Image Details
This particular viewpoint takes me all of two minutes to reach from my home, and perhaps because of that it is one of my favourite views.
In this view, taken from Laide looking over Gruinard Bay, we see the round topped Sail Mhor, one of An Teallach's peaks. On the far right are two small white houses at the village of Second Coast. Of all the elements in this view the one that appeals to me most is the rocky foreshore.
Not long after we had decided to live in Laide but before moving there I happened to be in an outdoor shop in Glasgow. Going upstairs and reaching a landing my eye was caught by a large poster on the wall with a magnificent view, and on getting near enough to read the title I was amazed to see that it was a view from Laide! It was a view similar to the above but reproduced large and it made me feel excited that I was going to live in such a place.
Although we had been to Laide a couple of times to view the house we had decided to buy, on each occasion the weather was poor. The dramatic views from Laide were a joy yet to behold, although looking at the maps one could assume there should be good views. My imagination was no match for the reality.
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.
An Teallach; Gaelic, ‘The Forge’, according to Wikipedia from its colour in certain lighting rather than its shape. From personal experience I can agree with this explanation. In the summer, during a good sunset, and when looking east over Gruinard Bay An Teallach can appear bright red with the reflected light from the sunset in the west. However Professor Watson says that the being called the forge is due either to its smoke like mists or from supposed resemblance to a forge.
Gruinard Bay; possibly from the Norse grunnfjörðr meaning shallow firth.
Laide; In Gaelic it is An Leathad meaning ‘a slope’.
Sail Mhor; Great heel.
Second Coast; Professor Watson gives two Gaelic names for this place - an t-Eirthire and an t-Eirthire shios which translate as ‘the brown shore’ or ‘on the shore side’ respectively.
The village next to Second Coast is called First Coast. I was told that the place names ‘First Coast’ and ‘Second Coast’ arose as a result of ‘confusion’ on the part of Ordnance Survey when they first mapped this area, which may be true, but I have found no evidence to support this. Given that the Gaelic names for both places (as per Watson) contain the Gaelic word for ‘coast’ (Eirthire) it is not unreasonable to assume that informal local names for these two adjacent villages would be First and Second Coast, but in Gaelic obviously.
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