The Ham Nomads

18 Jul 2014. <GB-SCT> Glen Moriston; Lochcarron, Wester Ross —

From our layby in Glen Moriston, we continued towards Lochcarron. On the way, beside the road, we saw a cairn. Stopped to investigate it. Turns out it is a memorial to Roderick MacKenzie, an Edinburgh man who travelled this area for business, a Jacobite soldier who bore a striking resemblance to Bonnie Prince Charlie. After Culloden, he encountered some of Cumberland's men here and in the ensuing fight was dealt a mortal wound. Before he died, however, he shouted "You have killed your prince". Thinking that they had killed the Young Pretender, Cumberland's men removed the head from the torso and carried it back to Fort Augustus to claim the £30,000 reward. Thinking the Prince dead, Cumberland left for England, and it took some time for the error to be discovered, by which time the Prince was well on his way to Paris and safety.

Cluanie Inn

Susie and the Munro

Decided to take a pause at the Cluanie Inn, at the top end of Loch Cluanie. With our coffee and scones, we bought half an hour of internet time to catch up on our emails. Nothing much to report there — English Heritage have caught up with things, and we will be arranging for them to send our cards to one of the most northerly of their manned sites so we can pick them up there. When we came outside, Susie decided to check out which of the Munros (3000ft or higher mountains throughout Scotland) she would climb there and then. Must say, it didn't take much to talk her out of this plan!!

Loch Carron panorama from the viewing point

We continued on, and ended up having lunch on a magnificent viewing point over Loch Carron, on its southern side. We then went round into the village of Lochcarron for a little shopping — mainly for the paper, which we hadn't seen yet! We won't get into news items, but really, something must be done about those maniacs in Ukraine and Russia!

We spent four hours just relaxing in the village, knowing that we will be catching up with the Listons tomorrow at the Games, and Susie took the time to wash her hair, as we had been unable to find a salon with a free slot over the past few days.

We then drove back to the southern side of the loch, checking out the site at Attadale of tomorrow's Lochcarron Highland Games — it's all being set up, the grounds mowed, tents erected, flags flying — but the car parking is not ready yet, so we went back to the viewing point from lunchtime, and have set up camp there (not alone — some other campers had the same bright idea!)

Loch Carron

Distance driven — today, 74 miles ( 119 km ); to date, 4,590 miles ( 7,397 km )