Evergreen News - May 2009

Hello Everyone

May already - how time flies! May and September it is said, are the best months to visit the Highlands because the weather is usually fairly settled and the colours of the landscape are at their finest. Well, the present weather may not be great but all around us here there is a profusion of colour - purple rhododendrons, white blossom of wild cherry trees, the yellow of the broom and of course the yellow wild primroses that carpet the edges of our wooded areas. And still to come this month.... the wild bluebells that seem to strike a chord with everyone. The fact of course that bluebells have been out for sometime further south just tells you how much colder our winter was this year. In fact, two friends of ours climbed Ben Nevis last week and reliably informed us that there was two feet of snow on the summit....brrr!!

As for the wildlife here at Evergreen, the squirrels are as active as ever and our friendly pine marten has continued to make regular visits. As you may know if you read our blog, recently he was caught on camera by one of our guests, carrying away his 'evening meal'. Pine Martens are relatively rare to see in daylight but they are nonetheless very inquisitive and our one is certainly no exception as on one occasion last week he came right up to our patio window and stared at me nose to nose through the window. Wonderful! Thank you to MR for kindly allowing us to use his photographs.

Also last week I was fortunate to see another rare sighting, this time of wild goats. There are not many around loch Ness and those that are stick to the most isolated areas where people rarely visit but I was in just such an area out running with friends. After staggering up a steep incline, a large billy goat made a dash right in front of us to be followed in close pursuit by another and a young kid. The area we were in is close to the village of Foyers but it is also an area of no tracks or paths which stretches along the steep banks of Loch Ness for 12 miles down to Fort Augustus at the head of the loch. At the high point we were 1800ft above Loch Ness and had great views in all directions. The only downside of the run was that I picked up a nasty tic on my leg which I fortunately discovered when I got home and was able to swiftly remove with tweezers. Seems to be a lot of them around in the heather this year but you really want to avoid them as they can transmit Lyme disease.

Foyers was in the news a couple of weeks ago because a local person is selling some land that once belonged to the infamous Aleister Crowley of Boleskine House which is just along the road from us here at Evergreen. For those of you who regularly read our newspage you will be familiar with this man who gained the reputation as the 'most wicked man in the world' but who ultimately was a con man and a drunkard. Nevertheless as I passed the house while out running yesterday I reflected on the day I was invited up to the house by the present owners. I remember sitting in this huge room alone while the owner went to get coffee and there is no question it felt rather strange knowing what all went on in the house all those years ago.

Crowley is of course only one of many infamous and famous people to have stayed around loch Ness over the years. Divach Lodge near Drumnadrochit was the choice of J M Barrie, Anthony Trollope, Henry Irving and Arthur J Lewis and once, Sir Winston Churchill. This was of course in an age when transport in the Highlands was somewhat more difficult and I finish this newsletter with some information I only discovered this week. Back in the 1890's there was a plan to extend the railway from Inverness out to Lochend at the head of Loch Ness. It never happened because of the cost and concerns over viability but one wonders what if it had happened:- would bringing thousands of people out to the shores so long ago have changed the area from the wild and still relatively undeveloped area that it is today, to perhaps something more akin to an Alpine resort?

Till next month

Graeme & Fiona

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