Contents Beinn
Alligin / Beinn Dearg / Baosbheinn and Beinn an Eoin / Loch
Maree and Loch Ewe (1-4) The Fairy
Lochs / Gairloch beach / Beinn Airigh Charr / Inveran
(5-8) Achtercairn (17-20) Big Sand / Gairloch Hotel / Craig Youth
Hostel Gairloch
Pier / Fishing boats / Red Point salmon fishing
station Kerry
Fish Farm / Loch Garbhaig hydro scheme / Gairloch Quarry
(25-28)
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(803768, northwest)
There is another group of services in the part of the village of Gairloch at the junction of B8021 and A832 (8076), known as Achtercairn (only the O.S. spell it with a 'u'). Here there is another grocery shop, a museum, restaurant, police station (far right), tourist information centre and community centre (both on the right). Beyond the trees are the primary school and small six-year secondary school. Children come to the primary school from virtually all of the northern part of the map. The secondary school serves the area of the map extract and well beyond, up to 17 miles to the north and 37 miles to the south. It has a roll of around 170 pupils.
[In 1994, a new High School opened on the land to the right of the buildings on the far right of the photograph. This includes a sports centre serving the public as well as the school. Major improvements have been carried out to the Primary School in the last year and now includes provision for nursery education. The roll of the secondary school is currently 210. Part of the field next to which the photograph was taken has been developed with a mix of housing types, a new Health Centre (opened in 1994) and two craft workshops. These last are currently vacant.]
Section C: tourism
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(761778, west)
The Gairloch area is popular with tourists and offers a variety of attractions. Sands Holiday Centre (759784) is the largest of a number of camp and caravan sites in the area. It is sited behind sand dunes with an extensive sandy beach nearby. In addition to the usual beach activities, a number of water sports are also available. These include windsurfing, canoeing and boating. In the background is the crofting township of Big Sand (7579).
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(806758, north)
There are a number of hotels and many guest houses in the area. Gairloch Hotel (805762) is seen in this view. It has accommodation for 122 people and a lot of its business comes from coach tours. The large dark building, by the road in the background, is the Gairloch Sands Hotel (803767). It is made up of self-catering accommodation as well as providing games facilities such as table tennis and pool. The weather is not always suitable for outdoor activities!
[Regrettably, Gairloch Sands Hotel burned down at the end of 1999.]
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(773638, east)
There are two youth hostels near Gairloch. Carn Dearg Youth Hostel (763776) is next to the road just behind where slide 18 was taken. Craig Youth Hostel (774638), shown in this photograph, is quite different. There is no road to it, only paths from Diabaig (7960) and Red Point (7369). Despite its isolation it attracts many walkers during the summer. Both hostels, like many tourist facilities, are closed in the winter.
Ruins may be picked out in the bracken on the left. Craig is like many remote settlements in the area, either totally abandoned or with only a few buildings remaining. The harshness of life in such places has led to this depopulation; the only remains of the crofting being some cattle or sheep put out to graze on land once cultivated.
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