Trip to Scotland 1983: Four and half months in the Highlands and Islands

[DCampbell16B]

34p
31p
41p phone calls [re:travel]

As of October 1 £148 to fly British [standby] £136 after October.
Icelandair via Iceland, fare from Iceland, Tues, Sat
Bedsits Goathill Road ~£25 Ullapool couple of day? Inverness, [get] cash, go North to? Leave luggage?[I was wondering where to go next]
Write
Inverary [the hostel was closing for the season in mid-October, and I had planned to go back for the last few days]

Spent the day wandering around Stornoway.
Out to Point and back. Library. Carried stuff down to Pier. Wise decision. Sat around in mist and cold til Suilven came in.

Pic Stornoway harbor at night. [Another lost photo]

[DCampbell16B]

76p
£4.75 [berth?]
£6.55 ferry
£2.50 bus
81p hamburger
£2.60 hostel
14p candy
16p
96p food
£5.30 books

Got berth on Suilven for night. Not as cheap as hostel and cheaper than bed and breakfast. Nothing to see today, all mist. Gentle but noticeable roll to the ship. Should go to Inverness, but would like to stay in Ullapool. Neat to sleep on board. Stornoway men, Lewis. Easy to see why weather influences life so [unclear]. Don't have pictures of Steinacleit, Callanish.

Picture: South Loch Broom, Priest Island to Port
Picture: Russian, East German fishing fleet in Loch Broom [There were 20-30 large fishing vessels anchored, with a Royal Navy vessel riding herd on them. They fished the waters off the coast]

Double-decker bus to Inverness. Very fancy, TV, toilet downstairs, etc. Corrieshalloch sedimentary, very much like home, trees lower slopes Sgurr Marbhig Ben Wyvis Rug? Falls [?] like Catskills [spelling unclear, bus must have gone through a very bumpy patch, but it did remind me of the Catskill Mountains where two aunts and an uncle lived].

[Here I have an address of someone I met on the bus]

Finished reading "Dark Twin" in library. [Again, there were times when all these things were around me to explore, and I had to sit and read a book. I spent a number of hours in the library while I was in and out of Inverness] Inverness last luggage and took pack to hostel, emptied it, went back and stripped suitcase into pack and carried [both] back. Leaving several things in hostel for about 3 weeks. Check will clear in bank Inverness (Royal) in about three weeks, so will come back. [My folks had sent me a check. Cashing it was an issue!] Also An Comunn Gaidhealach [had or met?] Lewis lady (Tolsta).

Qualitative Observations: after 6 weeks in the Western Isles, dumping self in Inverness was quite a shock. Highlands beautiful, awesome, Islands flat. Nice people though.

Evening. Repacked. Folk music in pub. Piper w/ lowland [small] pipes.

[DCampbell16B]

40p postcards
70 lunch
53½p supper
£3.50 bus
£2.30 hostel
£1.46½ letters
[Then a list of people to write to, including home, an aunt, and Dr. Willem Nicholiasen]
Got cards to write people. Spent day in Inverness lib [library] (Wellies from the Queen) [which must have been a book I read]. Nice bus to Bonar Bridge from Inverness. Walked ½ mile, lift from girl going there (Australian?). Big place, impressive views [the Carbisdale Youth Hostel]. Try to get pictures tomorrow. Bus at noonish from Bonar Bridge. Buy sugar, meat paste, jam, biscuits? Going to Achmelvich by Lochinver, then Achaninver somehow. Bus trip today over Black Island (as yesterday) then through Easter Ross. Mountains absolutely barren, some trees, mostly Heather, some in bloom, some past. Weather balmy. Sun broke through today. Too bad spent the day indoors. Always happens. Glad to see the back of Inverness.

[First, apologies about the Inverness comment! I came to really enjoy the town. But I had just spent weeks in the Islands and the city was a bit jarring. Hence spending the day in the library.
This seems a bit disjointed. I think I was writing about getting to the next hostel .
This list of food is pretty much all I ate. I also got bread, BHT milk for tea, and 1 kg bags of muesli.]

[Jock Scot]

------------------
--------------Mountains absolutely barren, some trees, mostly Heather, some in bloom, some past. --------

[/I]]

Those "----barren mountains-------" have so much more to see and offer than "some trees" and "mostly heather" it is is those "barren mountains" that the Highlander dreams about and, in their way, wish to keep it as it is in spite of the umpteen millions of trees that have been planted already over the decades's since WW1 and the millions more that are due to be planted.

Yes, trees have their place but not the miles and miles of commercial forestry that have matured and been replanted after they have been harvested and now those "barren mountains" cannot be seen by anyone or the flora and fauna that abide there. Of course , once the miles of, oh so boring "tree belt" is battled through, what remains of the "barren hills" is still there , but that magnificent view from the road is lost to all for at least a couple of generations, at best. Enough is enough.

By the way, I think you mean the "Black Isle" not "the Black Island."

[DCampbell16B]

Those "----barren mountains-------" have so much more to see and offer than "some trees" and "mostly heather"

By the way, I think you mean the "Black Isle" not "the Black Island."

First, yes I did mean the Black Isle. Absolutely.

Second, the barren note was by no means pejorative! The mountains were beautiful. And I had not seen heather like that up to that point, even out in Lewis, so I noted it. I only mentioned the few trees because compared to where I grew up and live it is forest from north of here in New York down to Georgia. I remember thinking when the postbus came from Oban to Inverary that we went down steep roads surrounded by trees, and it really felt like home. Quite different from all the places I had visited up to that point.

[Jock Scot]

First, yes I did mean the Black Isle. Absolutely.

Second, the barren note was by no means pejorative! The mountains were beautiful. And I had not seen heather like that up to that point, even out in Lewis, so I noted it. I only mentioned the few trees because compared to where I grew up and live it is forest from north of here in New York down to Georgia. I remember thinking when the postbus came from Oban to Inverary that we went down steep roads surrounded by trees, and it really felt like home. Quite different from all the places I had visited up to that point.

The trees are even worse now, much worse, when compared with when you were here!

[Jock Scot]

To be fair, the thousands, if not millions of acres, of softwood timber mono-culture is planted and re-planted, on the more suitable lower ground for better growth from a commercial point of view and also, particularly from a harvesting and heavy transport access point of view and it is these plantations that block the broad view of the hills(mountains).

There are now efforts in smaller areas(from 10's of acres to hundreds or more acres) of not so accessible ground, that are being planted with non commercial hardwoods such as birch, rowan, willows, juniper and some oak and ash on suitable ground with the addition of some Scots pine where suitable and at huge cost of deer removal and deer fencing. Its probably not a bad idea, but it is a contentious issue in some areas, particularly with the locals. Nevertheless compromise is made between the waring parties of the sporting interests, the conservation crowd, and the walkers and sight seekers, but not always!

[DCampbell16B]

To be a little more clear, on the trip from Oban it was coming down hill through the hardwood forest that felt so familiar. I don't know if that area was a replanting.

[DCampbell16B]

And a memory of Carbisdale Castle. It was then a Scottish Youth Hostel. It was quite impressive inside. But all I really remember is what seemed to be an overwhelming amount of young people flying around the place. I felt quite out of it.

[Jock Scot]

To be a little more clear, on the trip from Oban it was coming down hill through the hardwood forest that felt so familiar. I don't know if that area was a replanting.

OH yes Scotland has magnificent stands of hardwoods, where conditions allow, but the cover is not so dense and of coarse in the Autumn, winter and early spring one can see through the branches to the other side. Sadly two world wars caused many of those sorts of wonderful trees to be cut down for the war effort, but very wisely many estates replanted the stands of hardwoods once hostilities were over and these days nature has healed its wounds. Interestingly, if you get a chance to walk through those woods today the old tree stumps are still there and often, in fairly good condition. My word, what a size those trees must have been! How those massive tree trunks were moved to the saw mills with very basic equipment makes the mind boggle.