Image Details
This view looking over Loch Gairloch was taken from Strath, near Shore Street if I recall correctly. It was a fine summer's evening and I thought the scene with the yacht in the foreground would make a good image for a greetings card or calendar.
What lifts the image out of ordinary is the wonderful cloud over Baos Bheinn. To the right of Baos Bheinn the peaks of Beinn Alligin are also visible in the distance.
When taking the photo I assumed that the yacht in the foreground belonged to a visitor but I was told afterwards it belonged to a local hotel owner. Beyond the yacht is Gairloch beach and golf course and to the left of the yacht is the Gairloch Free church, an imposing church in a spectacular setting.
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.
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’. [1, 10]
Beinn Alligin; Listed as Beinn Ailiginn by Watson. This mountain is named after the stream Abhainn Alligin The name Alligin is usually connected with àilleag, a jewel, a pretty woman which may possibly be correct but Professor Watson says the single l in àiliginn is a serious difficulty.
Loch Gairloch; Gaelic An Gearr-loch, the short loch.
Strath; Part of the Gairloch settlement, Gaelic; an Srath (Watson) A’ Srath (Wentworth), that is ‘the low ground’.
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