I'm in the far North of Scotland and today my friend Alisdair and I went for a leisurely walk along the Queen's Drive, allegedly visited by Queen Victoria. A lovely walk, and the weather was mostly kind to us.
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Tucked away in the trees, and a complete surprise to me, was a category B listed building which is a memorial to James Loch. The inscription on the plaque was too faded to read so I read up about it when I got home. James Loch was the Commissioner of Sutherland Estates from 1816 until his death in 1855. This was during a dark period of Scotland's history known as 'the clearances' where people were forcibly evicted from their homes in the Highlands to make way for sheep to graze. Sheep were more profitable than the peppercorn rents the greedy landlords got from their subsistence tenants so the tenants were forced out, either to the coast or further afield: America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc.
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Some nice views along the walk
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A video clip to finish. A cover version of the Proclaimers' hit "I would walk 500 miles"
Brilliant and informative as usual des, thanks!!
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