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248 RAMBLES NORTHWARD,
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.
•*— The Road From Melvich To Tongue Skir...
Wales seem to press upon and weigh one down , are more Italian than British . we found ourselves constantly lost in delighted
amaze-; ment at the bright , rich loveliness of scenery , which , in our anticiations of this northern ramblewe had pictured as only grand ,
p , gray , and _rugged . "We could gather no local information as to the history of this castle , or the large battle-field a short distance from
it , traces of which are visible in the thickly congregated tumuli that cover the ground for a considerable space around . Could the old
walls speak they would doubtless tell many a tale of lawless violence and ineperchance avenged on that fatal field where heaps of
slain rap to this , day attest the sanguinary nature of the combat . The village of Betty Hill Farr , a mile or so distant , is finely situated high
above Torrisdale Bay , and the neighbouring hills , abounding in rare wild flowers , are especially favorable for botanists ,
Tlie road from this point loses considerably in beauty and interestuntil it reaches the immediate vicinity of 6 Tongue , the
approach , to which lies through the extensive plantations of a lady proprietor , the banks affording for miles a golden glory of broom
and furze , perfectly dazzling to behold : such a blaze of splendor cannot be imagined ; add to it the clear deep blue sky above and
the dark back-ground of trees , and this not in isolated patches , but for several miles in succession , and no one will wonder that the
effect was magical . "We felt as though transported into some fairy ionand the sudden appearance of Cinderella ' s coach or Aladdin ' s
beautiful reg , palace would scarcely have surprised us . A long descent brought us into Tongue , situated amidst a
semicircle of mountains , among * which Ben Hope and Ben Royal proudly rear their heads . The deep indentations peculiar to the north and
north-west coasts of Scotland , receive here for the first time the name of Kyle . Butherlandshire , washed oil three sides by the sea ,
_aboimds in water , salt and fresh , and it is said that from an eminence near Tongue no fewer than , one hundred lochs can be seen
at once . The Kyle of Tongue is a long arm . of the sea , running inland between high hills , on one of which , in a fine romantic
situation , is the ruin of an old watch tower , Caistil Varrich ; its walls of enormous strength , rudely built with the coarse stone of
the neighbourhood , are admirably adapted to resist the assaults of time and weather , a small portion of the top only being wanting
in the present day . It was sunset as we stood by this relic of the past , looking over broad tracts of sand deserted by the receding
tidesave where a deep and winding channel , the bed of the river which , flows into the Kyle from the mountains above , gave back the
voices evening glow of of the meal children western , ming busil led sky y . their engaged Myriads soft on pl ai the ntive sea sands birds cries below in with quest hunting the of m their erry for
cocklesan edible for which this part of the coast is famous , "hot , cockles" being the standing dish of Tongue , and the only " delicacy "
we encountered on our rambles to which we were unable to do
248 Rambles Northward,
248 _RAMBLES NORTHWARD ,
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Dec. 1, 1859, page 248, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01121859/page/32/
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