Thursday 17 February 2011

Across Scotland with Pylons (and Fences, Roads and Plantations)


This is a piece I wrote for the John Muir Trust Journal a few years ago about my TGO Challenge walk in 2007 that I think is still relevant. The picture shows vehicle tracks in upper Glen Feshie.

ACROSS SCOTLAND WITH PYLONS (AND FENCES, ROADS AND PLANTATIONS)

This is the story of a walk across the Highlands in search of ugliness. I’ve walked from coast to coast on the annual TGO Challenge eleven times now. This year though I approached the event from a slightly different, and, it must be said, less positive viewpoint. I’m a member of the Beauly-Denny Landscape Group as the representative of the MCoS and I was impressed with David Jarman’s evidence to the inquiry and the picture he painted of the slow attrition wearing away the wild character of the Highlands. In an email to the B-D Group David wrote “amazing how difficult it is to get hold of 'ugly Highlands' images - I don't take them, others I have asked don't” in the context of producing a presentation showing the effect the proposed Beauly-Denny pylons would have. As I was soon to set out to walk from Strathcarron to St Cyrus I thought that maybe I would take some “ugly Highland images”. I too had never taken many of these in the past (I have a few of the Cairngorm funicular) and I knew full well why. When in the hills I want to appreciate the beauty and wildness that remain and I try and block out any ugliness or intrusions. For that reason I’ve always planned a high level route, keeping as far as possible to the relatively unspoilt summits and passes and away from the degraded glens. I did the same this year but once I’d started photographing intrusions and damage I found that I couldn’t ignore it as easily as in the past. In fact I found myself looking for opportunities to include fences and bulldozed roads in photos rather than ways to cut them out. I can’t say I enjoyed this different mindset but it did make me very aware again of just how damaged some of our hill areas are. And I did return with a collection of “ugly Highlands” images.

The first intrusion came in the form of a deer fence above Strathcarron complete with high stile and gate through which I could look across the strath to the harsh angular lines of a forestry plantation above which rose the dark outlines of the Achnashellach hills. Soon after a rusty old iron gate between two tall fence posts reminded me that such intrusions are not new. Over the Bealach Alltan Ruairidh a bulldozed road led to Bendronaig Lodge, an old road that was not too horrible compared with some I was to see. The ugliness faded as I crossed the boggy wastes between Loch Calavie and the Allt Coire nan Each, noting the old tree roots sticking out of the peat showing this area was once wooded, and then traversed the An Riabhachan – Sgurr na Lapaich ridge, finishing with a splendid wild camp on the col with Carn nan Gobhar. Up here the sight of the bathtub rings on the reservoirs either side of this ridge didn’t really impinge on my joy. The next day I descended to the fake loch called Mullardoch with its bleak, bare shores and crossed Glen Cannich below the massive concrete ramparts of the dam. A blizzard on Toll Creagach cut out all views of ugliness and beauty then it was down to always attractive Glen Affric, though I was more than acutely aware of all the deer fencing and the straight unnatural lines between the protected and unprotected land. Crossing to Glen Moriston I passed through some really nasty clear-cut forest on the way to Cougie before leaving the glen on the old military road and marching with a double line of pylons that looked like H.G.Well’s Martians and were just as alien to Fort Augustus and the start of the climb to one of the most trashed places in the Highlands, the Corrieyairick Pass, noting how ironic are the signs saying that General Wade’s road here is a protected historic monument. Maybe one day we can keep just one pylon – in a city park - as a historic monument and reminder. Warning signs told of the construction of the dam in Glen Doe just to the east, a huge intrusion into what was a vast wild area. The Corrieyairick is a tangle of pylons, power lines and bulldozed roads and I was happy to escape it for a walk east over the misty, rain-strewn hills to the Monadh Liath. A short section of Strathspey with its main road and railway led to Glen Feshie, one of my favourite places but where I was horrified to discover that the bulldozed road in the upper glen, built without planning permission some years ago, has been renewed in places while in others 4WD vehicles have very recently gouged great ruts in the ground. Escaping the despoiled glens again I climbed lonely Carn Ealar and An Sgarscoch then returned to tracks and roads at White Bridge from where I walked to Braemar. Lochnagar was magnificent on a wild day of high winds, hail, rainbows and flashes of sharp sunlight. I circled round high above the Dubh Loch to Cairn Bannoch and Broad Cairn. Reality intruded on the descent of the latter, the wide eroded track up its south eastern flanks being in sore need of repair. The bulldozed roads at the head of Corrie Chash are depressing too as are the gouged tracks on Sandy Hillock. From the latter I crossed the rolling heather and peat bog moorland to Glen Lee, where a bulldozed track runs deep into the hills almost to the head of the glen. Once on the track I was on the downhill slope to the coast and stuck on roads the rest of the way. One and half final days of striding out saw me on the beach at St Cyrus staring out at the sea. It had been a good walk, despite all the damage. But someone really ought to do something about it. I guess that means us.

17 comments:

  1. Chris, I don't know whether you agree but it seems to me that previous generations who worked the land generally seemed - admittedly not in all cases - to do so with greater sensitivity. And when the time came for them to depart left behind structures - walls, buildings - which were somehow less ugly and intrusive.

    Or perhaps that's just how the effects of moss, subsidence, and the general reclaiming of the ground by nature, makes things appear over time.

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  2. I think it's a mixture of your last point, the type of materials used and the size of the structures. Stone and wood structures, as old ones mostly are, do blend into the landscape with time. Concrete and aluminium structures don't do so as quickly or as well. But the scale matters too. Giant dams, lines of huge pylons, enormous wind turbines and wide bulldozed roads have much more impact than stone bothies or pony tracks.

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  3. Thought provoking post, Chris.
    I'm not too sure about eroded paths 'needing something done' though.
    My gut instinct tells me that the more you 'improve' paths, the heavier the footfall becomes. You now see folk in the heart of the Cairngorms that have obviously just been out for a Sunday drive, and decided to follow a nice path for a wander.
    I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not.

    Mike fae Dundee.

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  4. Mike, I think repairing paths and "improving" them can be different. Many paths don't need much work. But some, like the one up Carn Liath on Beinn a'Ghlo, are real scars, visible from a great distance. The path on Meall a'Bhuachaille above Ryvoan Bothy was becoming a scar too. The rerouted path is less conspicuous and shouldn't erode badly. The same applies to the JMT's new path on Schiehallion.

    Warning signs at the start of paths are a good idea - though never in the hills. I'm all for encouraging people to walk in the hills, as long as they are prepared.

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  5. I don't find the 'scar' up Carn Liath offensive though Chris.:)
    It's a simple sign of folk walking up the same route. I know it is very obvious from the A9, but it usually brings a smile to my face as i drive past.
    If someone/organisation built a set of stone steps to replace it, i would find that offensive. Even if it was invisible from the A9.

    The whole 'footpath' issue is a minefield, and i don't know what the answer is. Repair work just seems wrong to me. Leave things along is usually my first thought.

    Mike fae Dundee.

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  6. Mike, I do find the Carn Liath scar visually intrusive. It's also nasty to walk on, which is why it's getting wider as people break down the edges. It's not being left alone.

    I wouldn't want a set of stone steps to replace it but a realigned path, probably with zigzags, that didn't go straight up the slope and so wouldn't erode, rather like the one on Schiehallion.

    I agree that some "repairs" go too far and create a different form of scar. I think any repair should be designed so that the path is as minimalist as possible and blends in with the landscape.

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  7. My way of thinking is along these lines.
    What would the area look like if folk stopped walking over it, for whatever reason.
    Simple erosion would quickly 'heal' over. A built structure/repair is there for a long time.

    Mike fae Dundee.

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  8. Simple erosion doesn't heal that quickly, especially if the soil has gone. A path can disappear quite quickly if it's basically hardened soil. Just look at the number of stalking paths that are hard to follow and invisible in places. These are all built paths.

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  9. Good piece, Chris: That vehicle track in upper Glen Feshie criss-crossed the old hill path and now has taken over as the "preferred" line through the glen - the old path has more or less disappeared through lack of use.

    The new path is utterly charmless.

    The eastern side of the Corrieyairack Pass is now a complete and utter disaster - completely torn apart by 4x4 idiots. It will cost a huge amount of money to restore this ancient monument to it's proper condition.

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  10. I hear what you're saying Chris.
    If only we could bring back the old stalkers.
    They never built any flights of steps.
    Different strokes for different folks, as the saying goes.
    Personally, i wish folk would just leave alone.

    Mike fae Dundee.

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  11. Thanks Alan. Yes, I probably won't be going back to the Corrieyairick Pass again. The damage is just too great. I agree with you about Glen Feshie. Landslips have destroyed parts of the old path.

    Mike, old-style stalkers paths would be fine. I'm not in favour of flights of steps. Apart from the unnatural tame look they're actually not that good for walking when icy, so folks walk alongside them breaking down the edges and widening the path.

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  12. Stalkers paths are am interesting case in point, Chris. Do you happen to know if their zig-zag design was prompted by the idea of gaining height fairly effortlessly? Or was there genuine feel for the need to make them as unobtrusive as possible?

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  13. As far as I know the zig-zag design of stalkers' paths was for the ponies, especially in descent with dead deer across their backs. I wish stalking estates would go back to using ponies rather than quad bikes (a few do use ponies at least some of the time).

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  14. great article Chris. I've been thinking about this alot in my own photos, having picked up a copy of Fay Godwins 'forbidden land'(after a couple of people on my blog recommended it to me), where she takes 'ugly' pictures of the land as messed with by humans. Its a polemical book and none the worse for that. I think this is something we can all do, to take and show honest pictures when we see something that doesn't fit.

    Footpaths, mmm - damned if you do, damned if you don't. I like them less and less. I think more significant is wheeled access, for which there is no excuse at all - it muddies the waters, and the paths. I include MTB in this, though I know that's not 'cool' at the moment...and despite being a fervent (road) cyclist myself. These places are not our 'playground'.

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  15. Good article Chris. Perhaps we should all do the same and send our photos to our elected representatives to protest. Unfortunately I don't suppose it would do much good. We need people in power with a symapthetic view of the landscape rather than an urban "how can we exploit it" mind set.

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  16. Interesting that you mention the path on Meall a'Bhuachaille as an improvement. Visually that may be true but if I wanted to walk up stairs I could go to a tower block. And going down it's painful on the knees and often slippery so people will vote with their feet and start creating new paths alongside. I fear it will be well-intentioned, but misplaced effort. The stalkers knew what they were doing with their big zigzags.

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  17. The new Meall a'Bhuachaille path has few steps and is less steep than the old more direct one, which us one season I prefer it.

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