Thursday, July 03, 2008

Up the Dirie Mor


The road to Ullapool, bleak, wild, rugged, vast and alluring. The mountains around here are all demanding, involving long walks across bogs, awkward river crossings and weather that constantly threatens. The wonderful Dirie Mor, the broad strath that leads through this great landscape is a great drive, which never seems the same, varying constantly with each drive in different weather and light. It's quite possible to stand in the Dirie Mor in brilliant sunshine, and watch storms lashing the Beinn Dearg mountains, lighting attacking An Teallach but the Fannaich's lit up in streaming sunshine.

Alarmingly, there are plans afoot to desecrate this great landscape with a line of Britain's biggest electricity pylons due to march right through its heart. Whether the plan is for wind farms or nuclear generators I don't know, I am just dismayed that soon the view above will be gone for ever, and replaced with something as awful as the 'artists impression'* below.


* 'artist' ie. me - I use the term loosely and advisedly.

1 comment:

His Girl Friday said...

I see what you mean about ruining the landscape. Scotland needs to think about tourism, as much as the other. :(