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Just a mile west of Shore Cottage, you can take a walk from the
road end down to the partly-restored crofting village of Smirisary,
worked until the 1950s. Samalaman House, just beyond the cottage,
was a Roman Catholic seminary in earlier times.
To the south is Acharacle village, a centre of the Gaelic language,
which is still widely-spoken in these parts. Acharacle is on the
shores of Loch Shiel, a seventeen-mile long loch which stretches
up to Glenfinnan, where the Pretender raised his standard. The MV
Sileas operates cruises on Loch Shiel from both places.
Further south at Salen the road to the east will take you to the
Forest Enterprise Hide at Ardery, a must for wildlife lovers, whilst
the road to the west goes past the Ardnamurchan Natural History
Centre at Glenmore and eventually on to the lighthouse at Ardnamurchan
Point, where a museum and shop is open to the public at the westernmost
point on the British mainland.
North to Arisaig and beyond - from Arisaig you can take the Shearwater
out to the Small Isles of Eigg, Muck, Rum and Canna: the boat always
stops for whales and porpoise sightings and you will thrill to the
clouds of Guillemots, Shearwaters, Puffins and Gannets you'll see
on the way. Beyond Arisaig, on the scenic 'old road', you will find
sublime white sand beaches and a lovely golf course (at Traigh)
- and Mallaig, a busy fishing port, is not to be missed, if you
only go there for the fish supper ... Mallaig also has ferries to
Skye.
And then there's Fort William, nestling under Britain's highest
mountain, Ben Nevis, with beguiling Glen Nevis beside it, and Aonach
Mor, with its year-round gondola to a mountain restaurant at 2000
feet.
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