MOO MOO.

 Autumn was in the air as we gathered at Muir of Ord. There was a full complement of Dinosaurs for the first time in a while. Muir of Ord is where Agnes lives, but she still managed to be the last person to arrive. Having said that, we were all a bit earlier than the 11 o'clock appointed time.

Muir of Ord is actually a relatively new name for the settlement. It was previously called Tarradale and many of the buildings on the village are built from the characteristic red Tarradale Sandstone. 

Tarradale was very small and of little importance economically. The Rivers Beauly and Conon presented significant barriers to traffic between Inverness and the north until Thomas Telford's bridges, built in 1814 brought greater volumes of traffic to this part of the Highlands. By 1820, the flat land here became very important for cattle droving, providing huge areas to hold cattle markets and aggregate herds for further travel south. Originally, this happened just north of Beauly, but then moved to a little further north to Tarradale on an area of ground known as Muir of Ord. In 1862, the railway came to Tarradale, but the Inverness and Ross-shire Railway Company called their station Muir of Ord after the cattle market and Tarradale was soon forgotten as the name of the place. Muir of Ord simply means the moor of the rounded hill - the flat moor below the shoulder of the Black Isle.

So, here is Agnes arriving and parking in front of the old school, part of which is now used as a library. The school was replaced in 1969.

Lots of greetings exchanged as if we hadn't seen each other for years. Notably, Hugh kept his hand in his pocket! Once an accountant.....

We were soon off and walking through the local Community orchard. This is part of wider community initiatives aimed at bringing people together and building confidence and resilience in the village. Anyone can come here and pick fruit, herbs and vegetables for their own use.

There were artichokes available. This seems a curious vegetable to offer, but, then again, why not. The cabbages have a bit of growing to go before they will make a meal.

Lots of herbs on offer, but none that I needed for our dinner that night.

The bees liked it here as well, although they did seem a little sleepy. It was cool to be fair.

It wasn't all vegetables, although you can eat the flowers and leaves of Nasturtiums.

There was a memorial bench to a local teenager who died on a quad bike accident - a nice place to be remembered and to remember. 

There was even a Fairy door in one of the trees, although it seems a bit difficult to reach unless you believe that Fairies can fly. Of course, you do!

It looks almost as if some of the local dogs can fly as well!

Maureen and Agnes walking towards the cottage that Agnes lived in whilst her brand spanking new house was being built.

Like I said earlier - Autumn is on the way.

A buzzard was on the wing....

....and a wee dug was getting dug in.

We were heading out of the village.

Our route took us by the line of the old railway from Muir of Ord to Fortrose. You might think this was built to serve the Black Isle, but no! It was actually built to thwart the ambitions of a rival railway company.

You will recall (if you were paying attention) the old Inverness and Ross-shire railway Company. Well, they became the Highland Railway Company and they controlled all the traffic north of Inverness. Much to their surprise a move was made by the Great North of Scotland Railway Company to build a branch line from Muir of Ord to Fortrose in 1889. Their plans also included a ferry from Fortrose to Ardersier, which at that time was called Campbelltown. GNoSRC only ran services to Elgin and they proposed a branch from there to Campbelltown. If successful, the GNoSRC could have claimed rights to run trains from Muir of Ord to Inverness and then on to Campbelltown. This would lead to direct competition with the established HRC. Given they were serving a remote and sparsely populated area, profitability would have been wiped out. So, to thwart the ambitions of the GNoSRC, they proposed and then built their own line to Fortrose.

This line was never successful after opening in 1894. Three years later, two of the seven daily trains were removed and the line closed to passenger traffic in 1951 and then to goods traffic in 1960 and the track was lifted.

It makes for some pleasant walking, though.

Whilst the track might have been lifted, the bridges were still in place. Very nice they look as well, I might add.

The farmland here is reasonably good and there is history of farm steadings dotted across the landscape for centuries.

One of he ruined farms is still obvious from our route.

Loch Na Mhoid has a very fancy tiled nameplate. This used to be a croft, occupied by a MacLennan family for over 200 years. The croft has now been split up and some new houses built along with some allotments. I am not sure of the meaning of the place. Mhoid would normally relate to the National Mod, but that seems most unlikely here. It might be more to do with a hanging lum, which was a wall mounted hanging chimney, common in croft-houses. There is no loch shown on the OS map, although there is an area of boggy ground nearby.

Another abandoned farmstead.

Another bridge, this time over the route of a walk we did in January 2014!

There was a man and his wee dug out walking there today and we had seen him earlier in the day. As it happened, we saw him a bit later on the woods!

We were in some open country and this fine dyke and Oak tree caught my eye.

There were views back to the Beauly Firth some distance away.

There were also some views across to Agnes's new house - the white gable in the middle of the picture. There was no invitation to tea and cakes, I noticed.

Unfortunately, it got a bit damp. Not heavy rain, but not welcome either.

We were in commercial woodland by now - mainly Scot's Pine, in Spittal Wood.

It is difficult to see, but Pam had a mouse in her socks. I cannot think of any other explanation of the way her feet squeaked otherwise.

Have you ever seen the film Don't Look Now. If you have you won't think of toothpaste in quite the same way again. Nor will you think little girls with red hooded jackets are all as nice as little Red Riding Hood.

In fact, this was actually Liz sitting down to lunch.

There was a special lunch log that almost had room for us all to sit down on.

Lunch didn't take long and then we were on our way through the woods looking out for a little red jacketed maniac just in case.

Back on the main line again.

The bridge we had walked on top of earlier in the trail.

A sheep that was not going to give me the benefit of a look in the eye.

Then it gave in and turned to face the camera. The lure of fame can just be irresistible even for sheep.

Then it was back through the shady trees to Muir of Ord and into the cars to get to the Priory Hotel in Beauly for tea and buns.

I forgot to take any photos over tea as I was too busy trying to ensure that I got a piece of Citrus Cake that everyone else seemed to want as well. Luckily, they had more than one and everyone was happy. Everyone enjoyed themselves and it was good to be back en-masse for the first time in a while.

Thank you to Susan & Robin for organising and who weren't on the walk in January 2014, but here are those who were.