SITTING ON MOY BENCH

A small, but very select group for our walk this October.

Fairly simple instructions for participants - park in the layby opposite the BRIGHTLY painted bench in Moy.

Not the BROWN bench!

The BRIGHTLY painted bench.

In fact, it could hardly be more colourful.

Notwithstanding the brightness of the colourful bench, Hugh, Pam and Agnes were parked at the dull, nondescript, brown bench.

Eventually, we brought them to the right bench!

Sharon, Liz and Maureen discuss how the most common form of colour blindness is red/green blindness and it affects 8% of men and only 0.5% of women. Need I say more than the fact that Hugh was driving the car? Just as well Jimmy wasn't there as well.

Once we were ready, we crossed the road to look at the colourful bench. For reasons best known to herself, Agnes thought she could imitate an otter! At least, I think she thought she was an otter. Frankly, she otter know better. Otters don't wear gloves.

Happily, there were no squirrel impressions!

We were soon off the roadside and into the woods.

It looked like the woods would soon be woodless.

If the woods disappeared, it might look a bit like the nearby moorland.

There were ducks on the water, but they were dismissed as merely mallards!

Autumn colours were increasingly in evidence.

There were no signs of the foxhounds mentioned on the sign, nor was it clear whether there were more or less than 8. Methinks they write the date on the sign to let you know if the foxhounds are actually armed or not.

We did see one hound, though. It was a caring dog and we were going at a leisurely enough pace for the hound and the wheelchair to overtake us!

To be fair, we were going uphill, which meant we had a good view over Loch Moy. The Gaelic would be Loch a' Mhoigh - the loch of the plain.

Sweetie time!

Somebody obviously took more than they were supposed to have done - and it wasn't me!

Having said that, the little Aero bubbles were very moreish.

Down the hill we went towards the loch.

Shortly, we came to the Coffin Well.

Historic Records describe the well as being coffin shaped, but this wasn't apparent to us. It was, however, next to the track which was said to be a coffin way, along which coffins were carried. The track was also an important north-south route, before the military road was built.

There was a glass jar, giving some details of the well's alleged properties, not all of which were beneficial to health!

Agnes had a look at the tin cup hanging from the birch tree, but declined a drink. That rarely happens, and if gin had been on offer, the answer might have been different.

From beside the well there were good views of the Isle of Moy in the middle of the loch. The island houses the remains of a grand hall built in 1665 by Lachlan, the 20th Laird Mackintosh.

There is also a 21 metre high granite obelisk commemorating the 23rd Mackintosh of Mackintosh who died in 1820. The tree growing out of the top is not so old!

Next to the island is another, stony island called Eilean nan Clach, which, remarkably, translates as Island of the Stones. It was used as a prison by the clan chiefs until after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. Bonnie Prince Charlie stayed at Moy for a short while before the battle took place.

Everywhere we walked there were mushrooms, toadstools and other fungi. This prompted a rambling discussion about if and how fungi might communicate.

Studies have shown that fungi use electrical impulses to communicate with each other and, sometimes, with other organisms, such as trees. The patterns of electrical impulses are apparently similar to the structures of human speech. These impulses are transmitted through long thread structures called Hyphae, which can expand into huge networks of mycelium, a bit like human nerve systems

As we had been walking, we had been passed by platoons of cycling Scouts. It turns out that they were part of the Cally Rally. This was the 49th Rally of Scouts and Guides to have taken place in the Highlands. Originally it was sited at Loch Oich and then moved to Dochgarroch, before ending up at Loch Moy. The first Rally had 250 Scouts and 50 Guides. No comment!

The rally lasts all weekend and included a huge amount of activities on land and water.

We could see some of the rally tents from the track.

This slightly odd building is listed as a game larder, but it has been disused for some time. The wooden portico is very smart. The larder sits in a group of other estate buildings.

These are the kennels opposite the larder.

A little further down the road were the stables and cottages, with this rather odd face looking down at us. Not the prettiest.

On the back of the stables complex was the symbol of Clan Mackintosh - the leaping cat.

The Mackintoshes take their name from the son of the Earl of Fife, who was appointed Keeper of the Castle of Inverness in 1163. He called himself Mac an Toiseach - the son of the chief. In time the Mackintoshes came to be chiefs of clan Chatten - the clan of the cats.

This is the memorial to Joe McIntosh, who was the piper to the 30th Mackintosh of Mackintosh, who died in 1995. I cannot trace when Joe died nor can I find out anything about him, but his son also plays the pipes and did so at the memorial in 2022 during the Moy Game Fair. You can see him on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6mIW6YvHkE

Next to the memorial is the coat of arms of the Mackintosh clan.

The motto is "Touch not the cat bot a glove". Basically, don't touch this cat without a glove. The cat is a wildcat gaurdant as they say in heraldic circles. It is a reference to the fearsomeness of the clan and also a nod to clan Chattan - the clan of the cats.

There are four quadrants to the arms. This is a hand holding a heart, which none of us recognised at the time.

The wildcats supporting the armorial shield looked a little nasty and I can see why gloves were needed.

It was no distance from the arms to our chosen lunch spot. Frankly it could not have been more idyllic - and the sun came out.

The benches were not too colourful, but Hugh managed to find them.

The views up the loch were very pleasant.

Even Sharon was moved to capture the tranquillity.

Now, this might look a bit like a cartoon snail with a wee hat on, but it is a fungus. I've been unable to identify the type and I wonder if it might be the decaying body of a fungus that might have been easier to identify had it not been in an advanced state of putrefaction.

From putrefaction to lunch in the sunshine.

They were shading their eyes, not looking at the strange inflatables at the Scout Rally along the loch shore.

They seem unable to agree in which direction to look.

I think that Hugh was gazing longingly at Agnes's or my lunch.

It was a very nice spot for a tuna sandwich.

There were more fungi behind us. These were really quite big and they are called Fleecy Milk Cap. Milk Caps are quite common and they all share the name as the cap of the mushroom will bleed white "milk" when cut. The milk is cold in the mouth on its own, but hot when taken with the flesh. They are not toxic, but are generally not eaten due to their peppery hot taste.

It was a bit of a walk back to the road and then along past the brown bench to the cars opposite the colourful bench.

 Once back at the cars it was back to our house for tea, coffee and an array of scones and cookies made by Sharon. As far as we can tell nobody dropped too much on the carpet.

All in all a good walk and we were so lucky that the weather held as the forecast was for rain and we had none.