Part IV., chap. vi. Hence the voyage of the _Mabel_ is made (Part IV.,

chap. xiii.), and the party can return to the Gairloch Hotel by five P.M. the same day.

There are very pleasant expeditions to be made by boat on the Gairloch, not only by anglers but by those who wish to explore this fine bay and its interesting shores and islands. You may land on the island called Fraoch Eilean and see the graves of the Macleods, nearly three centuries old (Part I., chap. xii.); or you may go into Loch Badachro and learn all about its cod fishery; or you may venture as far as the rocky shores of the wild island of Longa. The angler will get good sport in the Gairloch, either trolling or with hand lines (Part IV., chap. xvi.).

Of walks there are many about Gairloch. A short but steep stroll, affording splendid views, is that up the hill behind the hotel, called the Kirk hill. Another short walk is to explore the villages of Achtercairn and Strath. If the salmon fishing be going on, a visit to the salmon station at Achtercairn may lead to the acquisition of interesting information on the subject; or the sergeant-instructor of the Gairloch volunteers will obligingly show the armoury he has charge of. Other strolls are to Strath and Lonmor, or to the large sandy beach below the Gairloch Established church. This latter may include the old Gairloch churchyard, where so many of the Gairloch family of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are buried, as well as many of the bards and pipers, and where is also the tombstone of John Hay, discussed in Part I., chap. xviii.; this walk may also include an examination of the Cnoc a Croiche (Part II., chap. iv.), and of the Dun, and remains of the vitrified fort (Part I., chaps. vi., vii., xi., and xxi.) at the further end of the large sandy beach. Below the rocks, and on the face of them, at the extreme east end of the sandy beach, is a remarkable junction, where the Archæan gneiss and the Cambrian conglomerate or breccia actually touch each other. This stroll may be prolonged to Port na Heile, where the Gairloch pier is situated. Another and a longer walk is to take the old road, to the left, at the south end of the bridge at Ceann an t' sail, where the post-office is, and then follow this old road until it joins the county road a little below Loch Bad na Sgalaig. The return walk from Loch Bad na Sgalaig may be varied by taking the present county road back to the Gairloch Hotel _viâ_ the Kerry Falls, Kerrysdale and Charlestown. The old road is rough, and most visitors will find it best to walk both to and from the Kerry Falls by the county road, and I certainly advise this as preferable in every way. Other rambles in the neighbourhood of the Gairloch Hotel may be made along the sea-shore, in both directions, and on the nearer parts of the roads already described. Anglers will enjoy the fishing on Loch Tollie.

Students of geology will find many places about Gairloch that are well worth examination (see Part III., chap. ix.). Dr Geikie, in his "Geological Sketches," writes as follows of the interesting geological facts of the neighbourhood of the Gairloch Hotel. He says:--"Behind the new hotel at Gairloch the ground rises steeply into a rocky bank of the old gneiss. Along the base of these slopes the gneiss (which is here a greenish schist) is wrapped round with a breccia of remarkable coarseness and toughness. We noticed some blocks in it fully five feet long. It is entirely made up of angular fragments of the schist underneath, to which it adheres with great tenacity. Here again rounded and smoothed domes of the older rock can be traced passing under the breccia. On the coast, immediately to the south of the new Free church, a series of instructive sections lays bare the worn undulating platform of gneiss, with its overlying cover of coarse angular breccia."

More distant excursions to places described in connection with Talladale, Kenlochewe, Poolewe, and Aultbea--either drives, walks, or boating expeditions--may be taken from Gairloch, by utilising the Loch Maree steamer, or the public mail-car, or by hiring; in fact all the expeditions recommended to be made from any of those places may be worked from the Gairloch Hotel.