An out of this world experience. What are the impressions that I return with? In the Northern Highlands shades of sunlight on mountains of grey, black, white stone, golden grasses and purple heather, glittering granite and blue blue water. Sounds of silence, of crashing waterfalls and soft streams, of birds and bubbling clouds. Smell of the sun on warm heath, peat bog and towering rock. Generations of hard life oozes out the wayside ruins and deserted farms, touching your mind if you stop for a moment. Sun reflecting off the hot tarmac of narrow single track roads, crazy roads where you will meet nothing but supercilious sheep for mile after lonely mile. In the Southern highlands the castles, purple mountains, steep wooded valleys and wide rivers. Everywhere food, excellent food, salted porridge and haggis for breakfast, and such friendly people.
Last was in the Highlands in 1968, as a teenager on BSA motorcycle. Throughout the last thirty years I have Known I had to return, though memories had faded as to why. Somehow through the debris of quarter of a century something whispered. There was no question as to where I would take my first holiday for 25 years, though June did not know the attraction. How do you describe half remembered memories that you are no longer sure are real? Research into family history gave an added impetus. For the first time having a motor car that worked, some money, and time (having given up farming), nothing was going to stop me.
Saturday 29th August. V. hot & sunny
Drive up to my sister Christine in Birmingham. Douglas had just returned from Norfolk, so a fine meal of Norfolk crab, ham, pate and samphire (a luscious seaweed-like plant)
Sunday 30th August, sunshine again.
Motorway up to Scotland, shedding the traffic of the South as we go, layer upon layer. Cross the border at Gretna. Play tapes of Scottish music as the empty motorway climbs higher. At Moffat take the road across the border hills to Peebles and the Fraser Neidpath castle. Well worth a visit, an unspoilt semi-ruin perched on a promontory above a curve in the River Tweed. Short way down to Innerleithen so we can take the back road up to Edinburgh across the Moorfoot Hills. Seems to be a popular beauty spot. A field of orange sheep. Already years away from home. Evening arrive at Inveresk, Musselburgh, to find the house of Clarissa Dickson-Wright (an old family friend who is now one of the 'Two Fat Ladies' TV cook program). She drives us in her new open top Saab at horrifying speed down Edinburgh bypass. (I was cowering on the back seat) Have a drink in Gifford with John Scott and his wife Mary. Johny is the son of Sir Walter Scott who was a good neighbour of ours since childhood. Clarissa shows us Lennoxlove House, a very grand mansion. (Johny's sister married the Duke of Hamilton who owns the house). Huge meal of salmon then beef-on-the-bone.
Monday 31 August sun again.
Brisk walk down to Musselburg to get a pint of milk. Clarissa drives us to Edinburgh where we look round the Castle (too touristy), buy souvenirs. Walk to Clarissa's cookery bookshop. She sends us with her shop manager to a superb restaurant. Great fun being shown past the long queues of patient hungry customers to the best table. Mouthwatering. Then a dinner party in the evening with half a dozen chefs. Lobster, then beef. June made the mayonnaise sauce and thrilled to be congratulated on it.
Tuesday 1 Sept. Rain and wind but warm.
Leave Edinburgh for Highlands, but first drive down to Johny's . Cup of tea in the farmhouse, then he takes us in his battered old LandRover to tour his 6,000 acres of heather clad mountains, showing how sheep farming worked in the area, how they are 'hefted' up and down the mountains. Very interesting and the driving rain adds to the atmosphere as we bounce over the moorland bogs. Shows us a restored 'stell', a circular stone sheep compound. Drive on over Forth Bridge up motorway, bagpipe music playing loud, past Perth, on up into mountains through Killiecrankie pass to Blair Atholl, in driving rain with the hills shrouded in cloud. Stop at Bruar Falls and visit the Clan Donnachaidh (Robertson) museum. We walk in the rain up to the falls along steep paths. Thunderous and worth the soaking. Then back down to pretty Pitlochry to find a cottage to stay in. Gordon Cottage. Good meal of salmon then venison at Victoria's, then a walk after dark in the rain across the pedestrian suspension bridge swaying over the river, to look at the salmon ladder and dam.
Wednesday 2 September. Sun and cloud.
Take the road from Pitlochry up past Braemar and Balmoral to Aberdeen. Sun breaks out as we go over the bleak pass at Devils Elbow and down into the wooded valley. Find Fraser Castle eventually. Make sure you visit this. Delicious mushroom soup. Carry on into Aberdeen, the Granite City, as cloud closes in. Find the Family History Centre as the doors are closing at four o'clock. Very helpful assistants and fortunately I buy an 1860 map as I will need it to find my next stop, the home of an ancestor General Patrick Gordon of Auchleucheris, a place that is no longer named on most maps. Further difficulty caused by my only having its original name of Ward House. After a few false turns driving through the rolling windswept landscape of mostly arable farmland find a rutted farm track, still with the ruins of an original stone bothy at the entrance, leading up into a tumbledown farmyard sheltered by trees. Chickens scatter. A pair of leaning gate-posts topped precariously by stone balls opens to a humble granite cottage. The farmer, H Duncan, is carrying a tin bucket of coal in for his fire. He is interested in our story and pleased to be visited by a descendent of former inhabitants. A student had called on him several years back researching Patrick Gordon. Shows us the remaining monkey-puzzle tree of a pair in the front 'garden' that must have been there before what he called the castle was demolished last century. Said that the castle was apparently so ugly there is not a drawing to be found of it, but the polished granite used in the cottage must have come from it as one would have expected rough stone. I have been fortunate to acquire a rare reprint of General Gordon's diary. It makes fascinating reading about a poor Scots lad who travelled to Russia to find his fame and fortune as a mercenary in the 17th Century.
On up to Strichen to look for the 'double house at the bridge' as described in our family manuscript, only to find that it must have been demolished in the 18th century when the new village was built. However the possible remains can be seen as the footings at the back of the service station. It seems a poor but proud little town, set in a hard bleak countryside; though maybe if the sun had been shining we may have appreciated it more! Drive out by the old mill, past several miles of old peat workings. Up to the coast through quiet empty fishing villages. On to Banff, the posher side of Macduff to look for a B&B. Find a wonderful Victorian house (St. Helens) owned by an Irish couple. Huge spacious rooms and polished wood. Evening meal in what appears to be the only place in town, the County Hotel.
Thursday 3 Sept. Sun.
Along coast, then inland slightly to Forres, a delightful small town with a beautiful park and a very interesting little museum. Visit Cawdor Castle. An elderly American gentleman, his camera tripod slashing those behind him, complains loudly that a piece of furniture was not original to the 16th Cent castle, forgetting that history did not stand still once it was built and that it is still lived in. Then he is disgusted to find that there is piped water in the kitchens! A fine place, but by far the best part was the walk through the woods up the glen, back and forth over little bridges that crossed high over the whisky-coloured water, through huge redwood trees, holding hands with June. If you miss the inside don't miss this walk. The food you will be given in Scotland you will need the exercise!
In the afternoon the unsettling experience of visiting Culloden battlefield. In spite of the coach parks and visitor centre this cannot be called a tourist 'attraction' and the sombre spirit of the place seems to effect even the camera toting Japanese and Germans, I saw not a single photo taken. After a slow look through the informative centre, out into the damp air. Flags mark the lines of Scot and English. Follow the paths through the waterlogged heather bog, positions of troops are marked. But the first path you follow is the saddest and I defy anyone not to be effected by the graveyard of the clans. A mound covers the English casualties, then mound after grassy mound covers the heaped bodies of the Jacobites, each burial pit marked with a simple rough stone with the name of the clan engraved on it, not in line or order, but as the pits were dug, mound after mound after mound, as though it were just yesterday. Find the grave of the Frasers and say a prayer. Continue through Inverness to Foyers, where we find a Guesthouse for the night. Excellent evening meal in the conservatory restaurant overlooking Loch Ness. Great Soup.
Friday 4 Sept. Sun
Walk down to the Falls of Foyers. These are another must. A powerful single gush out of a cleft in the rocks, in classic waterfall shape, plunges into a black pool. Save yourself a long walk and take the left-hand path over the footbridge, right down to the lowest viewpoint which perches on the side of the sheer rock cliffs. Down to Fort Augustus over the switchback of General Wade's old military road; walk up the canal. Up to Castle Urquhart, walk round as a piper plays. Touristy but worth it.
Up to Beauly and try to find Beaufort Castle. By chance come across the old Kiltarlity graveyard and its ruined church (next to the bridge by the dam), with a view of Beaufort in the distance peeking above the woods. Then push on up to Lairg ready for the Northern Highlands tomorrow, the empty lands. There we find a large house for B&B. Ring the bell, a long wait then the huge wide door creaks open. A man says 'yes I have a room'. Holds a conversation apparently with a wife that we do not see. Shades of Psycho. Walk across the street to the pub for a huge evening meal. Get chatting with locals, who as the evening wears on become harder and harder to understand. A visitor goes to the door but finds it locked. All still in full swing when we get up to leave at 1.0 am. Bargirl unlocks the door, peering out to see if the coast is clear, and lets us out. Slight headache in the morning but manage to eat my fried breakfast and haggis.
Saturday 5th Sept. Sun.
From Lairg, up side of loch, then mile upon mile across barren moorland and forest, not a vehicle to be seen, to Altnaharra, a few houses in a secluded green valley. Here we took the even smaller track towards Hope. This is the road to silence. Empty moorland, then mountain valley with a wide meandering river, water and granite sparkling in the sun, the purple heather clad mountains throwing the heat back down at us. Stop near an ancient brioch. June rests by the mountain stream while I climb two thirds up Ben Hope, then think better of it and come down. Past white orchids, bathe in warm waterfall. Reach the North Coast. Along Loch Hope, over purple pass to Loch Eribol, where the tide is out leaving a lake of golden sand with little rivulets of water running here and there. A few white cottages with red tin roofs. Not a sound. Nobody.
Along to Durness where we find the first of many bays of pure white sand bordered by rocky cliffs and islets, the sea and sky vying with each other to be the deepest blue, hardly a ripple on the clear warm water. A few other travellers are around, looking equally amazed and open mouthed. Sunbathe on the grass. Walk down to the sea and find the entrance to a cave, inside it we find a 20' waterfall splashing down from the roof into the further recesses of it. A moonscape connects more similar bays then we take the coast road to Drumbeg; or should I say goat track as it twists and turns so steeply that in several places it is necessary to come to a dead stop at the top of hills to see in what direction the road will plunge next as you appear to go over the top of a precipice. Not a road to take in the fog. The scenery is so stunning that we cannot bring ourselves to stop driving as every turn in the road opens another view. Pushed on by the thought that the weather forecast is for the tail end of a hurricane so it could be the last day to see the scenery (Wrong). Drive on late to Ullapool where we find B&B in the converted garage of the old surgery belonging to a German. Very comfortable and overlooking the water. Excellent evening meal in restaurant on harbour, full moon shining on water.
Sunday 6th Sept. Sun
Car refuses to start and have to push it nearly over the harbour wall before it fires. Stop at Corrieshalloch Gorge to view the Falls of Measach. Walk onto a pedestrian suspension bridge that sways two hundred feet above the bottom of the gorge. A fantastic sight as the water tumbles down, trees cling to the sheer rock sides. Then take the road back to the coast past Little Loch Broom and Gruinard Bay, then the beautiful Loch Ewe. Visit the famous Inverewe tropical gardens. Gairloch then back along Loch Maree to Kinlochewe then across Ben Eighe National Nature reserve and its black forbidding mountains to Loch Torridon and Shieldag. Looking for somewhere to stay we arrive at Loch Kishorn and take a no through road down to the waterside, to Achintraid, where we splash out on staying at a Hotel. Yet another first class meal, chat until the early hours with a couple who are marine scientists from Oban.
Monday 7th September. Sun
Watch an old farmer scything his field of hay as I eat breakfast. He would take three swings of the double handled scythe then rest on it staring out over the loch. Had a long chat with him bemoaning the fate of small farmers down in my Sussex as well as up here in Scotland, and talking of the various merits/demerits of the Sussex scythe over his strange implement. They have had a terrible haymaking season here; saw some hay strung up to dry over wire lines. The spring barley is still green and may never ripen.
Take a detour North to cross over the Cattle Pass to Applecross, which we had not dared take last night. I know that there is no way that I would have taken cattle over this pass. Sign on road saying Not For Learner Drivers. Climbs 2,035 ft over the mountain, held up on the steep slope by loose drystone walling, no barrier. Passing places are so narrow that when meeting another vehicle you teeter 2" from the edge of a sheer drop. But well worth the experience. What scenery. Down into Applecross village. Hot hot weather, dressed in just shorts; the track passes ospreys soaring over abandoned villages bordering the blue sea with the islands of Skye beyond. Brush the sheep droppings of a rock and sunbathe. Then back on the route South. Wonderful view of Loch Torridon from where the road cuts through the high rocks. A railway line hugs the side of the Loch Carron round and through the outcrops. Now looking for a place to stay we drive to Plockton with its palm tree lined harbour, and on to Kyle of Lochalsh. Find a hotel overlooking the sea. Bit tatty. Watch a Landrover drive down the railtracks with a looker on the front bumper watching for fallen rocks before the next train.
Tuesday 8th September Cloud rain sun
Into Castle country again. Look round Eilean Donan castle. Sadly this has changed since my last visit. Then at twilight I took a bend in the track and there it was, alone, silent in the loch. Now there is a main road bridged across the corner of the loch, the first sight is of coach parks, tarmac, visitors centres and cameras. But still worth a visit. Look out for the re-creation of a Victorian kitchen. Down Glen Shiel to Invergarry, down Loch Lochy to Spean Bridge and Gairlochy where we wait for the swing bridge to allow steamers through, then down the back road to Fort William where we admire the line of canal locks.
Then the Road to the Isles towards Mallaig to find a B&B. Kilmartin farmhouse, Kinloid, near Arisaig. A small working farm, views across the white sands of Morar to Skye. Drive down to the harbour for a meal in a first class Egon Ronay recommended restaurant. Bit extravagant but what the hell. Well amused by three locals. The man with the mouth and money must be the developer of the new harbour jetty. Guess the man with vivid yellow welly boots is the harbour master. The one they are dining is a sea-captain. Reckon they are desperate for his business. Unfortunately they have plied him with far too many drinks and his language is embarrassing them. All he can do to stay upright and not impressed by cordon bleu cooking of his fish. A wonderful meal, go out to the motor, and it won't start. However the mile walk back was refreshing.
Wednesday 9th September Rain to begin, then dry.
Farmer helps me start car. Drive back, down the Moidart coast road. Search out and find Tioram castle. A fine ruin accessible only at low tide by crossing a sandbank. First taste of a few midges as we stop to chat with a girl in a red sports car who we had come across a few days earlier. On to Acharacle at start of the Ardnamurchan peninsula. A busy little village. Very scenic road along Loch Sunart to Strontian and all the way back up to Ft William where we find a log cabin, Aorach Mor, for B&B with view of Ben Nevis.
Thursday 10th September Overcast, showers.
Were going to take cable car up Ben Nevis, but heavy cloud deters us. Instead go to 'Highland Mystery World' where we have great fun acting like kids, being frightened by celtic witches and hobgoblins etc. On the loch is a beautiful replica of a Viking longboat, shrouded in mist. Down coast towards Oban, a detour to Glencoe, past castle Stalker, then find Barcaldine castle on Loch Creran. You must visit this, the haunted castle of 'Black' Duncan Campbell. It is as it was restored in the 1900's and his descendants, a pleasant young couple, are doing their best to maintain it. You will have a friendly personal welcome and an informative tour. It was used in the film 'Massacre at Glencoe'. Seeing the sign in the bedroom saying it was available for Bed & Breakfast, we could not resist asking if we could stay the night.
As still early we went down to Oban to visit Dunstaffnage castle and chapel. This is most impressive, but rather shocked to see that the custodians had let foxes dig up and scatter the bones of poor Angus. Then to the town to shop and have a meal by the harbour. No ghosts but noisy plumbing. A comfortable stay. In the morning have to walk across the dungeon grating to get to the vaulted kitchen for breakfast.
Friday 11th, sun and showers
From Oban we go towards Dalmally. Stop off at the Creachan power station. Awesome coach trip one kilometre into the hollow mountain to a huge cavern into which we were told would fit a seven story building. All made those James Bond films seem more believable. Then find Kilchurn castle. Worth searching out the footpath to it, well hidden. Walk across a railwayline and a marsh and find a well preserved and spectacular ruin commanding the Loch. Then make a detour off the A85 up Glen Orchy. Do not miss this road which runs up a beautiful wooded glen alongside the river, and keep your eyes open for the waterfalls and rapids next to the old iron bridge. See golden eagle and falcon. Over the pass to Crianlarich, look out for the railway that hugs the further side of the valley.
Then down to join the motorway at Stirling. Goodbye Highlands.
Aim for Hawick as I think there will be plenty of accomodation there, but find everywhere full due to a jazz festival in town and Kelso sheep sales. Very late find a farmhouse run by a couple with interesting and informative tales to tell..
Saturday 12th September Sun and light showers.
Hawick, Carter Bar, Blanchland, Barnards Castle, Richmond, Leyburn, then up Wensleydale over the Pennines to Sedburgh where we stay the night.
Sunday 13th September Sun
Sedburg to Sussex by Motorway.
