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I had planned a full day in the landscape from dawn till dusk and set out from home before sunrise. My primary targets for the day were to be Loch Clair and Loch Torridon but not long after leaving home I came across this scene just south of Gairloch.
It is a view looking over Loch Bad an Sgalaig to Baosbheinn and its eastern face catching the first light from the rising sun. The sun is just out of shot and behind the hills Meall a Ghlas Leothaid (left) and A' Chosag. Someone had very kindly left two small boats at anchor in the loch, as if for the benefit of the passing landscape photographer.
I took this view towards the end of May but it seems that the midgies were late this year in fully marshalling their forces. I was largely untroubled by them as I enjoyed the tranquility at this spot.
The northern end of this loch, not far from my viewpoint, was dammed in 1949 to power the Kerry Falls power station. This resulted in an increase of the loch's size such that it became at one with formerly separate Dubh Loch to the south. An unfortunate outcome of the dam is the fact that the magnificent Kerry Falls are now a distant memory. Loch Bad an Sgalaig is the source of the River Kerry but as most of its waters are piped to the power station, thus by passing the falls, one the great sights of the Gairloch area has been lost.
In 1886 J H Dixon had this to say about the Kerry Falls in his book, 'Gairloch and Guide to Loch Maree';
The finest falls in the parish are the falls of the Kerry, situated on the River Kerry, shortly after it leaves Loch Bad na Sgalaig. If there be any quantity of water in the little Kerry river, a series of magnificent cascades tumble down the narrow channel in a deep rocky gorge. When Sir Kenneth Mackenzie's young plantations on the hill sides here have grown, they will greatly add to the beauty of the place.
The plantations have long grown on the steep hillsides, many fallen due to storm damage, but the falls are long gone.
North-west Highland Place Names
The landscape of the North-west Highlands and the Gaelic language are intimately connected. Other languages have contributed to the richness of our place names, notably Norse, but the North-west Highlands have for centuries been a Gaelic landscape. In listing the meanings of place names I have relied on authoritative sources wherever possible. For further information about sources please refer to North-west Highland Place Names in the main menu.
A’ Chosag; Gaelic; a small hill on the eastern shore of Loch Bad na Sgalaig down which a burn called Allt na Còsaig runs. Apamapa has translated the meaning of the burns name as ‘the burn of the neuk or crevice’; I have assumed that as the name of the hill resembles that of the burn that the name of the hill means ‘the hill of the neuk or crevice’.
Baosbheinn; Watson lists it as Bus-bheinn; Gaelic Badhais-bhinn (or baoghais-bhinn, ao short). The phonetics do not admit the popular explanation - Forehead Hill from the Gaelic bathais. The name is probably a hybrid of the same type as Suilven, Blaven, Goatfell, Gaelic Gaota-bheinn, where Norse fell, a wild hill, has been translated into Gaelic beinn, the first part being left untranslated. The Apamapa website states that the current local Gaelic is Badhaisbheinn which might mean the ’mountain of the hunt’.
Gairloch; Gaelic, village named after the loch of the same name, Loch Gairloch, An Gearr-loch, the short loch.
Loch Bad an Sgalaig; Professor Watson spells this as Loch Bad na’ Sgalag meaning the ‘Loch of the clump of the farm-workers’.
Loch Clair; Gaelic is Loch Clàir, ‘Loch of the level place’.
Loch Torridon; Professor Watson gives a detailed account of Torridon starting with the recorded history of this name – Torvirtayne 1464; Torrerdone 1584; Gaelic Toir(bh)eartan compare with the Irish tairbheart, to transfer, carry over, the infinitive of tairbrim. This would give the place the meaning of ‘place of transference’ with reference to the portage from the head of Loch Torridon through Glen Torridon to Loch Maree. The name applies specially to the strip of land at the head of the loch.
Meall a’ Ghlas Leothaid; No authoritative references list this name which is a hill near Loch Bad an Sgalaig. However Professor Watson defines the word Leothaid as Gaelic for slope and because ghlas is Gaelic for grey (or green) I translate this name as meaning ‘the hill of the grey(or green) slope.
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