CHAPTER LI 



THE CROWE, ELCHAIG, LUING, AND SHIEL OF LOCH DUICH 



Of these streams, the Crowe and the Shiel fall jiito the head of 

 Loch Duich, and the Elchaig and the Lumg into the head of Loch 

 Luing, which hes some ten miles to the north. Both these lochs 

 are salt water branches of the larger one of Loch Alsh, which, 

 having regard to its size and shape, ought to be called a bay instead 

 of a loch. Its two offshoots, however. Loch Duich and Loch 

 Luing, quite agree with the ordinary idea of a loch, for they are so 

 narrow and so shut in by hills that they might well be taken lor 

 freshwater lakes. 



The Shiel, the whole of which belongs to Mr. Baillie of Dochfour, 

 is the most southern of the Ross-shne streams, with its course 

 running quite close to the Inverness-shire march. On the left bank, 

 near the mouth of the river, is Shiel Hotel, not a very easy house to 

 get at, the best route being by steamer to Glenelg and a mountain 

 drive of ten miles. ^ The angling goes with the inn — an old-fashioned 

 one, but clean and comfortable, and capable of puttmg up eight or 

 ten people, although the coffee-room is the only living-room. There 

 is no charge made for the sport ; but unless fish are plentiful those 

 that are caught are usually presented to the commissariat depart- 

 ment of the inn. The scenery is wild to a degree, for on the right 

 bank the hills of the Five Sisters rise nearly sheer from the river, 

 each of them being about three thousand feet high. 



The Shiel has a total run of some ten miles, but the best of 

 the angling is confined to the lowest one, in which there are four 

 good pools. The Bridge Pool is nearest to the sea and fishes from 

 the right bank, a remarkably fine-looking catch for the size of the 

 river, for it is both broad and deep, and holds more fish than any of 

 the others, albeit the occujiants of this pool are not free rising ones. 

 Above this comes the Half Pool, which fishes from the left bank. 

 A short distance beyond the top of this catch the river is joined by 

 a big burn, up which sea trout run freely, and here with a worm they 

 are often taken in some numbers, even up to 4 lb. in weight. Above 

 this small tributary is the Captain's Pool, a long, streamy piece of 

 water best worked from the right bank. A short distance higher 

 up the river expands into Loch Shiel, a small and very weedy sheet 

 of water about a mile in circumference. Immediately below where 



' 1912, this hotel has been closed. The Shiel can be fished from Glenelg 

 Hotel up to 31st July. 



