THE HOPE 263 



if we place the Hope in the same category as West Coast rivers 

 there should be fish in its waters by March. So much for theory ! 

 To prove it, one must get to the Hope in March, and that takes 

 some doing, more especially since there is no place to live in if one 

 gets there. Heilem Inn, marked on most maps at the Eireboll 

 Ferry, is a snare. There is now no inn there. In any case the 

 distance by road from Larig is about forty-five miles, with no regular 

 communication after Altnaharra, except round by Tongue, which is 

 out of the question. 



The exclusive right of fishing the Eiver Hope goes with Hope 

 Lodge. As a matter of fact it would not be easy for any one not 

 living in the lodge to fish here. The road which crosses from the 

 Kyle of Tongue by the Moine has now a good bridge across the Hope 

 in place of the old ferry. I may mention that the road by the 

 Moine where there is a solitary house provided for possibly storm- 

 stayed travellers is one of the most peculiarly desolate tracks in 

 the north. Salmon vary from 6 to 20 Ib. in the Hope, and, when 

 the river is in proper order, a fish a day may be got. 



KIVER DIONAKD. 



This river presents conditions the very opposite to those of the 

 Hope. It is a longish river, flowing from a small loch at its head, 

 and entering a long sea estuary the Kyle of Durness within a 

 few miles of Cape Wrath. The length of the river from its little 

 Dionard Loch to the head of the Kyle is 10 J miles, and but a small 

 stream of a couple of miles flows down to Loch Dionard from two 

 tarns on the slopes of Meall Horn. From the southern slopes of the 

 same mountain a burn runs down into Loch Stack, from which the 

 Laxford flows. 



The Dionard is a stony and rocky river, with a great variety of 

 small pools, and of no great volume in ordinary conditions. The 

 upper waters sometimes have done surprisingly well, for, when the 

 river is in flood, the pools are so small and the broken water so con- 

 tinuous, that fish are induced to push on to Loch Dionard. The 

 fishing of this section goes with Gualen Lodge, and in the past it is 

 recorded that in Loch Dionard and the stream above 7 fish have on 

 two occasions been taken in a day. 



Gualen Water goes down to a mile or so above the road bridge on 

 the highway between Durness and Loch Inchard, and I understand 

 that the total usually reached is about 60 salmon and grilse and 80 



