Ben Griam, Forsinard Flows, Sutherland
OMG, what a place to spend the next 15 months!!!
it’s oh so quiet
it’s oh so still
you’re all alone
and so peaceful until…
Sometimes you have to take chances in your life. I took a chance going to Uni at 33. I also took a chance driving up to RSPB Forsinard on Thursday given that there were reports of very heavy localised snowfall in Dundee and parts of the A9. But i had a meeting to go to in a place i’d never been. And you know what Dell Boy would have said,
‘he who hesitates Rodney, he who hesitates…..’
I arrived after a marathon drive, nearly 7 hours. Eventually, after a 60 minute dash along a tricky wee single-track road I found myself in Narnia!! Seriously, i was expecting mister Tumnus to wander up and say Hi, but he didnae. It was deathly quiet, other than the cockerel in the distance, oh and the dogs. But other than that, nothing! Not a peep from anything.
Ben Griam, Forsinard Flows, Sutherland
After a wee blether with Simon McLaughlin of RSPB, i dumped my bags and headed off for a walk in the darkness, snow shoes assiting me in my quest to go boldly where no man had gone before, at least not since the last snowfall.
The snow was deep and crisp and uneven. And if it hadn’t been for the snow-shoes I’d have been up to my pits in the stuff. I had an almost out of body experience, it was that inspring. I imagined what Ranulph Fiennes must have thought when he first walked into a Lidl superstore. What is this place? A giant freezer full of mystery,intrigue and odd looking creatures!
Baltic it is!
The next day it was absolutely baltic. See below! Got up at the crack of dawn and took another wee donner up the path and saw last nights nocturnal activities. Deer tracks everywhere, rabbits, hare, and large strange looking footprints, slightly egg-shaped with a latticed pattern. Oh yes, forgot about the snow-shoes.
Forsinard rocks!! And for one Lucky apprentice, it’ll be home for the next 15 months. Jammy!!