Undiscovered Scotland

 

If the Applecross Peninsula has a focal settlement it is Camusterrach. Lying nearly two miles south of Applecross village, it is home to the peninsula's school, to two churches, and, if you cheat a little and include Ard-dubh on the opposite shore of the sea loch it faces, to its most significant harbour.

Camusterrach blends seamlessly into Camusteel (This is the name according to the Ordnance Survey: local signs refer to "Camustiel"). This can be found immediately to the north and north-west of Camusterrach, and is home to Applecross's shop and post office. To reach this you need to take a loop of road that runs to the west of the "main" road down the coast of the peninsula.

Camusterrach itself comprises a string of largely white harled buildings scattered around a harbour that drains completely at low tide, plus a number of rather more modern houses and a collection of churches. (Continues below image...)

 

The rubble pier here was built in about 1800, but much of today's fishing activity takes place from the less tidally dependant slipway at Ard-dubh.

At the head of the bay lies the T-shaped Free Church of Scotland, a relatively plain building built in 1895 with an asbestos roof and an attractive interior. Nearby is the Applecross Parish Church, originally built as a Free Church in 1845.

When we first produced this page we commented at length on a ship called the K'ung Fu-tse (Confucius), moored in the harbour. This was a 46 foot aluminium hulled 3-masted ocean-cruising junk, and far from the sort of vessel usually seen in western Scottish waters. On our most recent visit the ship had moved on (as ships tend to do), removing the sense of the exotic that it had lent to the place, but doing nothing to diminish its charm and sense of tranquility.