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I have always found the area around Aultbea awkward to photograph because of the difficulty of finding a viewpoint into which unwanted intrusions such as telegraph poles do not appear. The solution for this view was to be some distance away from Aultbea itself in the hills beyond Drumchork. This view was taken from the slopes of Slios Garbh.
I had a local commission to do to include specific elements of the area and the planning for the viewpoint was, as usual, based on the 1:25,000 scale Ordnance Survey maps. Although I had to include specific elements I had the freedom to choose how this was done and I opted to include Aird Point. I have always found this thin peninsula of land attractive when it is part of the larger scene.
Beyond Aird Point we see Loch Ewe and the next landmass is the northern end of the Isle Of Ewe. Beyond the Isle of Ewe is the western shore of Loch Ewe on which the village of Cove is just visible, and finally, and very faintly, is the dim silhouette of the Isle of Harris.
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.
Aird Point; At Aultbea, the word aird is Gaelic for a promontory in this place name.
Aultbea; From Watson; In Gaelic it is an Fhàin - the gentle slope, locative case of am Fàn. The real Aultbea, Gaelic Allt-Beithe, ‘birch burn’ is the stream that runs through the village. The Aultbea coast in Gaelic is an t-Eirthire Donn, ‘the brown coast’. The Scottish Parliament website claims that an older Gaelic name for Aultbea was Am Fàn Braonach, meaning ‘the slope of the Loch Broom area’. Considering the distance between Aultbea and Loch Broom I find this an odd connection.
Cove; Gaelic, an Uaghaidh; the north part of Cove is Achadh na h-Uaghach meaning ‘Place of the Cave’ and ‘Field of the Cave’ respectively.
Drumchork; Gaelic Druim a choirc, the oat ridge. There was a farm at this place, perhaps it grew oats at one time.
Harris; In Gaelic it is called Na Hearradh. The name has two possible meanings, both derived from the Norse language. One possibility is that the name is derived from the Norse Haerri meaning ‘higher’ referring to the high hills of Harris compared to the lower ground of Lewis to the north. Alternatively it may have been derived from the Norse Hérað meaning an administrative district.
Isle Ewe; Gaelic is Eilean Iu. See Loch Ewe for further information.
Loch Ewe; Professor Watson said “that he had taken iu, with hesitation, from the Irish eo, thus ‘Loch of the yew tree’; the fact that Tobar na h-Iu in Nigg showed the article is practically decisive in favour of iu being there at least a Gaelic word. No Pictish name is accompanied by the Gaelic article. But the Ewe may be a Pictish name derived from the same root, or from a totally different one.”
Slios Garbh; Gaelic meaning the ‘rough slope’.
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