So to break the suspense I left you all in yesterday, the reason we are camped in this slightly obscure part of the Scottish Highlands, is three fold: Sarah’s Grandfather; Sarah’s Mum and Uncle; and my cousin. It all concerns a tiny Scottish hamlet called Achnacarry, about 3.5 miles from our campsite.

In 1942 the British Army set up its, and arguably the world’s, first Commando instruction centre. Sarah’s Grandfather was posted to be an instructor at Achnacarry, a position he occupied until the end of the war. Family stories of his exploits are legion.

In 1944 Sarah’s Grandmother, Mother and Uncle Geoff were living in Thornton Heath in South London when their house was hit by a V1 flying bomb. They, fortunately for Sarah and me, all survived because for once they used the Anderson shelter as the house collapsed around them and they were eventually dug out. They were evacuated and after a short unhappy spell in Huddersfield Sarah’s Grandfather managed to arrange for them to move to a tiny cottage in Achnacarry where they lodged with a family called McPherson.

As you can imagine moving from war torn South London to a tiny hamlet in a remote Scottish glen made a huge and positive impression on Sarah’s Mum, who was about 13 at the time, not least because the children, although technically banned, made use of the Commando’s assault course as a huge playground! She had an endless supply of stories about her time in Achnacarry, some of which involved the legendary village school teacher, Miss Kennedy. She must have been one of the few people in Britain to have been sad at the end of the war, as she had to move back to urban life.

Move forward about 40 years and a family party at my parents house with Sarah in attendance. Also at the party was my Mum’s cousin Desmond and his wife Kathleen. Somehow the name Achnacarry came up in conversation and it transpired, much to everyone’s astonishment, that Kathleen was Miss Kennedy’s niece!!

So today we undertook a six mile walk around all the salient parts of the Achnacarry estate to pay homage to all those concerned and in particular to the Commandos, many of who of course lost their lives after collecting their green berets having passed the stringent course.

Loch Lochy 11 am

Same View 3 pm

When we got up the clouds were very low, the mountains were not visible and there was a light drizzle in the air. We drove and parked near Achnacarry and started our walk confident we would be cold and damp. But it was not to be, no sooner had we started walking than it began to brighten up and before long we were in shirt sleeves in most un-Scottish like temperatures of 17 degrees.

The “Dark Mile”. Not so dark today.

The walk was beautiful and reminded us why we like the Scottish Highlands so much and how different it is to anywhere else in the UK. The air is so clean here that the trees are literally dripping with lichen and thanks to the generally damp climate all the rocks and many trees are covered in thick downy moss.

Lichen

And Moss

We made enquiries about the McPhersons from the few people we saw in this isolated corner of the world, but to no avail. We easily found the small cottage Miss Kennedy occupied as the village teacher, now called School House and visited the Clan Cameron museum in Achnacarry village.

Eas Chia-aig Waterfalls

The first part of our walk had been along the shores of Loch Lochy and I was excited to see some water fowl which I did not immediately recognise. Unfortunately I had neither my binoculars of birding lens with me. But on our return to Basil I could still see one bird out on the water, so I got out my birding lens and went in search of this mystery fowl. Regular readers of this blog will know that as soon as my birding lens comes out all birds head for cover and so it was in this case. So I put my lens away and no sooner had I done that than a pair of birds reappeared, too far away to be photographed, but I was able to identify them as Red Breasted Mergansers, a thrilling addition to my birding list!!

We finished the day with a visit to the Commando Memorial at Spean Bridge. I suppose it has been located here because it is the nearest main road to Achnacarry. The Memorial is an impressive statue of three towering Commandos dressed and ready for action. Since the last time we visited, 24 years ago, an area for individual memorials has been opened nearby and it was poignant to see commemorations both to those original Commandos of World War II side by side with more recent casualties from Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Commando Memorial

Commemorations to the fallen. Old and new.

If you had told me at the start of the day I would be sitting outside writing my blog in the sunshine this evening, I would have offered you long odds, but I would have lost. Tomorrow we move on towards Oban and with luck the Outer Hebrides.

Highland Scene