Walks | North-West
Shieldaig - Fairy Lochs
Start: Shieldaig on B8056 Redpoint road
Description: Climb through some small hills to reach the Fairy Lochs and airplane crash site
OS Map: #19, Gairloch & Ullapool
Multimap: Online Map
This is a walk on good paths to the Fairy Lochs and a crash site high above Shieldaig. It offers splendid views North to Gairloch, and South to Baosbheinn and Torridon. Start this walk by driving south from Gairloch, taking the turning for Badachro and drive for about 1.5 miles until you reach the Shieldaig Lodge Hotel. Park just beyond the hotel in a small sand quarry on the left. Walk back along the road, crossing a burn, and follow the land rover track. It is signposted as a Public Right of Way, with information about the dangers of the area.
Follow this track for about half-a-mile, until you reach a cairn and a signpost for the Fairy Lochs on your left. Be vigilant, it's easy to walk past! The path splits here, so take the left path, which leads up quite sharply past some cairns until you reach the first loch. The going can be quite muddy in some places, the best is to keep following the tracks to your right, unless you wish to climb to the trig point on Sidhean Mor first. There is a sign here for the Crash Site. Turn right to follow the side of loch, then strike out over open ground between rock formations called the "Rocky Knowles". Below and to the left is the wreckage of the crash site with the memorial plaque and part of the propeller against a rocky wall, and another propeller standing out in the water. The crash site has an eerie feel to it, with the wreckage strewn over the ground and in the loch. This is a War Grave, so please do not remove any of the wreckage or coins.
The USAAF crew of nine and six passengers took off from Prestwick on the 13th June, 1945, returning home after the war. The B-24H left at 1315 hours from Prestwick on a route that should have taken it over Stornoway, but we can only guess at why it came over the mainland. A navigational error, instrumental or engine failure, all are possible. For whatever reason, to find themselves descending through thick cloud to attempt an emergency landing must have been fearsome. It seems the aircraft struck the top of Slioch and lost some bomb bay door parts. The descent continued until they broke through the cloud base over Gairloch. They circled once round the loch, possibly looking for a place to ditch, and may have decided on the sea loch itself. The aircraft was on the run in when they just failed to clear the rocky spurs by the Fairy Lochs. All crew and passengers were killed.
You can either return by the outward route or you can continue down to the end of the loch below the wreckage. A series of cairns and a burn, and an indistinct and muddy path, lead down to Loch Horrisdale and the main path, by a sandy beach, just perfect for a snack. Turn to the right to go back to Shieldaig.