Doctor Johnson and South Loch Ness

Here's a poem which tries to imagine Doctor Johnson's experience of travelling along the South Loch Ness road. It's based on the account in his 'Journey to the Western Isles':

Doctor Johnson by Joshua Reynolds

After Culloden some Jacobites including Bonnie Prince Charlie fled down South Loch Ness

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usebooks/johnson-westernisles/04-inverness-fortaugustus.html

Doctor Johnson Rides Along Loch Ness

A corpulent figure riding through sunlit birches

The brown clad moralist and his worldly disciple,

Boswell.

On Highland trails he seeks a spartan virtue

Not to be found in London or the new born Athens-

The sandstone Acropolis of enlightened Edinburgh.

This day South Loch Ness is a sunlit  Arcady

And does this fey land people the storied 

And fevered imagination of  the Sage

As he rides along Wade’s way?

Does he imagine Deidre of the sorrows

Whose fabled fort lies above

The mossy pass of Farigaig?

Or perhaps from the pages of Tacitus

The eagle bearing legionnaires
Jubilant with victory, the air full of ribald song,

Cart spoils from Mons Graupius,

Their breastplates a glitter in the sun.

Or does he see the proud massed Jacobites

Like ravening wolves rushing to take Edinburgh,

Then changed to a fleeing scattered few 

Broken on the spokes of  Fortune’s wheel-

The Redcoat’s bayonets?

But now forgetful of vain fantasy

He stoops to enter an old woman’s  home

And in the smoke reeking heath thatched dwelling

Finds one half  of Baucis and Philomen 

Whose  simple life lived in pastoral piety,

The potato patch, the life giving goats,

The tended coppice of the birch woods,

Refreshes him more than the offered whisky.

In Ovid Baucis and Philomen are spared being killed in a universal flood because of their simple piety  and unwittingly offering hospitality to the Gods Jupiter and Mercury

Loch Ness Ride

I spent the weekend doing a trail leader course with Jules Fincham down at Aviemore. I found him to be a tremendous coach and learnt loads on the weekend. I also realised there is a vast network of single track to explore in the Strathspey area much of which is not marked on any map.

Back on the fixed gear today for a ride in my favorite area, the South side of Loch Ness. This is a cyclist's paradise with miles of scenic virtually traffic free road. From my house there's tons of routes I can do. Today I cycled out to Dores, a quaint small village with a beautiful bay on Loch Ness and a traditional inn. Then along the shore of Loch Ness to Inverfarigaig. The shore road is through woodland where you can often see red squirrels. There are no houses, only the solitary ruin of the house where Johnson and Boswell stopped on their eighteenth century tour of the Highlands.

Dores bay

Looking down Loch Ness near Inverfarigaig

The pass of Farigaig is full of velvety moss

After Inverfaragaig I turned up the spectacular pass of Farigaig,  where huge crags beetle over you. The area is  of geological interest and there is a memorial to a geologist killed there by rock fall. I struggled with the steepest section on my fixed gear. After this I reached the crofting hamlet of Errogie and sped homewards under darkening skies, bowled along through the moorland by a strong wind. The high moorland has incredible panoramas on all sides especially the expanse of loch Duntelchaig and on the  far side of Loch Ness the long ridge with its fans of scree, the green nook of Abriachan village nestling on its shoulder and the gaunt finger of Glen Urquhart castle below it by the side of the water.
.http://www.lochnesswelcome.co.uk/sectionDetail.asp?sID=53
http://cauldeenprimary.co.uk/secretlochness/data/foyers_dundeardail.htm

Ben Wyvis

Today I was thinking about the chief of the Munro clan holding his lands by being able to give the King a snow ball at any time of the year. He could easily do this because Ben Wyvis holds snow in its corries even in summer. so here is a poem about this:

A Snow Ball From Ben Wyvis

A snow ball for the King
Secures the lands for Munro.

He holds forever the lands of Ferindonald.
With the perpetuity
And looks in amazement
At a kingdom of crystals
Held in his hand.

“For what” he asks,
“ Is more beautiful than midsummer snow
From the shade of a corrie
High on Ross-shires’s Queen?”

“Perhaps the ruff of gold round an eagle’s neck
Who looks unblinking upon the sun,
Or the gold of birch leaves turning in Autumn,
Or the banshee wail of the storm wind
Over the whale back mountain,
Whitened in winter.”

Certainly these are beautiful,
My lord, but these also are
Distilled in the essence of this snow
So give the King his due.

Glenfeshie

Went up into Glenfeshie today. I was originally intending to do the Ryvoan Feshie bridge loop but it was raining at Coylum bridge and looked better south. The weather was indeed much better on that side of the Cairngorms. I found the single track quite challenging in places, very stony with plenty of ice about. I went as far up the Glen as I could before being stopped at a ford that I couldn't cross and stay dry. A lot of storm damage was in evidence higher up the glen with trees lying uprooted or many with broken branches hanging exposing the red Scots pine in gashes. Lower down I tried to cross a precarious looking ice bridge but gave up after my foot went through the ice twice leaving me with one wet foot. The bridge near the lodge had also fallen down which meant I couldn't cross to the other side and ended up cycling back the way I came.

Burns turned to ice in Glen Feshie

Ice in the Feshie

Torn up trees by the river

A view back down the single track

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Strathpeffer ride

Ben Wyvis on the way to work

Bridge of thighs Strathpuffer route

Ben Wyvis from the top of the Puffer

Sgurr Mor from the top of the Puffer

Loch Kinellan

View back down the track over to Fodderty

Dingwall from the heights of Keppoch with moon.

Beautiful sunny day today in the Highlands. Took some photos on the way to work, then managed a mountain bike ride in the afternoon. I went round the Strathpuffer course once, stopping to chat to an elderly couple on the top of the course and admire the view, the man informing me that his grandfather and great uncle were both dux of the school where I teach. When he asked me if their  names, both Cameronians, were displayed on the dux board, and that his grandfather was born in 1906 I had to regretfully inform him that I was sure a new board had been started. Its a damn fine school anyway, he said, a damn fine school. When I asked him where he lived he referred to the big white house prominent beyond the loch, which he was obviously very proud of. When I cycled past it I did indeed see that it was a fairly stately pile and I must find out more about it . Had I unwittingly been conversing with the local aristocracy?

After this  I cycled back to Contin and set off towards Garve on the track which runs pretty close to the river Blackwater, finding it open and sunny with good views. I didn't go all the way to Garve but took the sign posted route to the right at Loch Garve which is marked Heights of Fodderty, though it actually comes out at the Heights of Keppoch. This involved a longish but fairly gentle ascent of about 400m across a fairly bleak stretch of country but eventually giving good views into the back of Ben Wyvis. There were some farly massive forestry vehicles coming past and a guy with a lorry and a flat tire near the top who I stopped to chat to. Once the sun dropped it was bitterly cold on the descent and surprisingly snowy as there was no snow on the way up. Eventually I rejoined the bonny wee  'Heights' road and returned to Contin.

Around Loch Affric

Putting up some photos from the ride around Loch Affric which I did a couple of weeks ago. Great ride. Easy track on one side of the loch with moderately technical return on the other side. I also cycled out to the Youth hostel which is closed, to May I think. It was cold and I was continuously breaking through ice into water, the splashed water freezing on my shins, but as you can see it was a stunning day. It was great to see  the remnants of the Caledonian forest as I have been reading Jim Crumley's book about it.

Sgurr na Lapaich

Bridge to cross at the end of the loch with Strawberry cottage behind

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 The youth hostel

View down the lochs on the return path

Looking towards Kintail from the youth hostel

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Wood-Ancient-Forest/dp/184158973X

Cycled into work twice this week so far on my fixed gear Pompino. Its very cold,-5 degrees today, but the roads are clear of ice mostly, so its been good. Aim to get more photos on route as its a very scenic route of about 16 miles, 32 in total there and return. Here's one going back over the Kessock bridge with Inverness and  I think Venus in the sky.