Loch na Gainmhich



Loch na Gainmhich


Local tradition:-
Yet another sandy loch (must be 7 or 8 in Assynt), but the waterfall and the valley leading up to it go by many names. The wailing widow waterfall, the fairy glen, hanged mans falls.
Legend has it that the last man hanged in Assynt - a cattle rustler from Lewis called Donald of the Moss who fled to Assynt and was granted sanctuary on the grounds he kept the peace....he didn't and murdered a young ad for his plaid. He tried to flee to Kylesku but was caught, forced to dig his own grave, plait his own noose and was hanged from the rock spire on the way into the glen.

Another legend tells of a young man hunting deer falling to his death in the rain at the top of the falls. On the following morning his mother came to the place of his death and threw herself over the same drop.
A far more recent legend from the 90's tells of a couple of newlyweds camping at the loch and the wife woke up on a foggy morning and walked over the cliff to her death.
(David McBain 2016)


Sandy Loch


Photo copyright: David McBain. Used with permission