Undiscovered Scotland

 

Toscaig is the most southerly of the line of small settlements that run south from Applecross village on the west coast of the Applecross Peninsula.

It lies at the north end of the south-facing Loch Toscaig and at the end of the road you find Toscaig's harbour. When we first visited in 2005, signs prohibited access to the remains of a pier that was self-evidently not far from complete collapse into the sea. A return visit more recently shows that the signs have disappeared. But then so have the wooden remains of the pier itself.

There were still signs of activity in 2005, with piles of brand new lobster pots suggesting that some fishing still took place from here. On our return visit the only lobster pots on view were far beyond being usable or effective. We assume that with the demise of the pier most activity moved a little up the coast to Ard-dhubh and Camusterrach. This is a shame, because for a while from the mid 1950s, Toscaig became the terminus for a motor boat service linking the peninsula to Kyle of Lochalsh. This seems to have ceased operation some time in the 1970s.

 

Toscaig is also of note for lying at the end of the Parliamentary Road built westwards from Kishorn and over the Bealach na Ba in 1822 and then south down the western shore of Applecross. That in itself suggests there used to be more activity here than you find today.

This road is covered in more detail on the Applecross Peninsula feature page, but it is a sign of how values have changed that in 1910 the contract for the maintenance of the road from Toscaig up to Applecross then inland, over the Bealach na Ba and down to the shore of Loch Kishorn, was let for the sum of £50 per year.

North of its harbour the tiny hamlet of Toscaig lies mostly on the rising ground to the west of the flat salt marsh valley of the River Toscaig as it approaches the loch. A second group of buildings lies on the eastern side of the same river valley, and on Ordnance Survey maps seems to fall within Toscaig. When we last visited there was very little going on, though our arrival was the cue for a charge from quite some distance away by a psychopathic sheep followed by its lambs