Uploads from RoystonVasey

I See Ewe

nobody@flickr.com (RoystonVasey) — Wed, 22 May 2013 08:33:33 -0700

Trench warfare, Talisker style.

It's a hard existence out there and the sheep lie in wait for unsuspecting walkers with sandwiches in their rucksacks...

Black and Blue

nobody@flickr.com (RoystonVasey) — Tue, 21 May 2013 23:51:14 -0700

RoystonVasey posted a photo:

The first verse of Sorley Maclean's poem, Tràighean, begins with a powerful evocation of the physical features of Talisker. In its English translation:

If we were in Talisker on the shore
where the great white mouth
opens between two hard jaws,
Rubha nan Clach and the Bioda Ruadh,
I would stand beside the sea
renewing love in my spirit
while the ocean was filling
Talisker bay forever:
I would stand there on the bareness of the shore
until Prishal bowed his stallion head.

The Rise and Fall of The Allt Mheididh

nobody@flickr.com (RoystonVasey) — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:57:12 -0700

RoystonVasey posted a photo:

The Allt Mheididh is a stream that plummets over the cliff edge to the crashing waves 90 metres below.

On a windy day not all of the water makes it to the bottom on the first attempt.

Lunchbreak

nobody@flickr.com (RoystonVasey) — Tue, 21 May 2013 05:23:33 -0700

RoystonVasey posted a photo:

Gloria also made sure she was first in line for dinner too!

A Moment of Quiet Contemplation

nobody@flickr.com (RoystonVasey) — Mon, 20 May 2013 22:38:38 -0700

RoystonVasey posted a photo:

Samual Johnson and James Boswell visited Talisker in 1773. Johnson’s "Journey" reveals him to have been impressed by his host, Talisker’s then tacksman, John Macleod, 4th of Talisker, but less so by the location itself:

...our next stage was to Talisker, the house of colonel Macleod, an officer in the Dutch service, who in this time of universal peace, has for several years been permitted to be absent from his regiment. Having been bred to physick, he is consequently a scholar, and his lady, by accompanying him in his different places of residence, is become skilful in several languages. Talisker is the place beyond all that I have seen, from which the gay and the jovial seem utterly excluded; and where the hermit might expect to grow old in meditation, without possibility of disturbance or interruption. It is situated very near the sea, but upon a coast where no vessel lands but when it is driven by a tempest on the rocks. Towards the land are lofty hills streaming with waterfalls. The garden is sheltered by firs, or pines, which grow there so prosperously, that some, which the present inhabitant planted, are very high and thick.

Boswell’s own Journal confirms Johnson’s description in its physical essentials, but concludes more charitably that “Talisker is a better place than one commonly finds in Sky”.

The Model

nobody@flickr.com (RoystonVasey) — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:40:48 -0700

RoystonVasey posted a photo:

Gloria knew she was the best looking ewe in the valley and she made sure she was always first in line for a glamour shoot.

Preshal Mòr

nobody@flickr.com (RoystonVasey) — Mon, 20 May 2013 05:11:11 -0700

RoystonVasey posted a photo:

The Talisker estate includes two hills (Preshal More, which was climbed by James Boswell (the 18th century writer) and Preshal Beg) of considerable geological interest. As described by B.R.Bell and I.T.Williamson:

At the base of the twin summits of Preshal More and Preshal Beg, near Talisker, the laterally-restricted Preshal Beg Conglomerate Formation crops out. These heterogebeous sedimentary rocks include debris flow (lahars), alluvial fan and fluviolacustrine facies volcanoclastic deposits accumulated with a substantial and long-lived valley drainage system which developed upon the Glen Oraid Lava Formation surface. Subsequently this topography was inundated by two thick (at least 120m) intracanvon flows of compositionally distinctive tholeiitic basalt belonging to the Talisker Lava Formation. These flows mark a significant change in the chemical signature of the lava sequence and have a strong compositional affinity with the various intrusive units of the Cuillin Centre. … the Preshal More flows may represent the only remnants of an originally significant lava shield that developed above the Cuillin centre.

Talisker Bay

nobody@flickr.com (RoystonVasey) — Sun, 19 May 2013 23:59:10 -0700

RoystonVasey posted a photo:

Talisker was for centuries a possession of the Clan Macleod. For nearly two hundred years it was associated with a cadet branch of the chiefly line, founded by Sir Roderick Macleod, 1st of Talisker (1606-1675). Sir Roderick was the second son of Rory Mor Macleod (d.1626) and Isabel, daughter of Donald Macdonell, 8th of Glengarry. Along with his brother, Sir Norman Macleod of Bernera, he was knighted in 1661 for his services to the royalist cause. He married first a daughter of Lord Reay and secondly Mary, daughter of Lachlan Og Mackinnon of Mackinnon.

John Macleod, 2nd of Talisker, who died in about 1700 was the subject of an elegy, Cumha do Fhear Thalasgair (“Lament for the Laird of Talisker”), written by the blind harpist, Ruaidhri Dall MacMhurich.

In 1820 Donald Macleod, 6th of Talisker, a major in the 56th Regiment, sold his interest in Talisker and emigrated to Van Diemen’s Land (financed by his father-in-law, Alexander Maclean of Coll). He travelled with 36 Highlanders of his connection and secured a grant of 2,000 acres.

In 1825, Hugh MacAskill took over the Talisker estate and completed the clearance process begun under his predecessor. Five years later, he founded the Talisker distillery, which is in fact located some five miles away from Talisker at Carbost, Loch Harport. MacAskill gave up his lease of the Talisker lands in 1849.

Gimme Shelter

nobody@flickr.com (RoystonVasey) — Sun, 19 May 2013 13:24:15 -0700

RoystonVasey posted a photo:

Late one from the wet windscreen collection for the time being.

Tomorrow is a whole new day and the start of another series of uploads from a couple of short walks around Talisker Bay & Ardtreck Point.

Watercolours

nobody@flickr.com (RoystonVasey) — Sun, 19 May 2013 10:44:04 -0700

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Sligachan Hotel Bar

nobody@flickr.com (RoystonVasey) — Sun, 19 May 2013 04:07:05 -0700

RoystonVasey posted a photo:

You'd have to be Baa'my to leave it...

Parking Lot

nobody@flickr.com (RoystonVasey) — Sun, 19 May 2013 00:51:51 -0700

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Caption Competition Time

nobody@flickr.com (RoystonVasey) — Sat, 18 May 2013 10:38:12 -0700

RoystonVasey posted a photo:

Something to keep you out of mischief whilst I take myself off to the pub :)

Best comment wins a pint, winner to collect from a tap of my choosing....

Loch Portree

nobody@flickr.com (RoystonVasey) — Sat, 18 May 2013 08:05:49 -0700

RoystonVasey posted a photo:

The roof tops are the row of buildings in my previous posting

Blow Dry, Portree

nobody@flickr.com (RoystonVasey) — Sat, 18 May 2013 02:43:46 -0700

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Rinse Cycle, Portree

nobody@flickr.com (RoystonVasey) — Sat, 18 May 2013 02:13:13 -0700

RoystonVasey posted a photo:

Washed Up

nobody@flickr.com (RoystonVasey) — Fri, 17 May 2013 05:32:32 -0700

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Stein's Tables

nobody@flickr.com (RoystonVasey) — Fri, 17 May 2013 00:11:11 -0700

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Catch It Whilst You Can.

This rare interlude in the cloud and rain lasted for over 5 minutes. No stopping the wind though!

Eternal Damnation

nobody@flickr.com (RoystonVasey) — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:52:32 -0700

RoystonVasey posted a photo:

It seems Burger Hell is open 24 Hours a day now....

Bobbin'

nobody@flickr.com (RoystonVasey) — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:24:15 -0700

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