Image Details
One of the most moving accounts of West Highland life, the utter joy of the landscape on glorious days, the fearsome storms, the entrancing wildlife, all this and more is narrated in such a fresh and engaging way by Gavin Maxwell in his excellent book, Ring of Bright Water.
When Gavin wrote this book he was living at a place he called Camusfearna in his writings, this is not the real name and clearly he was not wanting be discovered. Camusfearna, which means 'Bay of Alders', is in reality a remote place called Sandaig, a long walk down a rough hillside from the nearest single track road and about 6 kilometres from the nearest village, Glenelg.
The above photograph was taken at Camusfearna in the late afternoon with just enough hazy sunlight to brighten the water. The view is looking out over the Sound of Sleat to the Isle of Skye, and the foreground islands are the Sandaig Islands, the nearest is called Fraoch Eilean (Heather Island) and the furthest upon which is the Sandaig Lighthouse is called Eilean Mor (Big Island).
While preparing my photograph for this website and checking the detail in the image I rediscovered two things I had long forgotten about, the photograph having been taken several years ago. The first is on Fraoch Eilean, upon which and to the right of the small sandbank is a low, only a few inches high, stone grid like structure. When I saw it in the image it brought back memories of walking out to this island at low tide and discovering the grid. What is it, did Maxwell place it there? Do you, the reader, know?
Next, on Eilean Mor I noticed the shell of a ruined building near the lighthouse. Who lived there? The house that Gavin Maxwell lived in on the shore at Sandaig was called the Lighthouse Keepers cottage and I had assumed the lighthouse keeper lived there before Gavin Maxwell. Perhaps in more distant times the lighthouse keeper lived in the cottage on Eilean Mor next to the lighthouse?
Of Gavin Maxwell's house there is no trace now. While he was living there a tragic accident resulted in the house going on fire and being razed to the ground. There is a memorial stone erected on the spot where his desk would have been when writing stories of life with his otters at Camusfearna.
The distance as the crow flies from the roadside down the hillside to Camusfearna is just over a kilometre, but the track twists and turns through a dense forest, and the first time I made this trip I wondered if Camusfearna would ever be reached. I'd recommend anyone who hasn't read "Ring of Bright Water" to read it, then take the long walk down the hillside, the never ending walk, until you reach Camusfearna, that "Little bit of Heaven".
Copyright © 1996 Gordon C Harrison All Rights Reserved