Loch Maree

“ As for Ballachulish, it is one of the most charming little places I've seen yet in Scotland, although coming here as we did from Loch Maree it would need to be beautiful indeed, not to be what you call in the theatre an 'anticlimax.' Loch Maree lies all secret and hidden among deer forests. Along the narrow, twisting road as you go, you hear the rushing sound of many rivers. Nobody had ever even dreamed of motor-cars when that road was made, so you have to travel slowly and manoeuvre whenever you meet anything if you don't want to be killed. ”

“ The coach drive to Gairloch occupies six hours in all, including a short stoppage to bait the horses at Kinlochewe, and during the whole time the eye is filled with pictures of grandeur or of delight. After the tedious descent to the water's edge has convinced you that the feeling of smallness is a mistake, you have time to observe the effect which such a mountain as Ben Slioch has in dwarfing all around it. Loch Maree is but six miles from the sea, with no great descent, so that the hill raises its mighty shoulders almost sheer from the sea level. ”

“ This takes one through a real Highland country, where at Auchnasheen goes off the coach route to Loch Maree, which some judge the finest scene in Scotland. Less smiling than Loch Lomond, it lies more wildly among naked pyramids of quartz, Ben Slioch the most conspicuous point of them, but this lake has the same beauty of wooded islets at the lower end, where a group of half-drowned hillocks “form a miniature archipelago, grey with lichened stone, and bosky with birch and hazel.” On one of these are the ruins of a chapel of the Virgin Mary, who was perhaps godmother to Loch Maree. ”

“ The geology of Loch Maree is unusually varied, interesting, and representative. It exhibits, in a limited area, the whole debated series of the succession of rocks in the North-West Highlands. This has been a fertile subject of controversy, surpassed only by the world-famous Glen Roy. It has engaged the attention and the pens of some of the most eminent British geologists, including Macculloch, Hugh Miller, Sedgwick, Sir Roderick Murchison, Professor Nicol of Aberdeen, Archibald Geikie, and a host of others not less able. ”

“ To the left of Beinn Aridh Charr are the spurs of Beinn a Chaisgean Mor, called Scuir a Laocainn and Scuir na Feart, with the Maighdean to the right. Reaching the point where the branch road leads down to Tollie pier, a magnificent view of Loch Maree presents itself to the eye. The whole length of the loch, and Glen Dochartie beyond it, are in sight. On any tolerably fine day the road up Glen Dochartie is plainly seen at a distance of not less than fifteen to sixteen miles, a proof of the wonderful clearness of the northern atmosphere. ”

“ Loch Maree’s start in life was an unfortunate one. On 5th November, 1873, she sailed from the Clyde for246 Melbourne under Captain MacCallum with a full cargo, 11 saloon and 30 second cabin passengers, and the following is an account of her maiden voyage, which was given me by one of her apprentices:—
On the tenth day out, we were bowling along sharp up on the starboard tack, near the Island of Palma in the Canary group, when a squall struck her flat aback with such violence, that in a few moments her tall masts with their clothing of well-cut canvas lay a hopeless tangle over the side. ”

“ The village is beautifully placed, near the head of the level strath which spreads south-eastward from the head of Loch Maree. It comes in for a good deal of rain, being the centre at which four glens meet, viz., Glen Cruaidh Choillie (often erroneously called Glen Logan) , Glen Dochartie, Glen Torridon, and the great glen of Loch Maree. The shooting-lodge is surrounded by a well-grown plantation; and other younger plantations are growing up near the village. The hotel is exceedingly comfortable, and visitors staying here have the privilege of fishing in the upper parts of Loch Maree. ”

“ Of walks and strolls there are many. Rambles on the west shore of Loch Ewe, or about the township of Londubh, or to Inveran farm and bridge, or to the splendid points of view of Loch Maree above Tollie, are all replete with interest. The old track continued from Tollie pier along the south-west side of Loch Maree is well worth following for a mile or more. Expeditions for angling purposes to any lochs which are open to those staying at Poolewe Inn furnish additional walks. There is a walk from Poolewe Inn to Craig Bhan which I particularly recommend. ”

“ These old ironworks belong to the ancient class treated of in Part I., chap. xvii. Loch Rosque is over three miles long, and is placed on our list of Gairloch lochs, inasmuch as its western end juts into the parish. Observe on the other side of the loch pieces of detached walls, erected to enable sheep to shelter from the cutting winds which often sweep through this glen. Most travellers get rather tired of Loch Rosque, yearning as they naturally do for the superior attractions of Loch Maree. A small burn near the west end of Loch Rosque is the boundary of Gairloch parish. ”

“ Hugh Miller, in "My Schools and Schoolmasters," mentions that, when he was voyaging down Loch Maree in 1823, the boatmen told his companion in Gaelic, "Yon other island (Eilean Suainne) is famous as the place in which the good people [fairies] meet every year to make submission to their queen. There is a little loch in the island, and another little island in the loch; and it is under a tree in that inner island that the queen sits and gathers kain [tribute] for the evil one." ”

“ Rudha Reidh is called Rowna Ra; the island of Longa is called Yl Lunga; the sea-loch of Gairloch is called Gher Loch; Loch Maree is called Loch Ew, which name is also given to the present Loch Ew, and the Garavaig river is called Alt Finnag. This last name seems to be for Allt Feannaige, or "the burn of the hoodie crow," a bird which still frequents the locality. ”

“ The statement made by some gillies that salmon are never taken in Loch Maree is a delusion; that they are not generally taken, I admit; but every angler on Loch Maree, at any time of the year, whether throwing the fly or trolling the minnow, has a chance of hooking a specimen of the monarch of fishes.
Sea-trout come next. In some years they are very abundant, in others comparatively scarce. This fish has different names in different parts of the kingdom. Sometimes it is called the white trout; sometimes the salmon trout; sometimes the sewin. ”

“ The path on the east side of Loch Maree forms an interesting expedition, or series of expeditions, for the pedestrian. Cross the bridge over the Bruachaig river, as if going to the Heights; turn to the left, and take the path past the head-keeper's house and the kennels. At a house to the right Duncan Mackenzie, the Kenlochewe bard, lives (Part II., chap, xxiii.) . A little further are the farm and burial-ground of Culinellan; some remains of a house outside the burial-ground are called "the chapel;" it may have occupied the site of an ancient church, but this is mere conjecture. ”

“ It is about two miles from Kenlochewe to the south-east corner of Loch Maree. Half a mile before this is reached is the small pond or swamp called Lochan Cul na Cathrach, into which the Fasagh ironworkers are said to have thrown their tools when the furnaces there were abandoned (Part I., chap. xx.) . The name means "the lakelet or tarn at the back of the fairy seat;" a large mound or hillock at this place is called Cathir Mhor, or "the big seat of the fairies;" evidently the "good folk" frequented this place. Some other mounds here are called Torran nan Eun, or "the mounds of the birds;" ”

“ A remarkable feature is the large number (more than 30) and considerable area of the islands. Excepting Loch Cròcach, a small lake in the Assynt district of Sutherlandshire, its insularity (i.e. the ratio of the total area of the islands to that of the water surface) is higher than that of any other lake in Great Britain, Loch Lomond coming next. Nearly all the islands lie north and east of Slattadale, the largest being Eilean Subhainn, or St Swithin’s Isle, which contains a small lake 750 ft. ”

“ Trades and employments in Gairloch, 132, 407. Tragedy of Isle Maree, 5, 7, 127. Trews, truis, or triubhais, 127, 128. Trias at Loch Gruinard, 288, 289, 337, 357, 358. Trossachs of Loch Maree, 316, 335. Trout, brown or yellow, 348, 362, 363, 364, 365, 369, 397, 401. Tulchan bishops, 64. Turf houses, 132, 328. Tuyere of a furnace, 91. Uamh a Mhail, 343. Uamh an Oir, 221, 328, 329. Uamh an Oir, on Loch Maree. See Cave of Gold. Uamh gu do roghiann, 349. Uamh Mhic 'ille Rhiabhaich, 27, 320. Uamh nam Freiceadain, 24, 36, 43, 45, 98, 328. Udrigil House, or Udrigil, 58, 103, 203, 283, 289, 337. ”

“ The scenery is everywhere of the most awful, the wildest, and most extensive. The weather is at its best, and every peak, and scaur, and wrinkle are visible to the naked eye. Below us to the left, winding under Ben Lochain, Ben Bheula, and Ben Cruach, is Loch Goil, flashing back the blue sky, and holding the sun-softened lines of the great hills in its bosom. To the north-west we can see the greatest of all those lochs that do so much to adorn, and draw tourists to, the west coast of Scotland, and which even from a commercial point of view is not without its value as our “great herring pond.” ”

“ Mary Avon is helped on deck, and ensconced in a snug little camp-chair. The days of our summer idleness have begun.
And as yet these are but familiar scenes that steal slowly by—the long green island of Lismore—Lios-mor, the Great Garden; the dark ruins of Duart, sombre as if the shadow of nameless tragedies rested on the crumbling walls; Loch Don, with its sea-bird-haunted shallows, and Loch Speliv leading up to the awful solitudes of Glen More; then, stretching far into the wreathing clouds, the long rampart of precipices, rugged and barren and lonely, that form the eastern wall of Mull. ”

“ The heaviness of the rain shortened our voyage, but we landed on one island planted with yew, and stocked with deer, and on another containing perhaps not more than half an acre, remarkable for the ruins of an old castle, on which the osprey builds her annual nest. Had Loch Lomond been in a happier climate, it would have been the boast of wealth and vanity to own one of the little spots which it incloses, and to have employed upon it all the arts of embellishment. But as it is, the islets, which court the gazer at a distance, disgust him at his approach, when he finds, instead of soft lawns ”

“ We approach cautiously and watch the trout—how alternately mouth and gills open and close, keeping up an incessant pumping—as they lie behind stones watching for luckless flies. Passing over to the other side as at once the quickest route, and that by which the best views are to be got, we are not very far up till we can see the hills that hem in Loch Long on all its sides, standing up weird-like, jagged and fissured, grim and gruesome, even in fine weather, lending sublime impressiveness to the scene. ”

“ After the dulness of Glasgow and the Vale of Leven comes that wakening up to very ecstasy among the islands of Loch Lomond,—that new world, magical, enchanting. And then that plunge into the heart of the Highlands, when they find themselves by the shores of Loch Katrine, alone with the native people there,—the smell of the peat-reek within, and the scent of the bog-myrtle without; those ‘gentle ardours’ that awake, as they move along Lochawe-side and look into the cove of Cruachan, or catch that Appin glen by Loch Linnhe, at the bright sunset hour, enlivened by the haymaking people ”

“ The climate is neither too mild nor too severe, but just right. The rainfall is neither too much nor too little, but just right. In short it is a perfect region,—perfect in its variety of scenery, from the rich woodlands of its lower ranges to the wild grandeur of its mountain recesses. Perfect is it also in its fine lochs, its picturesque waterfalls, its brattling burns, and its rolling rivers.
The waters from the Dhu Loch run into Loch Muick, above which lies the hut at Altnaghuissac, a favourite shiel, or mountain summer house of the royal family when living at Balmoral. ”

“ A trip from Athlone to Killaloe on a fast boat would, on a fine summer day, be one of the most enjoyable things in the way of an excursion by water that can be imagined. It is over thirty years since the writer experienced the pleasure of it, and the remembrance of its enjoyableness haunts him still. The shores of Loch Derg are much wilder than the shores of Loch Erne or Loch Ree. Very few houses, and nothing that could be called a town, can be seen through the whole twenty-five miles of the lake. ”

“ The Highlands have them of all sizes—and that surely is best. But here is one which, it has been truly said, is not only "incomparable in its beauty as in its dimensions, exceeding all others in variety as it does in extent and splendour, but unites in itself every style of scenery which is found in the other lakes of the Highlands." He who has studied, and understood, and felt all Loch Lomond, will be prepared at once to enjoy any other fine lake he looks on ”

“ One grove-like island, with a ruin that stood upon it overshadowed by the trees, was reflected on the water. This building, which, on that beautiful evening, seemed to be wrapped up in religious quiet, we were informed had been raised for defence by some Highland chieftain. All traces of strength, or war, or danger are passed away, and in the mood in which we were we could only look upon it as a place of retirement and peace. The lake is called Loch Dochart. ”