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RAMBLES NORTITWAliD. 179
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
We Will Take At Random Some Fifty People...
ramshackle contrivances that ever went upon two wheels , this was The most horse certainl a y poor the miserable worst , and weak the wheels , stumbling even , broken surpassed -down the animal body , !
collar-galle , d and , saddle-wrung , , with harness a world too large for his shrunk frame , kept in its place by huge pads of dirty cloth and
held together by packthread , and this to go over thirty miles of steep mountain road ! If the horse's legs ached long ere the journey
was accomplished , so also must the driver's arms , for the amount of belaboring that poor animal received must have equalled in fatigue
a day ' s work at the smithy , and would assuredly have brought condipunishment upon the man had he been within reach of the
officers gn of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals . Painful it was to witnessand all the more painful because there
, was no help , the whole thirty miles , with the formidable Tongue Ferry in our rear , offering no chance of a change of vehicle or
horse ; while our necks were constantly jeopardised by the stumbling of the animalto say nothing of the giving way of a tire in the
.. midst poor of a peat bog , , miles from our destination or any efficient hel . Howeverby some miracle we did at last arrive in safety ,
p , and were not a little amused at " Sandy ' s" regard for the honor of his master , when at parting he gravely informed us " there was a
new dog-cart and harness expected home that very night ! " A digression thisby way of caution to travellers to supply themselves
, "with conveyances at Beauly or Golspie before venturing * into the less frequented portions north and west .
To Golspie we proceeded by short stages , via Dingwall , Stitten-. liam , and Bonar Bridge , following the coach road by the left bank
thereb of the Cromart leaving y Firth an uninteresting until we branched part of off the at Allness coast , including for Stittenham Tain , ;
y district on our ri which ght , and lies getting between in . Allness exchange and the Bonar fine mountain Bridge . and The moor early
portion of this road runs through an extensive private property , whose owner spends annually large sums of money in planting and
reclaiming lands , by which means thousands of acres of now valuable ground have been rescued from marsh and moor . At one
point the road is cut half way down a precipitous height , clothed with wood to the top ; a beautiful stream runs at the bottom , while
the opposite bank , rising perpendicularly from the water's edge , a ] so covered with woodis backed by rocks of an Alpine character .
believe As we d slowl ourselve y ascended s suddenl , the steep transported and windin into g some ascent Swiss , we could mountain have
gorge : the infinite variety y of Scotch scenery , the mingling of the wild and the beautifulthe sudden transitions from rugged northern
characteristics to the soft , loveliness of the south , impart a charm , to Scotch travel which it is quite impossible to describebut which we
, advise all who can to make trial of for themselves . Then , too , nothing can exceed the comfort and liberal hospitality of the inns ;
, inns frequented by sportsmen more than tourists , who , whatever
_voL . iv . o 2
Rambles Nortitwalid. 179
RAMBLES _NORTITWAliD . 179
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Nov. 1, 1859, page 179, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01111859/page/35/
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