front for tying up horses as the kids would commute along the track by horse each day. They're a real force of nature.

https://youtu.be/ey9ywUSAE0g

I had a holiday with my parents at Tomich and Guisachan just a couple of years before they both passed away. I have some very happy memories of the place so it's nice to see some more photos of the area. Thanks - and apologies again.

No problem Colin, understandable.

Sometimes, (re: the track from Cougie to Affric), you've just got to find things out for yourself

Didn't notice a school at Tomich, wasn't looking TBH, but there is one in Cannich. Was it what is now the tea rooms opposite the hotel?

Thanks Bob, I enjoyed the history and pictures of an area I've always meant to spend more time just hanging around in. That path from Cougie gave me some flashbacks to the first time we did a coast to coast ride. We did it the opposite way, pushing up the faint path towards Cougie, all the while being attacked by swarms of clegs - brutal!

Good effort. Cougie was an independent hostel for a while but I never got round to staying there. Me and mates were up at Cannich one new year (1999?) and ended up in the Community centre post hogmannay booze up. We got chatting to a guy who turned out to be Ian from Cougie (with wife but no kids I seem to recall) and had a fine old time, and a colossal hangover the next day.....

17,000 per night?! Will they accept all forum members and split the bill? I love Guisachan House, really want to see it before it's too late.

Thanks for sharing!

Escape Goat wrote: ↑Thu Sep 23, 2021 8:10 pm 17,000 per night?! Will they accept all forum members and split the bill? I love Guisachan House, really want to see it before it's too late.

Thanks for sharing!

That's for the whole place apparently - group of 20 or so. And yes, $17k per night

I'd get to Guisachan ASAP, quite a few of the window lintels are cracked and won't be long before they go. The locals reckoned that the trees that had grown up in the building held it up so when they were cut down it was only a matter of time before the whole lot goes.

Aren't they the muppets who are denying access to the adjacent bridge?
Some good bivvy spots nearby with toilet facilities at the FC carp park...