This was Betsy’s second Easter Scotland trip. There are many memorable moments. The first was running into The Bosworth – Jones family at Gatwick Airport. They were on the same Loganair plane (an HS146 I think) to Inverness. They also rented a car from the same place. We both had Fiat Marias. I was struck by its excellent handling and terrible quality. I don’t know what Richard thought, but I know that his broke down during the week.
My second memory was of us trying to find the location of our house. We drove up and down the road looking for a building “with deer antlers attached to the wall” called Druinard. We found it at the end of a dirty and muddy track. More about this track and the fact that it crossed a farmer’s land later.
Also staying in this old crofter’s house were Phil, Gordon Cooper and Jesper. Gordon had used his VW camper to get there.
It was a dismal place and had not been on the rental market for some time. Phil was short of a house and the owner had been persuaded to let us have it for the week. There was rising damp everywhere. The storage heaters were connected to an old electricity meter which did not accept the latest coins. The house owner (somebody in London I seem to remember) had removed the money box. He had supplied a coin that could be repeatedly pushed into the slot to keep the power on. There was also a fireplace which helped a lot. It was a coal fire and Gordon Cooper was the master of getting it roaring using that Lancashire technique of putting a piece of newspaper or cardboard in front of the hearth to get the draft going. The chairs were riddled with woodworm and one one occasion during the week Richard visited us and his chair collapsed under him because of the sorry state of the wood.
One good thing was a huge bath and the hot water was independent of the meter, so it was always possible to soak in warmth! It was also the only one of the houses that had a room large enough to accommodate us all sitting for dinner – at a squeeze I must add.
Betsy and I had brought our sub zero (centigrade) sleeping bags and they were needed.
The food on that first day was delicious Italian food cooked by Mandy and we ate as soon as we arrived at 8:00 PM. It was served at the house being used by the Bosworth – Joneses. This was new, had central heating, all mod cons and a view of the sea! We were jealous… On that first evening, everybody sat on whatever was available, including the floor, to eat. The entire group were squashed into the living room. Betsy and I stayed awake until midnight. We had come from USA with no sleep and had been awake for 36 hours. The following day Phil woke us up with tea at 8:00 am
Another image I have of this trip was “bleakness”. There were snow squalls and rain spells throughout the week. Betsy doesn’t entirely agree that it was all that bad, but it was cold and although there were some good days and some successes (Ben Klibreck for instance) there were also some miserable ones. My impression of bleakness might have been caused by the photos which were all very dark. Also this could have been the film and processing – my ancient cheap slide scanner doesn’t help too. Anyway, I have tried to brighten them up for this story. Having complained a lot I can say that as always we loved it, discomforts included!
One mistake we made was not bringing ice axes and other gear for snow conditions; Betsy and I just had hiking poles. However we were able to borrow stuff when necessary.
As in other cases, the location of some of these pictures is a bit uncertain.
Monday Stac Pollaidh
Out about near the house
Betsy’s first trip Handa Island. She loved it. Most of these pictures are of classic views of the island.
Point of Stoer. A good day exploring nearby and not having to deal with cold and/or rainy weather.
Dining out was on the Thursday. A break with tradition for some reason, maybe availability of space at the restaurant in Lochinver ruled out Friday.
I think that the Ben Klibreck hike was on the last day, but I could be wrong. This is one of the most remote Munros so we made a point of going there. For some reason I ended up breaking trail through moderately deep snow and enduring torturous post-holing to lead everybody. Dave Wharton seemed to chuckle about this because he said that I was “the hero of the White Mountain 4000 footers”. The descent and walk out were memorable for the crossing of a swamp and then struggling to get across a stream by balancing on a rickety wire fence. We started and finished at the Crask Inn. This was the day on which Richard’s car broke down think…
The final day dinner was held at Druinard. This is where the muddy track turned into a big pint of contention with the farmer. Since Druinard had been used for the main meals and getting there for most people involved a drive, the track had become churned up. The farmer was irate and there was an argument. He wanted us to stop using it. Phil dug his heels in.
