Image Details
Caledonian MacBrayne's ferry leaving Ullapool. It will swing round and head out of Loch Broom under the towering Beinn Ghobhlach, then cross The Minch to Stornoway.
Many visitors to this area go on the ship as a day trip to the Hebrides, passing through the Summer Isles, hosts to seals and innumerable other wild life.
This was taken on a clear and crisp January morning when it was a joy to wander around the hills.
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.
Beinn Ghobhlach; Gaelic A’ Bheinn Ghobhlach; the forked hill.
Hebrides; The following etymology is quoted from the Wikipedia article on the Hebrides. The first reference to a name similar to the modern Hebrides is by Ptolemy, who called the islands Αἱβοῦδαι = Haiboudai in Ancient Greek. Later texts in classical Latin, by writers such as Solinus, use the forms Hebudes and Hæbudes. The old Old Norse name, during the Viking occupation, was Suðreyjar, which means ‘Southern Isles’. It was given in contradistinction to Norðreyjar, or the ‘Northern Isles’, i.e. Orkney and Shetland.
Ironically, given the status of the Western Isles as the last Gàidhlig speaking stronghold in Scotland, the Gaelic language name for the islands - Innse Gall - means "isles of the foreigners" which has roots in the time when they were under Norse occupation and colonisation, and in reference to the Norse-Gaels, known in Gaelic as the Gall-Ghaidhil (meaning Foreign Gaels).
Loch Broom; The name Loch Broom is an anglicised version of its true Gaelic name which is Loch Bhraoin. Bhraoin means a 'drop of water or rain' and is named after the river Abhainn Bhraoin that flows from Loch a' Bhraoin high in the Braemore (Am Braigh Mor).
Ullapool; Gaelic is Ullabul derived from the Norse Ulli-bólstaðr meaning ‘Ulli’s stead’.
Stornoway; In Gaelic it is Steòrnabhadh and is derived from the Norse Stjórnar-vagr meaning ‘steerage bay’ or ‘rudder bay’.
Summer Isles; A collective name for a scattered group of islands lying close to the North-west coast of Scotland just north of Ullapool. From the Gaelic na h-Eileanan Samhraidh meaning ‘summer isles’.
The Minch; In Gaelic it is An Cuan Sgith which translates as ‘the weary sea’. In old Norse it was known as Skotlandsfjörð, ‘Scotland’s Fjiord’.
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