ALTNAHARRA, Sutherland, Scotland Driving alone on a one-lane road 30 miles north of Lairg in the Scottish Highlands I was relieved it was a bright warm and sunny day. At night or in a typical howling Highlands storm I would have been terrified, for the only living creatures or evidence of life I'd seen for miles were the occasional gaggle of free range sheep, and I realized this was the only place I'd ever been where I felt as though I could be the last person on earth.
Area is rich with Prehistoric relics: brochs & cairns.
I was on a quest to find ancient relics, and my destination was the ruins of Dun Dornadilla, a Bronze Age "broch" about 12 miles from the northern coast. The day before I had trekked up Ord Hill at an historical center outside Lairg, to view a huge pile of rocks that formed a 5,000 year old cairn thought to have been used to bury the dead. I had become intrigued with these Prehistoric ruins after reading about them in guidebooks and seeing a BBC film. They are the only evidence of human habitation during the Bronze Age.
Craggy mountains, bogs and trickling streams.
Some miles back I had caught sight of a lone farmhouse lower in the valley and passed a mail carrier as he was picking up two backpackers. In Great Britain it is acceptable and common in rural areas to snag rides from mail trucks. Craggy mountains rose in the distance, but the valley I was driving through
Area is rich with Prehistoric relics: brochs & cairns.
I was on a quest to find ancient relics, and my destination was the ruins of Dun Dornadilla, a Bronze Age "broch" about 12 miles from the northern coast. The day before I had trekked up Ord Hill at an historical center outside Lairg, to view a huge pile of rocks that formed a 5,000 year old cairn thought to have been used to bury the dead. I had become intrigued with these Prehistoric ruins after reading about them in guidebooks and seeing a BBC film. They are the only evidence of human habitation during the Bronze Age.
Craggy mountains, bogs and trickling streams.
Some miles back I had caught sight of a lone farmhouse lower in the valley and passed a mail carrier as he was picking up two backpackers. In Great Britain it is acceptable and common in rural areas to snag rides from mail trucks. Craggy mountains rose in the distance, but the valley I was driving through
was boggy and dotted here and there with clear streams trickling through paths of rust colored stones.
A place for solitude & contemplation.
Finally, as I negotiated a bend, the broch came into view. It was right beside the road overlooking the deeper, picturesque Strathmore River Valley. Ben Hope, one of the country's highest mountains at 3,000 feet, loomed blue near the coast to the north. A plaque had been erected that described its possible purpose as a defense structure during intertribal battles. As I finished reading it and contemplated the scene, its past, and the total solitude this place offered, the entire tableau somehow reminded me of being inside a church. I stood there for a long time and drank in the silence. A cloud obscured the sun temporarily and the sudden shifting light reminded me I should turn back so I would reach our little rented cottage before dusk.
Cottage a remodeled gatehouse on old hunting estate.
The cottage was about 12 miles south of Lairg outside the little village of Ardgay (pronounced Ard GUY). It was a remodeled gatehouse on the edge of an estate of what used to be the hunting lodge of a title Englishman. It was rustic, but comfortable, and the bathroom upstairs between the two bedrooms had a generous soaking tub, which was fine if you like baths as the English do. The only shower was in a chilly utililty area on the back porch, but we found this to be only a minor inconvenience. After all, the Highlands requires resilience to the elements!
Few supermarkets & restaurants.
We had taken the train from London to Inverness, where we rented a car, stopping first, as directed by our host, at a modern Safeway to stock up on a week's supply of groceries. The only sizable grocery stores were in Lairg or Dornoch, some distance from where we were staying, so it wasn't likely we could just duck out to the market for some forgotten dinner item. The only recommended restaurants were two hunting lodges, each about twenty minutes away. If you enjoy beauty along with solitude this is the place to come--a perfect retreat for a writer. Contact Strathkyle Lodge.
"Downtown" Ardgay had a small grocery store that we patronized a few times, and once, as I parallel parked across the street from it the car in front of me backed up into my bumper. After a few seconds of apparent realization that he had encountered an immovable object, an elderly man stepped out of the car wearing kilts (honest!) and said, rather laconically, I thought, "Ach, I d'na see ya." "So I gathered," I retorted, and giving the bumper a once-over, added, "Well, it looks like no harm was done," to which he climbed back in his car and drove away without another word.
Photos top to bottom:
Downtown Ardgay
Cairn atop Ord Hill, Lairg
The Gatehouse, our Highlands cottage at Ardgay
Remains of Dun Dornadilla, Bronze Age structure; free range sheep in background
Downtown Ardgay
Cairn atop Ord Hill, Lairg
The Gatehouse, our Highlands cottage at Ardgay
Remains of Dun Dornadilla, Bronze Age structure; free range sheep in background
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