22nd May 2000

                              Dear All,

Do the words Scotland and sunshine ever go together, yes they can and they did last week! It was so fabulous, I thought I would connect brain to computer, and share, some say bore, you all with it.

The whole family, that’s husband Rod, two daughters Clare and Faye, boxer dog Hamish, and myself hurtled "up the road" from deepest Essex, intent on doing some light maintenance around the cottage, walking the dog and communing with the great outdoors. At the same time we would be all sweetness and light to each other, have the neighbours in for supper, and tick all the items on Rods famous "to do" lists. Most of these we somehow managed to achieve, Rods list being the ‘bible’ keeping all, in order.

Hamish

The sun shone stoically from the Saturday we arrived, as if to show us what it can really do when it tries. Our previous weeks renters (as you know Mor Carraig is self catering ) had all been very complimentary about the cottage We all make a dash to read the visitors book on arrival, the nice comments giving us all a little glow of pleasure and bonhomie towards our customers. Shoving things in drawers and cupboards, my girls always seem to bring three times as much stuff as Rod and I, we grabbed the dog, eager to explore after the journey and strolled up the lane to see the lambs, dozens of them gambolling in the warm sunshine. Loch Ness looks brilliant, blue and calm, the sail boats and holiday craft looking tiny from where we are situated, about a mile up the brae road from the loch side.

Hamish and his girl-friend Isla

Mòr Carraig means Big Rock in Gaelic, and the rock in question sits to the side of the croft. At roughly twenty feet high, it is perfectly climbable, giving the most wonderful views over the loch and snow capped mountains beyond. The view never looks the same two days running, the sky altering the landscape to different hues and shadows. We never cease to be captivated and humbled by our good fortune to own such a little piece of heaven, and can sit, lists allowing, for ages, just drinking it all in.

We make good progress with the "to do’s", cutting logs for the winter, mending a fence to stop the sheep enjoying our hospitality, and planning out the widening of a little burn running through our paddock.

Clare and Faye on their quad bike at Christmas

We take the quad bike, up the Corryfoyness road (go past our cottage and keep going) climbing higher, the ridge follows the loch, and our community forest trust has been laying in new paths and information boards to encourage us all to appreciate our wonderful land. The trust has also rebuilt a replica Bronze Age hut, complete with heather roof, and a boardwalk to take us out to a bird hide near our local loch Laide, pronounced Latch.

This has all been done by donations and volunteers, and is open for all to enjoy.

Over the years, Rod has been researching his family history. With MacDonald as a surname, and links to the title "Lord of the Isles", now belonging to Prince Charles, alas not to us, he has traced his forbears to the island of South Uist, in the Outer Hebrides, and to being Clanranald, a Sept of MacDonald. Clanranald also held extensive lands in Moidart and Ardnamurchan, and the odd ruined castle. Do you know, it seems all the MacDonald castles wherever we find them, Ormiclat in Uist, Armadale and Duntulm in Skye and Tioram in Moidart, are all ruins. Other clans seem to have whole ones, not us,maybe we are more careless or had more enemies, either way most are not much more than a pile of stones.

And so, on Tuesday we set off to find this latest old ruin, travelling down towards Fort William, we took a right towards Mallaig, and took our first stop at Glenfinnan. For those of you have never been there, what’s your excuse? A fabulous monument raised at the head of the loch where Bonnie Prince Charlie landed and gathered the clan chiefs to raise an army to march on the English. I chatted to some lovely ladies, as we basked in the sunshine, the girls and Hamish paddled in the loch, and Rod huffed and puffed his way to the top of the monument. As I had been up to the top before, I reasoned I could get out of going again!

We drove on, turning left towards Glenuig, the roads becoming much quieter; it felt more an adventure to find Castle Tioram (pictured below), pronounced Cheeram. Its not signposted, so after a great lunch, at the Kantarra tea-rooms, all home-made soups, bread and cakes, no I’m not on commission, but she has just started in business, so every little plug helps. We were pointed in the right direction, and drove on, a narrow lane brought us to a sharp bend (going round the bend some might say) there in front of you, the castle, suddenly appears, sitting on a mound surrounded by the sea. Reachable across a causeway at low tide, the mountains all around you, and the sea to the front. It doesn’t seem to matter that it’s a ruin, somehow it looks right like that. Silly words like wow and awesome don’t really sum it up. You have to go there.

Fortunately the tide was out so wandering through the sea of bluebells, we climbed to the edge of the walls. Not able to go any further, because under new ownership the castle is due to begin renovation works, we sat and just took in the view. It wasn’t hard to imagine the days when this castle reigned supreme over all it surveyed, commanding sea and mountains as it does. Reluctantly we took our leave, tide and time waiting for no man as it does, we didn’t want to camp out there over night! Gathering shells and pretty stones we ambled back across the beach, all of us enjoying the beauty of the day, the sea air filling our nostrils.

We carried on toward the ferry at Ardgour, that would take us back to Fort William, though I must confess to large bags of chips all round in Acharacle. Queuing for the ferry, the suns still strong at seven, how heavenly are these long light evenings. We all agreed today was one of those days you remember forever, scenery so breathtaking, that it just couldn’t be bettered, and weather that just made a magic of it all.

The "to dos" were gradually receiving their ticks, so the girls and I took ourselves shopping in Inverness. It is a great wee town, having a very good selection of all the normal high street shops, and good Scottish speciality shops such as Hector Russell  and the Gourmets Lair for select foods and delicacies. We had lunch in the Lemontree, try their toasted chicken tikka sandwiches, yum, and homemade cakes, yum yum, even taking a slice of coffee and walnut cake back for Rod.

That evening we had a barbecue, inviting my housekeeper and her family to join us. Husband Howard keeps sheep in our paddock sometimes, and he had just had his first lambs. Not two hours old they were unsteady on their feet, and kept falling over, but gradually they got the hang of it and soon found the milk bar.

Howard shearing a sheep

Back at our bar, a glass or three of chilled white wine went down a treat, as we happily blethered until the sun went down.

Showing willing with the paintbrush next day, I did my bit for the list whilst the girls and Hamish went down to the loch shore. We actually own about 50 feet of loch front and have the right to use two rods on the loch, three if you count Rod! Rosemarkie Bay is another great place to beachcomb, and Nairn has some proper bucket and spade beaches. Back at my chores I sprayed the driveway for weeds and watered my flowerpots. I just hope my forthcoming renters take pity on them too. That done I stretched out on the rock, the sun rewarding me for all my hard work. The gorse on the hills across the glen was a blaze of yellow, wild primroses and bluebells are everywhere, and the wild rhododendrons are just bursting into bloom. May is such a marvellous month up here, and as usual I don’t want to go home. Although we come up as often as we can, guests allowing and always for a fortnight at Christmas (snow and log fires a must) it’s never enough. We hope in a couple of years to be able to retire up here, and leave the M25 far behind. We are fortunate to own such a wonderful little haven and hope those of you who have visited enjoyed it too. Those who haven’t, you just don’t know what you are missing!

Thankyou for visiting our site

Best Wishes,

Teresa MacDonald