I’ve just done some analysis of routes taken to cross the loch mouth using the replay function on Trackleaders.
It seems all the other riders made the Fisherfield crossing nearer the loch mouth than Jenny has.
This is what it looks like: https://www.flickr.com/photos/reizkultur/14154646477/
With recent rain, the beach may be submerged, forcing Jenny upstream, so what appears to be her “crossing too early” may the closest she can physically get in the current conditions.
The beach/ shore must be submerged for a proportion of the time, otherwise it would be vegetated. Plus, if the level is up to that extent, it’ll look dead wide. Factor in strong wind, waves coming up the loch etc, I bet it looks practically impossible without a boat.
Thing is, when you are at the mouth, you are at loch height for the water. That is a big loch, and it would take a heck of a water to raise the level. As soon as you move upstream though, the river will back up and will get higher much faster.
On the boat topic, I have a plan to do that. Plan is to start at Ullapool, cross right at the town in my packraft with bike, then over the hill to Scoraig, cross Little Loch Broom in that, then down the road, and into Fisherfield on the HTR route, and have a play about in Loch na Selga and the river in the packraft, before going on to Poolewe, then back on the road (or some other route).