"Skyfall is where we start"

Less famous than its neighbour Glen Coe and easily missed when heading north across Rannoch Moor, Glen Etive initially found fame in the 1995 film Braveheart and, more recently, during an iconic scene in the 23rd James Bond film. 

On the side of the road that meanders 14 miles from Glen Coe to Loch Etive Bond and M share a moment on the way to Bonds childhood home. 

“Orphans always make the best recruits”

— M

Although Skyfall has brought more attention to Glen Etive - with many coming to recreate the iconic image of James and M stood side by side - it is also held in high regard amongst kayakers.

The River Etive is considered to be one of the most challenging whitewater kayaking routes in Scotland. As it runs towards Loch Etive the river provides grade 4 rapids with a range of waterfalls and pools. 

The river and its various tributary streams still remained slightly frozen in places, the cold grasp of winter still holding on despite the warmth of the winter sun.

It was however not the attraction of Skyfall or Braveheart that brought us here. Neither was it the river and her rapids nor the many mountains that encompassed us drawing out kayaker and walker alike.  

Instead, we were here to see one of Scotland's most iconic animals. The majestic Red Deer.

“The more I see of deer, the more I admire them as mountaineers. They make their way into the heart of the roughest solitudes with smooth reserve of strength, through dense belts of brush and forest encumbered with fallen trees and boulder piles, across canyons, roaring streams, and snow-fields, ever showing forth beauty and courage. ”

— John Muir

Birds, Brochs and Broken Things

Last summer saw us heading North for a few days. We would head to Thurso, round to Dunnet Head and John O Groats following part of the North Coast 500, then down to Dornoch before returning home. Our first stop was Dunnet Head to see both the RSPB reserve and the  Chain Home Low radar station and a bunker used by the Royal Observer Corps remains.

Usually a good place to see puffins, guillemots and razorbills we had arrived slightly too late on in the year to see them however we spent time watching fulmars soaring high above the cliffs and gannets skimming low over the water.

A short walk away for the cliffs lies the remains of the Chain Home Low (CHL) radar station. CHL was the name of a British early warning radar system operated by the RAF during World War II. The defences at Dunnet Head were originally built to protect the naval base at Scapa Flow, although during the Cold War a bunker used by the Royal Observer Corps was also constructed. 

We left Dunnet Head and along the northern coastline until we arrived at John O’Groats. Lying in the northeastern tip of Britain it is famous as being one end of the longest distance between two points on the British mainland with Lands End in Cornwall being some 876 miles south.

The settlement is said to take its name from Jan de Groot, a Dutchman who once plied a ferry from the Scottish mainland to Orkney, which had recently been acquired from Norway by King James IV. Local legend has that the "o' Groats" refers to John's charge of one groat for use of his ferry, but it actually derives from the Dutch de groot, meaning "the large”. The John o' Groats House Hotel was also said to have been built on or near the site of Jan de Groot's house and was established in 1875. Writing in his1876 book “Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates” Benjamin Vincent wrote:

“John o’ Groat’s House was an ancient house believed to be situated in front of the present hotel and was marked with a flagpole now removed, deriving its name from John of Groat, or Groot, and his brothers, originally from Holland, said to have settled here about 1489. The house was of an octagon shape, being one room, with eight windows and eight doors, to admit eight members of the family; the heads of different branches of it, to prevent their quarrels for precedence at table. Each came in by this contrivance at his own door, and sat at an octagon table, at which, of course, there was no chief place or head.
”

— Benjamin Vincent “Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates”

The famous signpost at John O'Groats

Leaving John O'Groats we began to head south towards Wick and the remains of the Old Castle of Wick. Although not much remains of the 11c Castle, the ruins of its four-story tower holds a dramatic perch atop the steep cliff

With only a few stops left to go before we retuned home we entered “Flow Country” - 4000 squared kilometres of rolling blanket bog, renowned for being home to a rich variety of wildlife. We arrived at our destination: the Grey Cairns of Camster. We were visiting a one of the earliest Neolithic tombs originally built more than 5,000 years ago. Reconstructed by Historic Scotland the Cairns although beside each other are both different. The monument consists of a long cairn and a round cairn. The long cairn has two internal chambers and the round cairn a single chamber with three compartments. 

We joined the A9 as we made our way to our second last stop - a uniquely Scottish building. Between Golspie and Brora, just beside the road, sits the ruins of Carn Liath Broch. Dispite being built in the Iron Age the remains of this broch are still impressive. Its thick stone walls - still 12ft high in places - still hold a well preserved entrance passage and lintelled doorway. In the entrance passage is a cavity possibly used to guard the broch. The broch was first excavated in the 1800s by the Duke of Sutherland, and was initially thought to be a burial cairn. Finds from this excavation included pottery, flint chips, stone hammers, mortars and pestles, querns, whorls, shale rings, long-handled bone combs, a whale bone club, a silver fibula, steatite cups and an iron blade. In 1986 the site was again excavated and this time evidenced suggested that the site was occupied in the Bronze Age, before the broch was built with a Bronze Age cist burial with a food vessel was discovered.

Our final stop of the day saw us arriving at Tollie Red Kites - an RSPB run site providing fantastic close-up views of the stunning birds that are Red Kites

Having never seen Red Kites before I found this the perfect place to start my RSPB100 challenge - you can find out more about this below.

Leaving Tollie, after a good hour watching these birds glide gracefully in the sky, we reflected back on a busy weekend and made plans for our next outing…

Wildlife: Coal Tits

As part of my RSPB100 project I’ve found myself photographing all sorts of animals. Unfortunate Coal Tits aren’t part of the RSPB100 challenge but after seeing so many of them I felt they deserved a mention!

We regularly visit the RSPB reserve at Loch Garten. Nestled deep within the ancient Caledonian pine trees of Abernethy Forst this is where, in 1959, Ospreys first returned in Scotland and a pair has nested here since. Although popular with Ospreys, Abernethy is also home a wide variety of other less common birds. Capercaillie can be seen performing their annual "lek" in the spring and is one of the few places where the Crested Tit can be found. More common birds such as the siskin, chaffinch and great spotted woodpecker can be regularly seen along with many friendly coal tits.

Remarkably friendly, with patience the Coal Tits at Loch Garten with take food from your hand

One of the smaller members of the tit family measuring 10 - 11.5cm the coal tit has the questionable honour of having the highest number of bird flea reported from a single nest - 5,754 fleas.

During colder months they will regularly form larger flocks with other coal tits in search of food. Favouring peanuts the will often take and store food for eating later.

Eigg and Rum in 48 Hours: Part 2

We awoke even earlier the next morning ready to leave for 6.30am. There was a good wind and we made our way around the south side of the island, the mountains emerging from the morning mist from the mainland behind us. 

We made good time as we sailed around the west side of Eigg, running parallel to the ridge of An Sgurr until it slid low enough for the high, jagged peaks of Rum to be seen. We rounded the point of Eigg and found ourself skimming speedily over the waves as the wind spun into our favour, fanning us along with Gannets and Cormorants grazing the water along side and dolphins occasionally emerging above. 

We sailed into the sheltered mooring of Loch Scresort described by the Scottish poet Robert Williams Buchanan in the book "The Hebrid Isles"  where we anchored for the afternoon.  At the head of the sea loch, the red sandstone Kinloch Castle still stands despite the ever increasing difficulties it faces. 

“As sweet a little nook as ever Ulysses mooned away a day in, during his memorable voyage homeward. Though merely a small bay, about a mile in breadth, and curving inland for a mile and a half, it is quite sheltered from all winds save the east, being flanked to the south and west by Haskeval and Hondeval, and guarded on the northern side by a low range of heathery slopes. In this sunny time, the sheep are bleating from the shores, the yacht lies double, yacht and shadow, and the bay is painted richly with the clear reflection of the mountains.
”

— Robert Williams Buchanan on Loch Scresort

Despite being the largest of the Small Isles, Rum has a population of 31 - and interestingly no indigenous population. The National Nature Reserve on the island is run by Scottish Natural Heritage and the community of the island are a mixture of SNH employees and their families, together with a number of researchers and a school teacher. The community own and run a number of business and in 2010 Isle of Rum Community Trust took ownership of large swathes of the island. Rum has previously had a larger population with some 450 people living across the island in 1825 until they were removed to make room for sheep in what is now known as "The Highland Clearances"

The far north of the island is home to Kilmory Bay where a number of ruined homes can still be seen. This also houses a number of buildings used by Edinburgh & Cambridge Universities to study habits of Red Deer - which are seen commonly in this part of the island. 

Sadly time was slowing getting the better of us and we were forced to head back to Mallaig and home to return to the monotony of normality until next time...

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past”

— F. Scott Fitzgerald

Eigg and Rum in 48 Hours: Part 1

A sudden spell of good weather prompted a drive west and an all too short couple of days sailing around a couple of the Small Isles. Located south of Skye and north of  Mull, they are a small archipelago of islands in the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland. 

We set off early the next morning, gliding out of the marina before most people woke and pushed west towards the distinctive shapes of Eigg and Rum. Although the Small Isles consist of four main islands, time only allowed us a visit to these two. 

We made good time and arrived in the sheltered bay at Eigg shadowed by the distinctive shape of "An Sgùrr" before lunch. 

The Sgurr was formed as the result of one of the final eruptions of a volcano - the core of which now forms the Isle of RumThe lava cooled and formed structures, similar to those at Giant's Causeway, Ireland. This eruption was the beginning of a long history of the island which has been inhabited since the Bronze Age. In A long running feud between the MacLeod and MacDonald clans may have resulted in the massacre of the island's entire population in the late 16th century when the MacLeods built a fire in front of a cave where some 395 MacDonalds where hiding resulting in the death of them all. Although there is some question over the truth of this story human remains in the cave were reported by James Boswell in 1773, by Sir Walter Scott in 1814 and Hugh Miller in 1845 who have all visited the Island. As the sand shifts, more bones are occasionally uncovered - most recently in early 2017 where some bones were discovered. The cave has since been known as Massacre Cave.

The small entrance to "Massacre Cave"

An Sgurr from the southeast

An Sgurr from our boat

We took advantage of the surprisingly high temperature and made our way to one of the many beaches on the island to enjoy lunch. We found the beach deserted apart from some cows who seemed to be taking advantage of the sun too.  

We retuned back to the boat and settled down, ready for an early start to sail to Rum in the morning.