Read Season in Strathglass Online

Authors: John; Fowler

Season in Strathglass

BOOK: Season in Strathglass
13.56Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

A SEASON IN STRATHGLASS

This eBook edition published in 2013 by

Birlinn Limited

West Newington House

Newington Road

Edinburgh

EH9 1QS

www.birlinn.co.uk

Copyright © John Fowler, 2013

Photographs by Catherine Fowler and the author

The moral right of John Fowler to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form without the express written permission of the publisher.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-85790-644-1
ISBN: 978-1-78027-157-6

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Version 1.0

for Alasdair and Sheila

CONTENTS

List of Plates

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Chapter 60

Chapter 61

Chapter 62

Chapter 63

Chapter 64

Chapter 65

Chapter 66

Chapter 67

Chapter 68

Chapter 69

Chapter 70

Chapter 71

Chapter 72

Chapter 73

Chapter 74

Chapter 75

Chapter 76

Chapter 77

Chapter 78

Chapter 79

Chapter 80

Chapter 81

Chapter 82

Chapter 83

Chapter 84

Chapter 85

Chapter 86

Chapter 87

Chapter 88

Chapter 89

Chapter 90

Chapter 91

Chapter 92

Chapter 93

Chapter 94

Chapter 95

Postscript

List of Plates

Drained of colour in the early morning light – hill and loch in Glen Affric.

Sgurr na Lapaich, distinctive landmark at the head of Glen Affric.

Sunlit islet in Glen Strathfarrar. Impressive stands of Caledonian pines like these descendants of the ancient forest survive in all three Strathglass glens.

Snow-capped Toll Creagach rises to 1054 metres between Glen Affric and Glen Cannich, here seen from a neighbouring height unnamed on the map – hence dubbed by the author No Name Hill.

Sir John Lister-Kaye, writer and naturalist, runs an upmarket field centre at Aigas. Here beside the River Affric he planned a system of woodland paths with the Forestry Commission.

Traffic! Bin day in remote Glen Cannich.

Sturdy hill-walkers Bob and Walter relax at the Backpackers' in Cannich. ‘You can't go wrong on Mam Sodhail,' they told the author, who followed their advice.

Frank Spencer-Nairn, landowner and deer farmer at Culligran in Glen Strathfarrar, tags a calf, with muscular aid from his farm manager, Hamish.

Colourful collection of flies for the well-equipped fisherman. Will it be Juliet today?

Dennis the gillie rests on his oars on one of the small Hill Lochs, with clients from ‘the Six'. Distant Affric hills rim the horizon.

Ex-river bailiff George tips salmon fry into the burn. Few of the thousands released this day will return as adults to spawn after the hazards of their journey to the sea.

Stuart and Tina at the threshold of their home in the woods near Tomich.

Snug's the word for the little house that Stuart built.

John MacLennan – ‘Johnny Affric' – with stag. An expert stalker, dressed in traditional tweeds even for a heatwave.

Mosses and lichens encrust a stone near the River Bend in Glen Cannich. Such botanic gardens in miniature flourish in the damp climate of the west.

Louise, a dreamer who smiles at adversity, with Fritz (on the left). Horses are her passion.

Old Duncan – ‘Dunky Affric' – nearing his century after a lifetime as stalker, shepherd and gillie, and now author of a fascinating country memoir.

Boris the wild boar and progeny at the trough. All gone to market now.

Russell, deer stalker for the Forestry Commission, surveys the terrain south of Loch Beinn a'Mheadhoin. But this day the deer evade him.

Shinty match at Cannich. Strathglass under attack.

Sister Petra Clare, ‘hermit iconographer', adds a last detail to her virgin and child.

Drained of colour in the early morning light – hill and loch in Glen Affric.

Sgurr na Lapaich, distinctive landmark at the head of Glen Affric.

Sunlit islet in Glen Strathfarrar. Impressive stands of Caledonian pines like these descendants of the ancient forest survive in all three Strathglass glens.

Snow-capped Toll Creagach rises to 1054 metres between Glen Affric and Glen Cannich, here seen from a neighbouring height unnamed on the map – hence dubbed by the author No Name Hill.

Sir John Lister-Kaye, writer and naturalist, runs an upmarket field centre at Aigas. Here beside the River Affric he planned a system of woodland paths with the Forestry Commission.

Traffic! Bin day in remote Glen Cannich.

Sturdy hill-walkers Bob and Walter relax at the Backpackers' in Cannich. ‘You can't go wrong on Mam Sodhail,' they told the author, who followed their advice.

Frank Spencer-Nairn, landowner and deer farmer at Culligran in Glen Strathfarrar, tags a calf, with muscular aid from his farm manager, Hamish.

Colourful collection of flies for the well-equipped fisherman. Will it be Juliet today?

Dennis the gillie rests on his oars on one of the small Hill Lochs, with clients from ‘the Six'. Distant Affric hills rim the horizon.

Ex-river bailiff George tips salmon fry into the burn. Few of the thousands released this day will return as adults to spawn after the hazards of their journey to the sea.

Stuart and Tina at the threshold of their home in the woods near Tomich.

BOOK: Season in Strathglass
13.56Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Data Mining by Mehmed Kantardzic
Four Seconds to Lose by K. A. Tucker
Ariadne's Diadem by Sandra Heath
Bought His Life by Tia Fanning, Aleka Nakis
Axl (Sons of Chaos MC #1) by Riley Rollins
Bride By Mistake by Anne Gracie