Post B8GSfmljl2xUiP0cUK by withaveeay@mastodon.scot
 (DIR) More posts by withaveeay@mastodon.scot
 (DIR) Post #B8GSfkQ2UkPjQWqGOG by withaveeay@mastodon.scot
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       We went for a walk today at Little Assynt, a part of the area owned on behalf of the community by the Culag Woods Trust. It's a lovely walk that we used to do often with the terriers, but haven't done for years, so we took advantage of the wonderful weather todayWalk 🧵  coming up...
       
 (DIR) Post #B8GSfkeDe1ky8VTaUa by withaveeay@mastodon.scot
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       Part of the beauty of this walk is that it gives wonderful views of The Mountain, Quinag, the Milk Pail, Queen of Assynt hills*, the best mountain in Assynt and the second best on the planet**She's named the Milk Pail because the renowned black cattle of Assynt used to spend their summers on the mountain, gaining weight and producing milk for local on-site processing to cheese and butter.Plenty more Quinag pics coming up.* - As Allan Macrae called her** - as is widely acknowledged
       
 (DIR) Post #B8GSfksklzNmraHC9A by withaveeay@mastodon.scot
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       There is an alternative loop that's known as Ken's Path. Ken is someone local who had a lot to do with the original layout of the paths, which include, in another section of the estate, an all-abilities path, very suitable for wheelchairs.At the top of the loop, there's a small table, and this poignant plaque.Bless you Ken.
       
 (DIR) Post #B8GSfl7zrJZlcrPMuG by withaveeay@mastodon.scot
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       In one direction from the viewpoint on Ken's path, there's this view.Nothing beats a day like this in #Assynt
       
 (DIR) Post #B8GSflKl5rmgGRNYnY by withaveeay@mastodon.scot
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       While when you turn around, there's The Mountain.
       
 (DIR) Post #B8GSflTcYusChvWdc0 by withaveeay@mastodon.scot
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       Colours of the day, colours of the Highland summer, and the colours of Assynt, at Little Assynt today.
       
 (DIR) Post #B8GSflfJrQENICzyqW by withaveeay@mastodon.scot
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       This to my is another poignant part of the walk. This area was cleared of the people who lived here in the savage Clearances of the 19th century, all in the name of "improvement." No-one has lived here in 150-200 years, but their cultivation beds are still clearly visible in the landscape.Even the name the "betters" used for these cultivation beds, "lazy beds" shows the contempt with which they treated people who thrived here.
       
 (DIR) Post #B8GSfluuvQhw4aIR9s by withaveeay@mastodon.scot
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       Here is one house, quite a large one, of what must have been a thriving community. There was a mill in a burn nearby, and excellent soil for cultivation, apart from the grazing available for those wonderful black cattle.But notice the quality of the building even 200 years later. It wasn't poor people who lived here, and their economy must have been a good one. Yet greed robbed them of all this.
       
 (DIR) Post #B8GSfm828fCQjGQubQ by withaveeay@mastodon.scot
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       It must have been heartbreaking being forced from your house and your farms, forced to small, uneconomic, wretched pieces of ground near the coast, where you'll depend on the largesse of the capitalists, working only if they gave you work, unable to make a living on the sour ground they abandoned you on, thinking back to the view you had all your life.
       
 (DIR) Post #B8GSfmMvFJ6pTROnoG by withaveeay@mastodon.scot
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       Before I go out and burn some...thing, let's go down to the water's edge of that lovely little lochan, and breathe, hearing only the lap of the water against the stones.
       
 (DIR) Post #B8GSfmYyWUka4p2Qb2 by withaveeay@mastodon.scot
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       Meanwhile, I finally managed to take a snap of a dragonfly. They usually just don't settle long enough for me to get my camera sorted, but today I was fortunate
       
 (DIR) Post #B8GSfmljl2xUiP0cUK by withaveeay@mastodon.scot
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       In fact, I could get quite close to the dragonfly, who must have had other things on his mind. Those wings are astonishing, and as for the eyes....
       
 (DIR) Post #B8GSfmw18pBLEHopVo by withaveeay@mastodon.scot
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       Ah, this may explain why that dragonfly allowed me to get closer. It was shagged out.I'm not sure if mastoettiquette, or mastiquette, says I should CW this for the puritans out there. If so, oh well, fancy rethinking your world view?
       
 (DIR) Post #B8GSfn9qJQEzvAHs3s by withaveeay@mastodon.scot
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       There were loads of orchids on this walk, but also a huge juniper bush. We love spotting the junipers around here, and have a mental list of some beauties, but this one is enormous.
       
 (DIR) Post #B8GSfnKTfskQS9GMdc by withaveeay@mastodon.scot
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       But always the view of The Mountain....