I was unable to go on the August walk on the south side of Loch Ness, so I will try my very best to tell the truth, the whole truth and whatever else springs to mind.
The truth is that the walking dinosaurs met at the east end of Loch Duntelchaig, which, as most people will know, is the main source of drinking water for Inverness. The Gaelic name for the loch is Loch Dun Seilcheig. A dun would normally indicate a fort, but the only fort on the records that I can see is Caisteal an Dunriachaidh, lying to the north and west of the loch. The name of that fort is not related to Duntelchaig or Seilcheig. Seilcheig is a snail or slug. Suddenly the source of drinking water that most of us use sounds a little less desirable than it at first seems! Take some comfort from the fact that the name refers to a fort rather than the loch itself.
Here is the gathering of walkers moving at a snail's pace! In fact, they've stopped, except for Robin who seems itching to get on the trail.
Some deceptively pretty Ragwort shining through the lovely green bracken. BUT, oh no! Things are definitely not what they seem. Ragwort is especially toxic to cows and horses and it has been the subject of eradication bids in the past. Perhaps this is why it normally has thirteen petals! Bracken, on the other hand is hugely invasive, carries a very high level of tick infestation and is carcinogenic to boot!
This view is, I think looking back down to Loch Duntelchaig, where the view has been opened up through tree felling. Of course, it is nice to see the view, BUT the felling has left behind the odd standing birch. This is a native species and would indicate that the commercial crop which previously surrounded it was a monocrop of one tree species, possibly not native. Mono crops of any plant, be it wheat or Sitka Spruce, are bad for the environment. They tend to lead to nutrient deficiency in soils and are naturally more susceptible to pests and disease, which means that pesticides and herbicides are used to protect them, leading to more environmental degradation. Monocrops also reduce biodiversity, because the crop appeals to a narrow band of insects, for example. It is not known how many millions of insects have been lost over the years of monoculture in Britain, but there is a simple way that people of our age can gauge that. Remember when a trip in the car used to result in a massacre of insects splattered across the windscreen and the grille? Now compare that to today. The bloodbath is very much less and not just because the same number of insects are spread across more cars. The population of insects has been severely depleted by habitat loss due to monoculture.
Inevitably the result of commercial timber production is treefelling.
In this case, Spruce, probably Sitka Spruce was the crop. There was a huge expansion on timber planting after the war, and by far the majority of species used were non-native softwoods, like Sitka Spruce. There is no doubt that this massive expansion led to less reliance on imported timber for all sorts of purposes.
BUT, things are not always as good as they seem. Softwoods were used because, in Scotland, they grow pretty fast. That makes the wood less dense, so it is not as good in some situations as slow grown hardwood timber. Less dense timber is also more susceptible to attack from moisture and fungus, so it requires treatment against these factors. That means some less than friendly chemicals, so it is not all rosy in the wood pile.
Here are Maureen, Agnes and Susan discussing the demerits of wider growth rings and reduced lignin content in softwoods.
Enough of that, says Robin. Where are the sweeties?
Immediately, Maureen leaps into action and whips out the sweetie box.
BUT, all is not as sweet as it may first appear.
Chocolate is a huge commodity and the sweets we eat support huge numbers of people in developing countries. That is a good thing, except when it leads to deforestation to expand production of cocoa, which is planted as a monoculture. And we all know what that leads to, don't we? It is also the case that downwards pressure on prices for cocoa from the big companies lead small farmers to use child labour to try and keep their margins liveable.
The multi-nationals are now trying to bypass these issues by (and you will not like this) growing chocolate in laboratories. Yep, they can grow it in factories and you will not know the difference. That does away with child labour and deforestation, but it will also wipe out the only source of income for many of these impoverished farmers.
So, think about it when you next sook on your chocolate éclair.
A slug. These are not the prettiest of creatures, especially in your drinking water. BUT, things are not always as bad as they seem. Slugs are not very intelligent, but they are highly effective at what they do. They have well developed chemoreceptors on their heads which allow them to sense specific chemicals in their environment which they use to track down food and mates. They have a mental map of their local area and they use that to recognise their surroundings and to navigate their way about.
It would appear that not everything is as blessed as a slug when it comes to navigation!
Now, I have to admit to being unsure about this, but it may be a view of Loch Bunachton. If it isn't ignore the next few lines. If it is then the Gaelic would be Loch Bhoth Neachdain - a reference to clan MacNaughton, who are said to be descended from the rulers of Pictish Moray. The progenitor of the MacNaughtons was one Nechtan Mor, which is thought to mean pure in Pictish.
BUT, all is not as it seems. The cow with the white belt is from Galloway rather than Moray. Belted Galloways are actually thought to be a result of cross breeding local south of Scotland cattle with a Dutch breed, the Lakenvelder in the 17th/18th Century. So, the cow is not as pure as the MacNaughtons.
Look at the barbed wire fence doing the very thing it was designed to do - keeping cattle enclosed. BUT, things are not quite what they seem.
Barbed wire was invented to keep cattle enclosed in the Greta Plains of America. Cattle needed to be kept off railroads and farm land. Before barbed wire was invented this was either not done, or it was done using hedges of prickly bushes. Both approaches relied on huge numbers of cowboys to control the cattle or plant and nurture the hedges. People are costly, barbed wire turned out to be cheaper an much more effective. Barbed wire is credited with taming the west, and coincidentally ruining the livelihoods of many indigenous peoples.
There was a huge fortune to be made form barbed wire and many different patents were awarded and hundreds of companies rose and fell in the rush to make these fortunes.
Cattle naturally migrate away from bad, particularly cold, weather. In the 1880's the Big Die Up took place when cattle migrated over vast rangelands towards warmer climes in the south. The Texan ranchers knew their grass could not support additional grazing pressures, so they erected barbed wire fences. The cold cows could not pass the wire fences of Texas and up to 75% of herds died. This and the continued tensions between ranchers and farmers led to long running and nasty range wars.
As an aside, the erection of new barbed wire fences was banned in 2010 in Norway due to injuries caused to migrating animals. For this reason luxury carmakers prefer Norwegian leather for their car seats rather than American, because it contains less scratches and tears!
A frog in the grass. BUT things aren't always as nice as they seem.
The frog is deceased. Or was it?
No barbed wire holding them back.
Cattle have to eat and so do Dinosaurs, so they stop for a bite on the shore of the loch.
Susan looks like she is about to throw off all encumbrances and do a bit of wild swimming.
Robin decides that swimming is not the thing to do today, he sits besides Hugh for luncheon on the dock of the bay.
Of course, Sittin' on The Dock of The Bay is a classic Otis Redding song, recorded in 1967. BUT things aren't as nice as they sound. Well, the song is a bit melancholy with lines like having nothing left to live for and it seems like nothings gonna change.
If you think that's all a bit tragic, consider that Otis finished writing the song just two days before he was killed in a plane crash after appearing on a TV show. The record was released a month after his death and was to be his only number one hit! The album also became the first posthumous number one record.
Whilst they might have been OK to eat this mushroom, they would need to do it quickly. This looks like a Shaggy Ink Cap, which is edible only when young.
BUT, things ain't quite what they seem.
Shaggy Ink Caps exhibit the bizarre phenomenon of deliquescence. In essence, they digest themselves from the bottom up, turning into black ink, which can be used for writing!
They all seem to have survived intact. No self digestion going on there. BUT....wait a minute, where's Pam?
Maybe she disappeared into the fishing hut. You can tell it is a fishing hut, because there is a big wooden salmon on it. Salmon are highly prized game fish that are becoming rarer every year due a to a variety of circumstances. They are beautiful fish. BUT things aren't.....
After spawning, in their native rivers, most salmon die. However, this returns essential nutrients into the river's ecosystem. In essence, the salmon die and ensure the survival of the ecosystem that the next generation of salmon will rely on. They are passing on more than their genes, but a living legacy for the future. Now there is something to aspire to.
Getting back towards the end of the walk, they come to Dunlichity Church, which is a lovely little building in a very nice setting. Legend has it that soldiers of Bonnie Prince Charlie sharpened their swords on the corner of the church some time before the Battle of Culloden.
BUT that can't quite be true. The church was built about 12 years after the battle. BUT, the chances are that stone from the previous church was re-used, so maybe...
This is the Watch House for the church. It is thought to be the same age as the church itself. Watch houses were built to deter grave robbers. No BUTS this time. They did what it says on the tin. I suppose there might be a negative if the deterrence of graverobbers could be said to be holding back anatomical research, but that might be bit of a stretch.
BUT, I don't actually know what this is and I didn't find any reference to it in my research.
Nearly back at the cars, I think. If that is so, then this is likely Loch a' Chlachain, loch of the clachan. A clachan is a small settlement that generally contained a parish church, smithy and inn. Well, Dunlichity certainly had the parish church, which could seat up to 300 people. It also had mills and kilns, so it may well have had the requirements of a clachan. The hill above the church is called Creag a' Chlachain, just to emphasise the name.
BUT, in the 1882 Ordnance Survey Gazetteer Dunlichity is said to have taken the name from Dunleeatti, meaning the hill of the Catti. The Catti were the forebears of the Clan Chattan and the hill in particular was the one adjacent to the parish church.
What a fine walk they seem to have had.
BUT it would not have been possible to write this blog without the organisation of Hugh and Pam and the photos of Jimmy and Pam.
