Harris Bay
Written by John Macpherson
Harris Bay, Isle of Rum © John MacPherson
Harris Bay lies 8 miles across the Isle of Rum from Kinloch, the main settlement. There is a track, of sorts, best walked, or if you have a Land Rover, driven slowly and with care. As I did.
I visited one day of fierce storms. I was working on contract on the island, tasked with showing its changing face across the year, revealing something of the lives of the few residents, and their varied work in this National Nature Reserve. I’d decided that a westerly gale, with all the ferries stormbound in save havens, might reveal the more aggressive side of this remarkable place.
Harris Bay lies on the west side, open, and facing the advancing Atlantic storm fronts that muscle in on their way to the mainland. Surrounded by mountains, it is (to use the word in its proper sense) ‘spectacular’.
The Bullough family, who once owned Rum thought so too. Close to their shooting lodge is sited the family mausoleum, some may think incongruously, with its columns and classical proportions.
But I disagree with such narrow-minded attitudes.
I think Sir George, his wife Lady Monica and his father John Bullough, who all lie at rest here, chose their last resting place wisely. They built an edifice that would salute the landscape, would do it justice as a tribute. Not cower before it.
And as I stood there, buffeted by the gale on this howling day of rain and sleet and wind, a crack appeared in the clouds massing in the west.
A shaft of sun flashed across the giant waves, and for a moment the water-filled track that leads down to the mausoleum, created by a century of use, was etched in silver.
A shimmering thread that tied the Bullough history to the land.
Author — John Macpherson
John MacPherson was born and lives in the Scottish Highlands. He trained as a welder in the Glasgow shipyards, before completing an apprenticeship as a carpenter, and then qualified as a Social Worker in Disability Services. Along the way he has cooked on canal barges, trained as an Alpine Ski Leader & worked as an Instructor for Skiers with disabilities, been a canoe instructor, and tutor of night classes in carpentry, stained glass design and manufacture, and archery. He has travelled extensively on various continents, undertaking solo trips by bicycle, or motorcycle. He has had narrow escapes from an ambush by terrorists, been hit by lightning, caught in an erupting volcano, trapped in a mobile home by a tornado, kidnapped by a dog's hairdresser, rammed by a basking shark and was once bitten by a wild otter. He has combined all this with professional photography, which he has practised for over 35 years. He teaches photography and acts as a photography guide & tutor in the UK and abroad. His biggest challenge is keeping his 30 year old Land Rover 110 on the road. He loves telling and hearing stories.
Discussion (2 Comments)
A shining, silvery way of the dead, traversed by the living and in harmony with nature. Beautiful.
Thanks Ed! A more eloquent response than my post! Love it.