UK 3The Far North East
Tuesday, 11 September 2018 5:58 pm
or was it that of a passing boat that just missed the picture frame ??
We visited the Loch Ness monster Exhibition and recounted the 1,000 sightings and all the scientific evidence.
Doubtful but forever open minded !
Of more recent times is the Culloden Viaduct. Built in 1898 it is part of the Inverness to Aviemore Direct railway. The 29 spam viaduct crosses the River Nairn and at 550m in length is the longest in Scotland. Try building that today !
Camp E11: Tarbat Ness lighthouse Camp
Cost: Nil
Altitude: 121 metres
Today : 214 Kms.
UK Total : 2042 Kms
Tuesday 11th September 2018:
The Picts have been busy..
This stone was quarried around 780AD from the local cliffs, dragged here by ropes and timber rollers to its prominent position overlooking the bay.
The pattern would have been marked out and carved with hammer and chisel, then erected and possibly painted.
The seaward side bears a Christian Cross and the inland side local lore.
The Picts we have learnt were not invaders but descendants of the Celts who have been here for over a 1,000 or more years.
They were farmers, fishermen and hunters
This is Carn Liath, an Iron Age Broch or living compound from the Celt era.
Jump a century or two and this stately home or Dunrobin Castle was built around 1427.
Owned since then by the Earls or Dutches's of Sutherland it’s impressive as it is opulent.
The Earl’s library.
Note the dead animals on the floor. Lions and Tigers.
189 rooms filled with English, French and Italian antiques.
Anyone for dinner.
No thongs allowed !
Just another view !
Camp E12: Just off the Main road Camp
Cost: Nil
Altitude: 157 metres
Today : 105 Kms.
UK Total : 2280 Kms
Wednesday 12th September 2018:
In the distance the remains of the town of Badbae ( pronounced Badbay) a former cliff top ‘Clearance’ village.
In the 18 and 19th centuries families were evicted from their homes in the fertile valleys by the landlords because they realised the landlords could make more money from big sheep farms than collecting rent from small hearers.
Remember the big house above ? He was one of the landlords !
The Badbae farmers had a tough life, the sheep, chicken and even children were tied to rocks so the wind would not blow them off the 60m cliff. They hacked out plots to grow potatoes, rear sheep and fish the rich herring and salmon grounds. The last resident left here in 1911.
Another rich landlords castle..
The once very busy herring fishing port of Lybster, now idle.
This is the once busy herring fishing port of Whaligo.
The 365 steps down to the harbour were built in 1814 and cost £8.
Here 14 herring boats operated with the men doing the catching and the women the cleaning, gutting, and packing with salt, then carrying the catch up the steps and then the 8 miles to Wick for sale !
The herring industry died completely after WWII when the market tastes changed from salted herring.
The barrels in the foreground are full of salted herring !
Today the North Sea is famous for its oil and gas reserves.
..and wind farms
Now step back 5,000 years to the oldest buildings in Scotland.
These Neolithic chambers are burial chambers, built during the stone age.
We crawled inside through a very tight and low passage ( 600mm high) to reveal a cleverly engineered dome in the centre of the structure.
Here we are at the most North east part of the UK mainland.
This evening we head over to the Orkney islands