THE MOVEABLE RECYCLED WALK

 A later than normal walk this April. 

That was because of Easter, which is, of course, a moveable feast. That is, it is a Christian feast day that does not occur on the same date every year. So, Jesus was born on the same day every year, but he didn't come back to life after crucifixion on the same day every year! This is a bit odd, but not as odd as the reason that Easter is on different dates each year. The story starts with the disciples not actually recording the date that Jesus came back to life. Now that seems to be a bit of an oversight for something so miraculous. Then the Eastern and Western Christians couldn't agree on which calendar to use - Gregorian or Julian. The Julian one was invented by Julius Caesar and was based on the time for the sun to go round the earth, which, of course, it doesn't. This caused all sorts of problems and Pope Gregory started up the other calendar in 1582. This immediately added new days into the year, which caused all sorts of issues. The crucifixion was apparently some time after the feast of Passover, which is related to the phases of the moon. The new calendar arrangements meant that sometimes Easter fell before Passover, which just confused people, who believed that the bible was literal. So the two branches of the church agreed on a lunar arrangement, but not the same one, so Easter moves with the moon and moves differently depending on whether you are an Eastern or a Western Christian.

Anyway, we postponed our walk to allow everybody to roll their eggs and gorge themselves on chocolate. That was fine until we stumbled on the fact that the walk was going to coincide temporally and physically with Etape Loch Ness. Parking and things like that would have been chaotic, so Hugh and Pam had to reorganise the walk and we had a moveable recycled walk!

It may appear a little odd, but we were meeting in a retail car park, but that wasn't far from the Caledonian Canal.

It wasn't long until we were on the canal bank.

We quickly passed by the open air swimming pool without being tempted into a dip.

Just above the swimming pool, we came across this slightly odd looking craft. This is the CWind Alliance. Not exactly a catchy name, but a pretty cool boat, to be honest. 

The CWind Alliance is an MPC 19 resin infused composite vessel. Wow!, I here you say. I think that just refers to how it is built. It is a flexible boat used for a wide variety of tasks in off-shore windfarms. What makes it so flexible is the fact that it has a moveable wheelhouse and a modular 3 section pod system, but you knew that, I'm sure.

One of the tasks it can carry out is survey work and the great thing is that it has a moonpool attachment to make that easier. I'm sure you all know that a moonpool is just a hole in the bottom of the boat that lets underwater survey craft  attach to the boat and lets divers transfer safely from, say, a submarine to the boat.

And, you thought it was just a wee boat going through the canal. You'll be pleased to know we saw the boat later in the day, so I can tell you a bit more about it! Bet you can't wait.

A lot of allotments.

Rather more pretty than the boat were the bluebells on the canal banks. In Gaelic, blue bells are called Brog na Cuthaige - The Cuckoo's shoe!

It wasn't just the bluebells that were in bloom. There were some fine cherries around the Tomnahurich cemetery. Despite the cherries, the name means the hill of the yew trees.

Today's sweet of choice from Maureen was twin Jelly Babies. Who knew such a thing existed, but they were at least twice as good as the singular ones, and, yes, I still bit their heads off first.



This Grey Heron was seemingly unafraid of these Dinosaurs - presumably, it knew that a sprint to try and catch it was most unlikely to happen and even less likely to be successful!

It did fly off eventually!

We stopped for a little break at the Tomnahurich Swing bridge, where the old men had a seat in the sunshine and set the world to rights.

The ladies, on the other hand, spoke to some of the cyclists who had managed to get all the way round Loch Ness! Well done to them, whoever they might be.

The swing bridge opened up to allow, yes you've guessed it, the CWind Alliance go through. Now as I type this 6 days later, the boat is moored in Barrow and Furnace in Cumbria. I'm sure you don't need to know any more than that.

We were coming back on the other side of the canal, some of which was edged by some really nice cherries.

We also passed the very useful staff parking bays. Either they all walk to work, or there is a bit of a breakdown in employee relations.

Meanwhile Susan and Sharon were magically transported to the shores of Loch Ness overlooking Urquhart Castle.

Not exactly a bridge photo and, some might argue, this lot should be locked up.

Dave asked me about this building and, at the time, I thought I remembered that it was once a pub, but I would check. It was actually two adjoined lock-keeper's houses, built in the middle to late19th Century. They were not built at the time of construction of the canal, but some 50 years later. The houses were converted into the Caley Inn and it was used as a pub for decades until it closed some time in the early 1990s. It was very popular with Inverness Caley fans when the team played at Telford Street close by. The amalgamation of Caley and Thistle in 1994 and their subsequent move to the new stadium in the Longman will not have helped the pub remain profitable.

By now it was about lunchtime. Normally we would sit in the open and eat our sandwiches, but Hugh and Pam had arranged for us to go to The Ledge and have lunch there. So, we did. Very good it was too, although Susan and Robin do seem a bit at odds over the soup.

This was a walk of two halves. Sue and Hugh left us, and we carried on the canal path out to the sea lock at Clachnaharry - The watchman's stone is the Gaelic meaning. We passed this nice blue fishing boat on the way.

We were keeping a bit of a weather eye out, even though we didn't have a stone to lean against. The clouds were gathering on the horizon.

Looking back the way, you get a fine view of the Kessock Bridge. The bridge was once the only multi-cable stayed bridge in the country and the longest one in Europe at a little over a kilometre long. The need for continued sea access to Inverness and the canal means that there is up to 29 metres clearance from the sea to the road. The main pylons holding the cable stays are 40 metres high. It is an amazing piece of engineering that we often take for granted.

Despite the clouds, we made it out to the far end of the canal.

You get great views from here out to the west.

There are some great little details, like these depth markers carved into the stone wall of the canal, if you know where to look.

The works lock.....

.....and the works clock. It permanently tells the workers that it is nearly knocking off time.

Just towards the end of the second walk, there is a Lucky Ducky bench commemorating the late Keena Mackenzie, who suggests that we all "Smell the sea and feel the sky ley your soul and spirit fly into the mystic". Sounds like a good sentiment to me, if only I could find out what ley means in this context!

That sentiment seems like a fitting end to our walk, which we all greatly enjoyed. Many thanks to Hugh and Pam for all their organisation and for ensuring it did not rain.

OCH, THE WORLD OR MOND

 It was our turn to organise a walk this month. After a fairly chaotic couple of attempts, we decided to revisit Ormond Hill near Avoch. We had been here as a group before, but there are no rules to say you can't come back and revisit old jaunts.

We foregathered next to the foreshore in Avoch. It was a little cold in the force four breeze, but we were not to be forestalled and we would soon be setting forth.

Actually, it was more like a force 2 Light Breeze, but I was enjoying setting forth as many words with a four sound as I could.

The definition of Force 2 on the Beaufort Scale is when there are short wavelets with a glassy appearance. A bit like the photo below.

We had brought two of our grandsons with us and like all little boys, the lure of the sea was too great to resist. What they didn't know was that just out to sea in the direction of the salmon cages, lies the wreck of the fishing boat, Fortitude (another four sound!). She was lost along with 8 lives in December 1796.

However, we were going inland to start with, climbing up the hill away from the sea and towards farmland.

We were heading to Ormond Hill, marked by the two Scots Pine on the skyline.

To get there we had to pass along the drive to Castleton. This is a farm, but it was once a farming township comprising a number of buildings. The clue is in the name - it was the farm town of the castle.

A bit more climbing up to the castle. As you would expect, altitude leads to some fine views over Avoch and out to to sea. There were also three errant sheep in the foreground - another one would have given me the opportunity to write four in the foreground.

This is also very close to where a Medieval silver seal with a cross shaped handle was found by metal detectorists in 1998. It has a design on the base, of three keys encircled with an indecipherable inscription.

Just as we were about to go up the zig zag path to the castle, we met John Watt coming down. John is known to most of us, but the chances of meeting him on a walk like this must be pretty remote. After a brief chat, we parted ways and we went up to the castle site.

There is nothing really left of the castle itself, although the foundations are visible as turf covered linear features on the ground. The castle was said to have been one of many Royal Castles built by William the Lion. Ormond is originally thought to date to 1197 and the Royal Castle of William was only a few years later. It was destroyed by Cromwell in 1650. It was a very large castle, covering well over 8000 square metres. 

I'm not sure that Robbie and Liam were quite so enthralled with the historical importance of the site. Indeed, Robbie was so hungry, he started eating his lunch!

The castle is traditionally associated with the Earl of Moray, Andrew de Moray, who mustered his men here at the beginning of the Scottish Wars of Independence. De Moray and William Wallace raised armies to fight against the English king Edward I. He had previously installed John Balliol as a vassal king of Scotland, but he abdicated in 1296 as he had no support among the noble houses of Scotland.

De Moray and Wallace defeated the English army at Stirling Bridge, but De Moray was wounded there and died shortly after.

Ormond Castle, therefor, has huge significance in the history of Scotland and the struggle for Independence. It is for this reason that Independence campaigners frequently commemorate De Moray's role to this day. 

You can see from the views over the sea approaches to Inverness, just why the castle was so important.

Having been marched up the hill, it was time to march down the hill to carry on our way. The boys were magnetically drawn to an old landslip, which Dave convinced them was a neolithic flint mine. They spent a fair amount of time cracking stones together in the hope of creating a spark.

It is the time of year for frog spawn and there certainly was some in the track-side puddles and pools.

We were now getting close to Munlochy Bay and there were some great views to sea, which Liam ignored as he tried to get another spark from his flint.

The moody sky just added to the atmosphere.

The path took us downward, where Liam came across something we have never encountered in all the many walks we have done.

Yes, it was a number two that looked like a number 2!

Now, you may not want to know this, but the colour and apparent softness of this poo indicates that the badger has been eating a lot of worms! You could smell the poo as they are supposed to be sweet and musky. Nobody did!

We were heading downhill to the shore and this entailed a bit of 7 bar gymnastics, which Robbie and Liam managed with ease.

Jimmy was less elegant!

We followed the shore around and the land looked pretty reasonable. There is significant, but barely visible archaeological evidence for a prolonged occupation and cultivation of this area along with a lot of marine activity in the shape of old wooden jetties and the like. There appear to be a further 3 shipwrecks lying offshore in the bay. Only one, the lugger, Powerful is identified. It was registered in Banff and caught fire and sank in 1921.

Much more interesting to the boys was a plastic box full of very brown and smelly water. Kicking the tub made the water shiver and shake. Happily, most of the water remained in the box and not all over the boys' clothes.

We did notice the remains of one building - probably a house. This was recorded as roofed on the 1881 Ordnance Survey map, suggesting that it may have been occupied at that time. It certainly isn't now. 

The walk directions suggested that there was a Clootie Well at the end of the field. There was even a tree with the word WELL painted on it. However, we could not find it.

It is there, but apparently difficult to find as it is surrounded by stone, some of which is dressed. This would indicate it had some importance as dressed stone is worked and shaped rather than just rough as if straight from the quarry. The stones are falling over and obscuring the well as are the roots of a large tree. Nonetheless, the well (Tobar Chragag - meaning Well of the little rock) is apparently still used. It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and people would tie rags to the surrounding trees, especially on the first Sunday of summer. Once the rags had rotted away, whatever ailment afflicted the supplicant would miraculously be cured. Here is a picture taken, I think, in 1966. An archaeological visit in 2014 noted signs of use at that time.

Having failed to find the well, we also failed to find the gate that would allegedly allowed us to pass through the fence at the top of the hill with ease. As the barbed wire fence was at the top of the slope, climbing over was a tad on the difficult side.

We made it in the end and decided this was a good place for a spot of lunch.

Seating was a little precarious on the bank, comfortable for Liam against the tree and optional for Robbie, who had eaten most of his lunch at the castle, anyway!

Robbie was still fascinated with the possibility of making fire with flint, so he had collected a pile of dry wood in the hope of starting a bonfire on the track!

Liam, meanwhile, took a leisurely lunch.

I hope nobody had a beef sandwich for lunch, as we soon ran into some cows once we got back on the road. One of them was actually a bull. The boys did stay behind when we carried on and once they got up they were happy to regale us with tales of of farting and lengthy urination. What is it about wee boys and bodily functions?

Eventually, we reached a bit more civilisation and we came across a house and garden where the owner clearly liked a tractor or two.

You might say the owner had a bee in his bonnet. We, however, had a bee in the blackthorn blossom. In this case a Red-tailed Bumblebee Bombus lapidarius. This is a female bee - the males have a yellow ruff around their necks. These bumblebees are among the most common of bumblebees, although this one was about a bit earlier than is usual for the time of year. Being a bumblebee, they carry a sting!

Our bumblebee is feasting on the pollen and nectar of a blackthorn bush. Blackthorn is one of the earliest flowering bushes and is very important for a range of foraging insects early in the year. The fruit is, of course, the sloe and this is used to make sloe gin, or less commonly to make sloe port. The latter is not made form port at all, but wine and brandy, which is basically what port is made from. Sloe juice was used to adulterate genuine port. It made the port a bit rougher, but it was a cheaper additive allowing for greater profit!

By now we were back on the very quiet back road into Avoch.

This road took us past a surprising thing - an airstrip. Who knew? Certainly not me. It is a private grass airstrip with a runway length of 600 metres. It is listed as Bennetsfield airstrip on the UK airports and airfields website - yes there is such a thing! They list over 7000 such sites. This one has apparently operated on a private basis at least since the early 21st century.

The sign is quite clear that rutting on the airstrip is to be discouraged.

From the airstrip, it was all downhill to the cars and then on to Munro's for tea and buns. This was a highlight for Liam and Robbie! I think!

I think everyone enjoyed our day out. It was nice to venture forth in March and not get soaked to the skin. Plenty of history and interest about, so we all had a good day.