Wellies - Reborn

In the last post I had a photo of a unique set of planters I came across on Great Bernera.

This whimsical re-use of old wellies reminded me of another amusing, and very imaginative, recycling of boots I came across during a visit to Eigg in 2016. It was the 'Welly Bridge' that leads to the Singing Sands, and I was looking forward to showing it to the guests on my guide-trip last May (2017).

Singing Sands Welly Bridge in 2016

But when we reached the Singing Sands I was disappointed to find that the wellies had been removed. However, once over the bridge that disappointment was soon forgotten as we scuffed our boots across the sands to make them sing. Here is how Hugh Miller described his visit to the sands in 1844:

I walked over it, striking it obliquely at each step, and with every blow the shrill note was repeated. My companions joined me; and we performed a concert, in which, if we could boast of but little variety in the tones produced, we might at least challenge all Europe for an instrument of the kind which produced them.

I hope the wellies return someday to adorn the entrance to the sands. They made what was a utilitarian stile a memorable gateway to this iconic Hebridean beach.

She was More Than Merely Good Looking

One of the best week-long island visits I've made was to Eigg. My wife and I took a cottage in Cleadale, which is an excellent base for making long walks around the island. One of those walks was to Sgorr Sgaileach, at the northern tip of the island, and then down the east coast to Kildonan. 

Sgorr Sgaileach

From Sgorr Sgaileach I headed south down the coast. It was beautiful, but tiring terrain to cross; a series of ups and downs across slanting slopes. 

The east coast

A mile down the coast I came to the ruins of two stone houses; a little settlement known as the midway-shieling of Struidh (NM 496 889). In his book The Cruise of the Betsey (1869), Hugh Miller describes a walk down this coastline. And it was at Struidh that he had an encounter: 

"An island girl of eighteen, more than merely good looking, though much embrowned by the sun had come to the door to see who the unwonted visitors might be."

Unlike today, it seems tans were not appreciated back then. After enjoying a bowl of mingled milk and cream, Miller ends his description of the encounter with: "We bade farewell to the lonely shieling and the hospitable island girl."

Unfortunately there was not a 'more than merely good looking' island lass there to greet me, only a few shaggy sheep. But the surroundings made up for the missing hospitality (almost). Six hundred feet above the cottages the thin waterfall of the Allt na h-Airde Mheadhonaich misted down from the cliff-top. The resulting stream then flowed through the settlement: Struidh's one-time residents had fresh water at their doorsteps.

The Allt na h-Airde Mheadhonaich waterfall

The stream flowing through Struidh

As I walked on down the coast the land started to narrow; the cliff closing in on the right, the sea on the left. Hoping that the path shown on the map, that led up to Kildonan, was still there, I carried on. If not I'd have to backtrack four miles.

The shelf starts to narrow

And narrows even more

Fortunately the path to the top was still there, and an easy climb led to a pass called Bealach Clith.

The path through Bealach Clith

At this point I'd walked six miles; and the way back to the cottage in Cleadale involved another five miles of road walking. I was hoping to hitch a ride. But Eigg is such a quiet place that not a single car passed by, and so I had a peaceful and scenic walk back to Cleadale.

If you are looking for an amazing place to spend a week, you'd be hard pressed to find somewhere better than Eigg. And you'd also be hard pressed to find a better place to stay than the cottage we took for a week (Top House).

Top House

Hoy - The Dwarfie Stone

I made a seven hour hike on Hoy last week. One highlight of the walk was crawling into the Dwarfie Stone. It is a unique tomb, consisting of two chambers carved out of a large, flat sandstone boulder. It is thought to have been made around 3000 BC, and I wanted to see the stone because of the writings of two authors: Sir Walter Scott, and the geologist Hugh Miller. 

In his novel The Pirate, Scott made use of the legend that the stone was once home to 'Trolld, a dwarf famous in the Northern sagas.' In chapter 19 there is an encounter inside the stone between Norna of the Fitful Head, and the dwarf Trolld. Norna gets the best of the encounter, and Trolld vanishes 'in a thick and sulfureous vapour'.

The Dwarfie Stone

Hugh Miller, in his book The Cruise of the Betsy, describes how he visited the stone and crawled inside to shelter from the rain. There are two small chambers in the stone. One is a simple round space, the second is a rectangular cell separated from the first by a low ledge. This cell looks like a miniature bedroom, as it has a pillow carved in the stone at one end. There are several names carved in the pillow, which Miller mentions seeing during his visit. And while waiting for the rain to pass Miller decided to carve his own name in it:

'The rain still pattered heavily overhead; and with my geological chisel and hammer I did, to beguile the time, what I very rarely do, added my name to the others, in characters which...will be distinctly legible two centuries hence.'

Miller did carve his name deep, and I found it low on the face of the pillow. 168 years have passed since he carved it, and the name was distinctly legible:  'H. Miller  1846'. Here is a photo of the bed-chamber with its pillow-stone. 

The bedroom - stone pillow at the back

Here's a close up of the pillow (the black line points to Miller's name). The last photo is a highly contrasted black & white which shows his name a little better (but not much).  I resisted the urge to add my own name - I'd forgotten my chisel, anyway.

The pillow - the pointer shows where Miller carved his name: 'H. Miller  1846'