Barcaldine

The Troll Trail among giant firs

The Douglas firs at Sutherland's Grove were planted in 1870, and the tallest of them now clear 50 metres, which is over 150 feet of tree standing above a village of a few houses strung along a loch. The car park sits about 350 yards north of the school and campsite, and from it a waymarked circuit of roughly four kilometres climbs through the firs above the gorge of the Abhainn Teithil. The locals call it the Troll Trail.

It starts steeply. The path follows the boulder-filled ravine past rapids and small waterfalls, which are worth more after rain, when the burn is running high. Scotland Off the Beaten Track rates the walk "great for a rainy day — even more so if the burn is in spate." At the top there is a viewpoint over Gleann Dubh Reservoir, with Creach Bheinn and Beinn Bhreac framing the glen, before the track drops back down through the trees.

Barcaldine Forest and the Creagan Inn

The grove is named for Lord Sutherland, one of the founders of the Forestry Commission, and the 1921 plantings commemorate him. The wider Barcaldine Forest carries on from there with cycle trails and, if you are quiet, red deer, buzzards, and pine martens.

Barcaldine has a school and a campsite but no pub of its own. The nearest is the Creagan Inn, a mile or so north where Loch Creran narrows, built around the 1740s as a ferryman's cottage back when a boat was the only way across before the bridges came. It does honest pub food from local producers, serves until half past eight, and is generous with gluten-free options. Dogs are welcome throughout, and there is a Dog of the Day. The restaurant looks out over the sea loch, and the outdoor seating does the same.

Loch Creran and onward travel

The loch itself is a fjord-like sea inlet, a Marine Protected Area with maerl beds and serpulid tube-worm reefs that are said to occur nowhere else in the world at this density. You can kayak, canoe, or fish it for sea trout and mackerel. The A828 runs along the water toward Ballachulish and Fort William; the B845 turns off at the village for Ardchattan and Loch Etive. Buses call here, and Oban station is nine or ten miles south.

The Black Castle through the centuries

Behind the trees stands Barcaldine Castle, the Black Castle, an L-plan tower house finished in 1609 by Sir Duncan Campbell of Glenorchy, known as Black Duncan of the Seven Castles. This was one of the seven. In 1692 MacIain of Glencoe was held here for about a day, part of a scheme to stop him swearing his oath of allegiance in time — the delay that led to the Massacre of Glencoe. The Campbells left the draughty castle for a warmer house nearby by 1735, and it fell to ruin before being restored around the turn of the last century. It is now a bed and breakfast.

The Black Castle and its Blue Lady

The castle is said to keep a Blue Lady, Harriet Campbell, heard playing the piano in the Argyll Room on windy nights.