INVERIE   [MAP]

     The Pier House [PHOTO] sits by the pier like an angler waiting for a bite. And like long time angling cronies, the village shop and the pub, sit beside it. The ferry boat, which comes three days per week from Mallaig, can be seen a long way out between the headlands. People gather by the wooden bench in front of the Pier House. Others emerge from the Pier House after an old fashioned breakfast. This is the gathering place, the village square. The Pier House, a stout, square but undistinguished building, is a multi-purpose establishment - guesthouse, cafe, gourmet restaurant and bicycle hire shop. The shop close by is a grocers and craft shop. Multi-purpose is de rigueur in these parts. Inverie has about it an air of truculent bonhomie for this is a place, unlike most Highland villages, of young people, with the confidence of those who have pulled off a near miracle (and know it). A sign at the door of the pub ("The Old Forge") offers a variety of beers, an interesting seafood menu and extends a welcome to all musicians. It also places a total ban on all press reporters. This is not an irrelevant gesture. In recent times this place has been alive with press reporters. [PHOTO]. Perhaps the most comical aspect of the handover ceremony on that famous day in March was the presence on the ferry of two middle-aged walkers, who had come for a peaceful day in what they believed (and, in normal circumstances, had every right to believe) would be quiet backwater. On the boat, and when they arrived, they found themselves surrounded by a crowd of celebrating well-wishers, a "press" of camera clicking reporters, a TV camera crew. A TV front-woman crouched over some handwritten notes, practicing Gaelic placenames, representatives from the two trusts which had supported the venture (including Chris Brasher himself), the local MP in a pin-stripped suit (everyone else in anoraks or similar) and a minister of the crown anxious for a sound bite. He arrived by special delivery (curtesy of the local coastguard boat) and departed by private helicopter. When it is not seething with reporters, Inverie is quiet, offers good walks, more strenuous climbing expeditions and a splendid circular bicycle ride to the Westard point of the peninsula. The most attractive building is Inverie Kirk [PHOTO] which has a delightful location by the sea.

Contact
Knoydart Estate office, tel: 01687 462-242
The Pier House, tel: 01687-462-347
The Forge, tel: 01687 462-267 email: oldforge@zetnet.co.uk
  Copyright © Hugh Noble, 1999