The 2014 Challenge, day 3: All the way to Ardgour (4)

I decided to press on and not take my 11.55 - 12 rest break, as I had reached the Kingairloch village sign by then. I was nearly at the restaurant and I should soon be sitting down to lunch. Or so I thought! However, this turned out to be a little over-optimistic.

I reached the junction with the little road leading steeply down into Kingairloch, and there was another A-board sign advertising the Boathouse Restaurant. "First building in Kingairloch", it said ... which I naively interpreted as meaning that the first building I came to would be the restaurant. But it wasn't! In fact, the Boathouse Restaurant, housed in the oldest building in the village (the "first building in Kingairloch") was right at the western end of the Loch a' Choire, and I had to walk fully a kilometer and a half back the way I had come to find it. On the way, I paused at a little jetty to take this picture of Loch a Choire, with the impressive Beinn Mheadoin range beyond it.

Eventually, however, I was at the restaurant - developed by the Kingairloch estate in the old boathouse which had been an essential part of the estate back in the days before the road, when the only reliable means of accessing it had been by water. And what a restaurant it was! I had a delicious crab salad, followed by roast venison haunch. The venison was from the estate, and I do not exaggerate when I say it was by FAR the finest venison I have ever eaten. I always think that haunch is the most difficult joint of venison to get right; but this was simply perfect in every way! Dessert, as ever with me, posed a wee bit of a problem. However, the starters on the menu included warmed goat's cheese with pear and walnut, so I asked to be served this in lieu of dessert - and very acceptable it was too! All of this, with a glass of merlot, a shot of whisky (their own estate blend) and copious amounts of water cost me a little over £30. I was more than happy to pay this for such an exquisite meal!