Tag: Loch
-
Cairns of Yarrows
I seem to get more of an awareness of the history of a place if some effort is needed to get there. A car park close by and manicured grounds somehow sterilises a site. Yarrows Broch was quite an adventure, through bogs, under fences, and detours to avoid over-friendly horses. 2,000 years ago, the broch…
-
Scapa Flow from Keelylang Hill
Had a lovely walk around the headland of the Deerness peninsula with its dramatic sea cliffs and geos. One spectacular feature was a collapsed sea cave resulting in a huge chasm, 40 metres long and 25 metres deep, funnelling up the sound of waves and sea birds. But the main photo is of Scapa Flow…
-
Loch an Eilein
The “Lake of the Island”. And on the island a castle. A castle that was unsuccessfully stormed by Jacobite troops in 1690. Long after that battle, ospreys nested there. King George V came, soon after his coronation in 1911, especially to view them. Apparently the loch was dammed to create artificial floods to float logs…
-
Allt na h-Eilde
‘The stream of the hind’, swollen and tumultuous as it begins its plunges down towards Loch Leven. Its source is Loch Eilde Mòr, which I think translates as ‘the big loch of the hind’. Perhaps the shelter and grazing here are favoured by nursing hinds. Such a large volume of water coming down the ‘stream’.…
-
The Appin Murder
This is Loch Leven, familiar to all those who have travelled on the A82 to Fort William. The Ballachulish bridge crossing the loch is just hidden by the headland on the north shore. On the south shore, again just out of sight is the tiny village of Duror. Here, on 14 May 1752, Colin Roy…
-
The Siannag of Dunstaffnage Castle
A wet and gloomy day, so dull in fact my photo count was a bit lean. So the featured image above is the runner-up from yesterday. Dunstaffnage Castle near Oban is a must-see on the tourist itinerary. Built by Duncan MacDougall, the Lord of Lorn, about 1220, on a plug of conglomerate rock. It would…
-
Tayvallich
A dreich day so didn’t venture far. Tayvallich is a community overlooking the natural harbour of Loch a’ Bhealaich in Knapdale, Argyll. I find the learning of the pronunciation of Gaelic names is a slow process, Tayvallich is Taigh a’ Bhealaich in Gaelic and gives good hints. I just need to remember them. The name…
-
Loch of the Lowes
More bimbling about the Borders. The Loch of the Lowes lies just up the valley from St. Mary’s Loch. In fact, when the last glacier retreated, there was one big loch, however, over the millennia, the alluvial fan from Crosscleuch Burn has bisected it into the two lochs we see today, joined by the short…
-
Cùl Mòr
At 849m, Cùl Mòr is the highest of the Assynt Corbetts, a towering and majestic beast of a mountain. This view is from Stac Pollaidh. Cùl means ‘the back of’ so cùlag, for instance, is your back tooth. And mòr is the adjective ‘big’. So the name translates as ‘big back’. Which raises the question…
-
Overnight camp, LAMM 2006
Today I take a trip back to June 2006 and early finishers on Day 1 of the Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon are arriving at the overnight camp at Glencoul, a remote bothy at the head of the sea loch of the same name. The photo belies the thick, low cloud with rain and drizzle that…