Strath Rusdale – Kildermorie cycle

The outside thermometer was reading -7°C at 6.30am today after I’d dropped Neil off at the bus station for his coach south. So although I’d planned a day out on my bike, I was in no great hurry to leave. Time for breakfast and another cuppa before loading the bike in the car and heading north to Alness.

The route I’d chosen was to be a mixture of minor public roads and surfaced estate road and rough track. I headed north to the road junction at the start of the no through road to Ardross and with it being the school holidays thought it would be ok to park my car beside the school. As I headed along the minor road along Strath Rusdale, the sun was beginning to warm the air and I was soon able to remove a couple of layers of clothing for now. (I needed it again later, so was glad I was carrying sufficient layers.)

Walking in the footsteps of cattle drovers

The start of the walk along the old drove road in Strath Rory is not the most inspiring track, being a standard gravel-surfaced forestry track – and a wide track at that! But don’t let that put you off exploring this short drove road in Easter Ross. The strath and track are relatively unknown, even locally, and relatively unused.

I started at the northern end of the Strath on the Struie and walked east towards Scotsburn (near Tain) following in the footsteps of cattle drovers.

Droving, the overland movement of livestock on foot, developed in Scotland during the 17th century as demand grew in the lowlands for Scottish cattle and mutton.

The main drove way from Sutherland and Caithness crossed the Dornoch Firth and continued south over the Struie towards the first of the large trysts (markets) at Muir of Ord and further south to Crieff and Falkirk, As droving developed, smaller local markets were established and the Strathrory – Scotsburn drove road gave a link from the Struie to Easter Ross and to the trysts at Milton and Kildary. It may also have been used by drovers avoiding the high tolls on the Struie road.

The first couple of miles are now within the confines of the vast Forestry Commission Morangie Foest, hence the wide, rather boring track. At this stage I was beginning to wish I’d brought my bike instead of opting to walk this route, but as I was to find out, the ‘track’ deteriorates very quickly and soon become a muddy, gloopy path.

Even here in the FC forest it is in not all mono-culture ranks of spruce and fir; there are gaps where moss and ground layer plants are flourishing and remains of former habitation is visible.

Once I left the confines of the forest the views opened up and the track was replaced by an increasingly wet path.

I soon came across the cause of the churned up path in this herd of cattle who were free to roam about on either side of the burn at will.

These docile cattle more or less ignored me, but the Highland cattle being taken to market along this route would have required a lot of work by the drovers. Drovers often covered 10-12 miles each day and to get their livestock to market in good condition they needed to know where to find good grazing and resting stances.

The drovers themselves survived the journey on oatmeal, bannock and whiskey. They often slept outside in the heather wrapped in their Feileadh Mor (the great kilt). This garment is essentially just a length of double-width tartan – about 6 or 7 yards long and which they used as a groundsheet and sleeping bag at night. If they were lucky they may occasionally be invited into a remote croft house or animal shelter.

The old croft at Coag, near Scotsburn may have been one welcoming shelter. It is now available as an open bothy, but I don’t know if it is used much as the windows have no glass.

As I approached Scotsburn I imagined the relief the drovers must have felt to see the change in landscape. Here is gentle, rich arable land in place of the harsh, heather-clad hills. They would be thinking of the haggling they would do at the tryst to get the best deal for their beasts, planning what goods they would buy to take home and looking forward to the quicker return walk home without the responsibility of looking after a herd of beasts.

I, however, did not return the way I’d come. Having completed the drove road, I followed more forest tracks to Aldie, near Tain, where I met Neil who had been attending a classic car rally in the town.

More photos on Flickr

Eastern Glen Orrin camping

A mention of Glen Orrin brings to mind images of wild, remote land hemmed in by the boggy moorland hills of Strathconon to the north and the Munros of Strahfarrar to the south – with their limited access. However the eastern reaches of the glen are a gentler landscape, tamed by man, with farming, forestry, hydro-electricity and a little habitation.

Fossils, rocks and more

As a contrast to ‘heading for the hills’ in the wonderful sunny weather we had earlier this week we took a walk down to the beach . We headed to the Black Isle here on the east coast of northern Scotland. Close to the tip of this peninsula of land (no, it’s not an isle at all) is the village of Cromarty made famous by Hugh Milller, who lived here and who was one of the most important Scottish Geologists of the 19th Century.

Back-door-step backpacking (almost)

This is the first in what may be a series of backpacking trips starting from home. Living as we do on the edge of the forest and moorland above the Beauly Frth I’d thought I’d like to attempt a few mini backpacking trips walking from, and returning to, our home with no transport except Shank’s pony. Although I’ll admit that I’ve already cheated on this first outing as we got a lift 5 miles to the starting point by a son who was passing that way.

Glen Nevis and Cow Hill

Glen Nevis from Dun Deardail

A day in Fort William = great. MWIS stating: “How windy? Westerly 45 to later 55mph, gust 60 t0 75mph on the summits in Lochaber” = not so great

So another day for low level walking. But that’s OK, as there are several lower walks I wish to do around Glen Nevis and Cow Hill, above the town. I planned a route to allow me to see some of The Ben (Ben Nevis, referred to simply around these parts as ‘The Ben’) – cloud permitting; to walk above Glen Nevis and grab a few geocaches; and get back to town to meet a friend off the 16.07 train from Glasgow.