Isle of Skye (2): Loch Scavaig coast & the Bad Step, June 2010

One of the best parts of our holiday on Skye in June was exploring the beautiful Loch Scavaig coast around Elgol on the Strathaird peninsula. It offers the sea coast, Camasunary beach, the infamous Bad Step and Loch Coruisk - or as much of this as you desire, depending on how far you want to walk - all with the backdrop of Blaven and the Black Cuillin.

Looking north to Blaven and Camasunary beach on Loch Scavaig

There are a few ways of tackling this area. We split it over two trips: one on foot from Elgol to Camasunary and then up the track north of Beinn Leacach to the B8083 near Kirkibost (if you have two cars you can drop one at the layby here to shorten the route, or walk back along the road to Elgol like we did); and the second was from the layby over the Beinn Leacach track to Camasunary and up to the Bad Step and Loch Coruisk, then back by the same route. However, there are also boats that sail directly from Elgol to Loch Coriusk so you just have to stroll back along the coast - and looking back, I wish we'd done this! The track isn't that enjoyable...although there are some good views:

 

East from the Beinn Leacach track across Loch Slapin

photo by Heather

North from Elgol, the path peters out into a sheep track along this gorgeous stretch of coast. Although mostly easy, there are a few short vertigo-inducing bits! Initially, birds were slow...Meadow Pipits, singing Willow Warbler and flypast gulls and Shags.

One odd shape on the sea caught my attention though...maybe it was a seal? After a while, Jago refound it...it was a rich brown, dove often and had four legs and a tail - Otter! We sat and watched it gradually work its way closer to the shore...and then another...and then another!



The three worked their way slowly up the beach and under a large rock which we guessed was the holt. Wow!

 An otter crunches into a crab whilst a Hooded Crow waits for scraps

With a good idea of where to find the family again, we slipped back on our last night. After an hour with no sign, we were just starting back when Jago spotted a lone otter coming into shore, with a huge crab for dinner! We spent ages watching him take it apart...alive! A Hooded Crow kept close attendance in case of a chance for leftovers. I managed to grab a few shots through the telescope with Heather's Canon Ixus 50.

 

The coast has the best views into the heart of the Black Cuillin

By now, we were getting great views across the loch to the Black Cuillin. A ten second glimpse of a White-tailed Eagle got pulses racing! After lunch at Cladach a' Ghlinne, we pressed on to Camasunary beach (probably took us 3 hours in total) and bathed in the afternoon sunlight. A pair of Shelduck with an amazing 12 chicks swam along the beach and Arctic Terns posed on the rocks offshore.

 

 The author on the Bad Step
(photo by Heather)

From Camasunary beach, it is still another hour and a half to the Bad Step - a rocky slab of gabbro that blocks the path with just a crack to work yourself along - with no way round other than to swim! Its bark is worse than its bite, but you still need a bit of a head for heights...there's a fifteen foot drop to the waves below!

Heather and I ran out of time a little, so Jago was the only one in our group to get all the way to Loch Coriusk...but it gives us yet another reason to go back. This area is absolutely fantastic...but I do recommend doing one-way by boat!

 

The view up Loch Coriusk

Photo by Ylvas, under Creative Commons licence

Isle of Skye (1): Elgol and Spar Cave, May 2010

This summer's early hols was a sunny week - with absolutely no rain - on the Isle of Skye with friends Jago and Gwen in late May / early June.

 

"Which cottage is it? Well, it's white and, er, there's another white one next to it...

...er, did I say it was white?"

Elgol village with the Black Cuillins behind, from the road to Glasnakille

Elgol

If you like getting away from it all, Elgol makes a great base on Skye. The road down from Broadford along the shore of Loch Slapin is beautiful, a great drive and takes about 35 minutes. Elgol has one of the best views in Britain, right into the heart of the Black Cuillin mountains (see photo above), and the harbour offers boat trips to Loch Coriusk and to / around the Small Isles - Rum, Eigg, Muck and Canna (see part III).

We stayed at the lovely Cnoc na Loch cottage and we can definitely recommend it - comfy and cosy with a great view form the garden and an outdoor hot tub...not to mention the drumming Snipe overhead and Cuckoos being mobbed by Meadow Pipits! The village has a fantastic seafood restaurant, Coruisk House (the seafood platter was immense), and the Cuillin View café's scones (try the cherry and sultana) made it a regular stop-off spot! There's also a small shop and post office, though no pub so stock up on the local beers from the Isle of Skye Brewery in the Broadford Co-op or pick up a bottle of the island malt, Talisker.

Spar Cave

A beautiful and interesting walk from Elgol is along the Loch Slapin coast to Spar Cave - a 150ft long limestone cathedral of marble-like flowstone staircases and stalactites (though Victorians took most as souvenirs). This walk needs some thought and planning; the cave, near Glasnakille at NG537130, is only accessible for an hour either side of low tide. Check the tide times for Loch Harport.

Photo by georgep008, under Creative Commons licence

  

You can of course just park up at Glasnakille, near the phone box, but we did it on foot from Elgol, walking east up the B8083 for a mile and turning left onto the quarry road. The track soon peters out into a footpath through some scrub and then a small woodland valley before the single track road starts again. The view across Loch Slapin is lovely and a male Hen Harrier treated us to a memorable flypast.

The coast above Spar Cave

From Glasnakille, follow directions on WalkHighlands for crossing from the road to the coast (see above), descending the steep path (left) and rounding the coast to the cave's inlet safely (right).

The cave floor is muddy at first but, as the cave turns right, becomes formed of spar or flowstone, sheet-like deposits of calcite from the water running down the floor and walls. Take at least two torches...

This huge cave has a fantastic atmosphere and the first 45 feet can be easily accessed on foot. Beyond this, climbing and caution are required as you ascend the flowstone staircase. In fact we, just admired this from the bottom, unaware of just how beautiful the cave was further on! It was still well worth the trip though and it's a good reason to go back!

 From Spar Cave inlet looking south-east along the coast

The shore around the inlet is beautiful and, once your visit is over and if the tide isn't rushing in, it's worth spending some time here. As well as a Black Guillemot bobbing offshore, another party of cave explorers turned up by boat - how flash! After scrambling back up to the road, we finished our walk using the road to Elgol; allow three hours for the whole walk plus two more for the leg out to the cave. Anyone for a scone?

Looking north-west from the inlet across Loch Slapin

Cranes and Champagne, March 2010 (4): North to Épernay

Nogent-sur-Seine

From Troyes, we headed north-west along the Seine Valley, enjoying the rolling countryside and fine weather. Stopping in Nogent-sur-Seine, we strolled along the banks and bridges of Ile Olive, the island at the town's centre.

The pretty town of

Villenauxe-le-Grande,

looking SW from the D951

A hunting male Hen Harrier

gave great views from the car,

on D933 near Loisy-en-Brie

Arriving at the southern end of the Côte des Blancs, one of the three parts of the Champagne region, the Mondeo just about made it up Mont Aimé so we could take in the view north across this famous wine-growing area towards Vertus and Oger.

Being March, the vines were not in leaf, perhaps not giving the full effect of just how much they dominated the landscape. This picture (left) gives a better impression, from a visit to the region in August 2005.

After driving up through the vineyards, we arrived into Épernay - home to many of the most famous champagne houses - for our last night and as much fizz as we could take! Despite having booked, we found Möet unexpectedly shut, but fell on our feet at C-comme, a shop and tasting bar for over 300 local champagnes...after trying glasses of their six picks of the week, each of a different grape mix, we had a couple more to be sure and settled on a case of rosé and a blend to take away. Whilst the caves of the major champagne houses are worth seeing, this is where I'll be heading for tasting on my next trip. We finished the night with dinner at the well regarded Champnoise restaurant La Cave à Champagne, just a few doors down from C-comme and another definite for next time.

Dom Perignon champagne, under Creative Commons licence

Cranes and Champagne, March 2010 (3): Troyes

Rue Emile Zola, Troyes Old Town

We stayed in the Ibis in Troyes on Saturday and Sunday night on this trip. Saturday night was buzzing, we beat some friendly locals 5-0 at pool in La Tricasse, a great French 'pub', and moved on to a Morrocan feast at La Kasbah, a definite port of call next time - great food, great service and I can recommend the varied sharing platter to start! Sunday night was very quiet with few places open - another note for next time...

Monday saw a beautiful day rise over Troyes so we explored the old town, one of the places in France most like 16th century Europe, with Gothic churches, and medieval and Renaissance half-timbered buildings.

Rue de la Monnaie, Troyes

The Hôtel de Ville (left), Place Alexandre Israël, is a fantastic building that looks out onto the town's main sqaure - a common meeting place for local people.

The 13th century Gothic Saint-Urbain Basilica opens out onto a newly refurbished, modern square.

Seeing us both with our cameras on Rue des Chats, an alley so narrow that the buildings touch at the top, a local man motioned us through a wooden door into a private courtyard, where the timbered buildings with two landings had been lovingly restored (left).

Le chat, Rue des Chats, Troyes

Cranes and Champagne, March 2010 (2): Forêt d'Orient

Lac d'Orient, from the south-east shore, La Promenade

After the short drive down from Lac du Der, early Saturday afternoon, we had a quick stop at Lac Amance near Dienville - where there was little except some Bewick's Swans and a pair of Pintail - and there was just enough time with the deteriorating weather to take a look from the layby on the D43, just north-east of Mesnil-Saint-Père. Whilst birds were scarce, with just a few Shoveler offshore, a dozen or more Common Frogs were in the pond on the woodland-side of the road and the same number on the lake-side.

The frogs gave great practice with the 105mm macro lens. Judging by the focus, I need a bit more practice... A Coypu also appeared from the lake and foraged in the woodland edge, giving views down to a few metres.

After an overnighter in Troyes - see next post - we got to the birding part of the trip I'd been looking forward to most, a return to La Route Forestière du Temple. Although this vast area can seeem pretty empty, patience and fieldcraft do pay off!

We had great views of a pair of Middle-Spotted Woodpeckers to the south-west of the car park, and further west we startled a Wild Boar in the undergrowth, allowing Dave to capture it blurrily leaving us at speed! This is not that picture...

Photo by minds-eye, Creative Commons licence

Woods north of La Maison du Parc, 6km south-east of Géraudot

Cranes and Champagne, March 2010 (1): Lac du Der-Chantecoq

Place d'Armes, Vitry-le-François

Mid-March 2010 saw a return to the Champagne region, this time with Dave Thomas, for a mixture of birding and photography. With the idea of a guide to the area in mind - giving the excuse to revisit this fabulous spot a few more times in different seasons - this trip gave chance to revisit some of the spots looked at in winter 2009 for photos and key birds. A trip report of last year's visit can be found here; no written report this year, as it was just a follow-up.

After the drive from Calais, we toured Lac du Der. The first spring migrants were around and other highlights were a very confiding Black Redstart at Presque 'Île de Champaubert (left) and a group of Tree Sparrows in a Hawthorn on the dyke at La Brèche.

After staying overnight at Au Bon Sejour in Vitry-le-François, and taking in a great little bar and pizzeria on the east side of Place d'Armes, we headed back to Der and then on to La Ferme aux Grues near Isson (left) where about 700 Common Cranes were on the fields.

There were lots of farm and woodland birds around at La Ferme, with Greenfinches (left), Goldfinches and Chaffinches, Brambling, Blackbird, House and Tree Sparrows and Great and Marsh Tits all constantly around, most visiting the feeders, and a Song Thrush sang non-stop for a couple of hours. Further away, a Skylark was in good voice, a pair of Jays provided colour and a Red Kite flew over.

Satiated of cranes, we headed off to Forêt d'Orient and Troyes.

Common Cranes come in to land at La Ferme aux Grues

(photo by David Thomas)

The Call of the Crane: Champagne Lakes and Forests, March 2009

Lac du Der from the northern Route de Digue, March 2009

The vast Champagne lakes and forests region in northern France, 75 miles south-east of Reims, is one of my favourite places. Lac du Der-Chantecoq is the largest artificial lake in Europe and a stopping off point for tens of thousands of Common Cranes on migration between wintering grounds to the south and breeding areas in northern Europe. Foret d'Orient Regional Nature Park is a rolling landscape of reservoirs and lakes nestled in dense forest and a particularly good site for three woodpecker species not found in the UK, including the Black Woodpecker, the largest woodpecker found north of the equator from the Atlantic to the Bering Sea.

Common Cranes at La Ferme aux Grues (photo by Heather)

Heather and I spent a few days exploring both in March 2009, and the sight of the cranes coming in to roost in their thousands whilst their trumpeting calls echo across Lac du Der is truly memorable. A group of Wild Boar could distantly be seen swimming between the islands. Managed to get great views of Black and Middle-spotted Woodpecker and a trip report can be found on Travelling Birder. Troyes, the prefecture capital, is a great place to stay - the old town of half-timbered houses and narrow streets is reckoned to be the best place to experience what Europe would have looked like in the 16th century. It has some great restaurants and mellow nightlife. We also stayed at a great little gite, L'Embarc, in Arrigny.

 Presque 'Île de Champaubert on Lac du Der,

church of the flooded village Champaubert-aux-Bois