Appin, Argyll - Discover Scotland

The Ballyhoolish Bridge touches the timbered hill where a monument marks the spot where James Stewart was hanged for the infamous Appan murder. A stone plinth supports a large white boulder, said to be from James's farm, which he often used to rest on whilst working the fields. This has always been seen as a miscarriage of justice, and the result of political fears of yet another Jacobite rising, and an attempt to keep the Highlands firmly in check. Some even say the murder was orchestrated to enable government forces to swamp the area, and James Stewart was selected and made an example of as the direct result of his known Jacobite sympathies. The next familiar sight, cover of many calendars, is the iconic Castle Stocker, which at first was a MacDougall stronghold, then following their defeat at the Pass of Brander, passed on to the Stewarts, with much of the present castle being built at that time by Sir John Stewart in 1446, open at some times in the season. The road travels along Loch Creran, a European special area of conservation, one of the very few places in Europe where remarkable living reefs of cirpulid worms occur, known as biogenic reefs. Named after a commissioner of the Forestry Commission in 1922, Sutherland's Grove is a grouping of magnificent Douglas firs, the largest dating from 1870. A path leads to Glendoo Reservoir, along a gorge by the rushing river with spectacular waterfalls, especially when in spate. Continue on to Connell Bridge, built in 1903 originally as a rail bridge, which at its time of construction was the second largest span in Britain, the fourth bridge being the largest. The only saltwater falls in the UK, and perhaps the world, are below the bridge. The Falls of Lora are caused by a raised plateau of rock at the head of Lofete, and depending on the tide, either Lofete roars into the sealock limmy, or vice versa. The name Connell is derived from the Gaelic meaning, tumultuous flood.