The Shielfoot Shoreline Walk
A there-and-back stroll or a walk which is as long as you care to make it. It can be soggy underfoot and the walk passes close to a deep, fast-flowing river - take great care with children or dogs. There is no obvious footpath beyond the Cairn Pool. No transport is needed for this walk, you simply go out of Riverview, turn left through the metal gate, then cross the stile and follow the path.

This is a fisherman's path and takes you across the moss to the riverside, where it passes by an old fishing hut. Please respect the privacy of any anglers you see on either bank. A little further on there is a rickety wooden bridge which is now dangerous - so go inland at this point to get round the knoll, and go back to the wide rocky shelves ab0ve the river to view the rapids, which are very spectacular when the river is in a boiling spate.

The River Shiel is very short and drains Loch Shiel, a seventeen-mile long inland loch which runs from Glenfinnan to Acharacle.

Follow the shoreline to the Cairn Pool. There is a cairn on the rocks here and it is likely that when lined up with the distinctive rock behind it, this made a good sighting line so that returning boats could come safely into the cairn pool at high water. From here you look out over the flats of Loch Moidart, a haven for birdlife, especially in winter. You may also see otter here if you're lucky.

Image produced from the Ordnance Survey
Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with
kind permission of Ordnance Survey,