UKC

Wondering if anyone can help with this.

There is an interesting history of conflict over parking at  Dunira.

The following recent update on UKC says as follows:

Parking on the triangle of grass as suggested in the guidebook would seem to be not permitted. Parked there yesterday and having then walked all the way to the crag we were approached by the Dunira estate manager (who drove in a 4x4 up to the crag) and asked to move our cars. On explaining the information we had he said we needed to park on the main road car park and walk in from there. The manager was very pleasant and in no way confrontational. 

My main question is, what does the estate manager mean by the main road car park? As far as I can tell there isn't one nearby, or has something changed?

On a sidenote, does anyone know if the ravens have fledged yet?

In the dim and distant past I’ve parked here…

https://maps.app.goo.gl/tFsJGFk7PSsFXvsR9?g_st=ic

…but who knows if that is what they meant. They have never been all that helpful with instructions on how to access the estate as they just don’t want you there.

I expect they fledged in May or June.

Thanks John, that's very helpful.

I just went back to my GPX track of the approach to confirm location - a couple of years ago we parked here:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/NJxfj8AtHYoVFi2i9

I don't remember if that was where we were supposed to or not, but I do remember driving a bit further along east, that looking totally futile, and then going back to that pin marker, where we could find a socially acceptable space for a car and my pals van, no trouble at all and easily enough room as I remember. Hope that helps.

Thanks Kev, as far as I gather the estate is not happy with parking there any more (if they ever were).

I’m not sure how helpful. That parking spot I used naturally leads you to enter the estate via the tree lined avenue that leads up to the house which might result in conflict. The Maam Road appears to be a right of way. A possible answer might be, though an unpalatable 4km, could be to walk in from the Lower Glen Lednock parking spot which links up with Maam Road.

Yes it's really not in a good spot, because you either need to negotiate that locked gate (which is clearly not meant to be negotiated) or walk the long way round via some pretty nasty bends in the road, which are not a good place to be on foot. But it's useful to know that that must be what is meant by the 'main road parking', the only other possibility being just after entering the estate en route to the grass triangle.

Yeah, the spot at the main road you’d take to get to the grass triangle seems like the logical spot to park. I wonder if it’s actually on estate land and/or could be considered “blocking” the access to the estate…

Last time I went we parked here at the carpark for walking on the disused railway line. I guess that is what is meant by main road carpark?

https://maps.app.goo.gl/xyFtWhLYxEZDWZVY8?g_st=ac

Then after similarly being told we couldn't walk up the tree lined drive took a route walking close to the road but in the fields until we could walk in the route you described from the triangle. 

Definitely took the shine off the day and haven't been in a rush to return.

Yes I assume that is what is meant. As you say, it's a nuisance to walk to the crag from there (it's a relatively long approach for a small sport crag already), which is no doubt the estate's intention.

Growing up in Scotland, if somebody told me I couldn't walk somewhere I tended to just ignore them.

It took me a while to get used to living in England where negotiating access seems necessary.