Name: Captain Robertson’s Cairns
Rating: 2

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Acharacle

Captain Robertson’s Cairns

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Captain Robertson’s Cairns

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Location: Acharacle, Highlands, Scotland, United Kingdom

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5.0

(4)

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1. View of the West Highland Line – View of Loch Shiel loop from Arisaig

91.8km

06:01

1,220m

Expert bike ride. Very good fitness required. Mostly paved surfaces. Suitable for all skill levels.

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5.0

(2)

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2. Old Bridge Over River Shiel – View of Loch Shiel loop from Glenuig

42.3km

02:47

590m

Expert bike ride. Very good fitness required. Mostly paved surfaces. Suitable for all skill levels.

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3. View of Loch Shiel – Old Bridge Over River Shiel loop from Acharacle

38.6km

02:34

580m

Expert bike ride. Very good fitness required. Mostly paved surfaces. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Tips

christian427

July 26, 2023

If you spend any time at all in the hills above Loch Shiel, you’ll find cairns that mark the places where coffins (and their carriers) once rested on what were once known as coffin roads. These three are marked on Ornance Survey maps as “Captain Robertson’s Cairns.” When Captain WJ Robertson of Kinlochmoidart died in 1869, his body was carried along this route, taken down to the water, and rowed by boat, to be buried on St Finan’s isle.

komoot.de/highlight/901235

These three cairns don’t just represent one human, though, but the countless inhabitants of this landscape who were once carried, mourned, and laid to rest on the burial island in the loch.

Highland parishes once covered huge areas, with relatively few spots consecrated for burial, and bodies were, by necessity, carried long distances over what was (and remains) very difficult terrain. It is no wonder that so many cairns and placenames in this part of the world (for example, Corpach / A’ Chorpaich / field of corpses) commemorate the temporary resting places of mourners and bodies on the coffin roads.

- kddandco.com/2021/12/06/loch-shiel

- her.highland.gov.uk/monument/MHG53547

- canmore.org.uk/site/332480/captain-robertsons-cairns

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Elevation 100 m

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Tuesday 16 September

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Max wind speed: 11.0 km/h

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Location: Acharacle, Highlands, Scotland, United Kingdom

Captain Robertson’s Cairns

1. View of the West Highland Line – View of Loch Shiel loop from Arisaig

2. Old Bridge Over River Shiel – View of Loch Shiel loop from Glenuig

3. View of Loch Shiel – Old Bridge Over River Shiel loop from Acharacle

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