Well it’s just me and this machine today ….no painting I’m afraid, just writing. I have though been down into town this morning to go to the bank to pay the deposit on the cottage we’ve just booked for our holiday in May. Last week you’ll remember, I was wondering where to go and more to the point whether we’d be able to find anywhere still available for the two weeks in May. Most of the places we looked at in Sutherland were booked for the weeks we wanted, but we did find one place just a little further to the east than we’d originally planned. I think it is described as a former croft and is situated very close to the north coast. It sounds great and well located for getting to some of the northern hills as well as exploring this magnificent bit of coastline. Now we’ve booked I’m getting really excited and will have to order the OS 1:25000 maps for the area. The magnifiers will be put to good use once the maps arrive.
I’ve been looking in the hill guides and one hill that does attract me …although it’ll be a little bit of a drive, is Morven. It is 706 m and is apparently the highest point in Caithness. Until last year I’d never heard of it but on the day we walked to the southern summit of Arkle and were sat looking out over the vast wild landscape of Sutherland and Caithness, Nita spotted this very distinctive hill a way over to the east. Our maps didn’t cover the area and so it was only on returning to the caravan that evening that we were able to look in the hill guide …and Nita spotted it. It really is quite a distinctive shape and I think the book said that it is of Old Red Sandstone. There is a neighbouring hill of slightly less height and both look well worth a visit. Situated not too far inland from the NE coast and in an area that is generally quite low, they should offer magnificent views on a clear day.
A couple of years ago I sold one of my larger paintings (of Coire an t’ Sneachda in the Cairngorms) to a gentleman living near Wick in Caithness. He phoned me the morning that the painting arrived and after talking about the painting and where he was going to hang it, he asked me whether I’d ever visited the Flow Country. When I told him that I hadn’t, he said he’d thoroughly recommend it….he thought its big horizons and skies would make wonderful paintings. It’s an area I’ve often thought of visiting but as there aren’t so many hills I’ve always tended to head further west. So then, finally we’re going to be close to this fabulous wild area. I think I read that it is the biggest unbroken area of bog in Europe. Sounds great.
No photos to go with the blog this week I’m afraid but I’ll hopefully have some new images for next week’s effort.
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