Posted: Sunday, 29 July 2007 |
5 comments |
It was a bit of a clan gathering at the weekend so for a ploy we headed off to the west of Mull, to the area south of Treshnish near Calgary Bay for a look at the ruined townships of Crackaig and Glacgugaraidh.
I had heard that these townships were abandoned because of typhoid rather than the clearances - certainly, the houses are in remarkably good shape - the walls stand quite high as you can see in the pics. It reminds me a bit of Shiaba in the Ross of Mull where there are also good examples of what is known in Gaelic as "tobhtaichean" - ruins, which would have been lived in at one time.
Anyway, the weather was great, sunny, bright and with a NW wind, a little bit chilly but very fresh and absolutely no bugs, midges or whatever. Bliss!
This area is well worth visiting - last time we were here was about 8 years ago - hasnt changed a lot, but the old school nearby has beeen renovated and is now a rather fine house. The path to the abandoned villages is near the house. If you do visit, please respect the owners privacy and stick to the well sign-posted path.
Right enough of this, here are the pics.
Typical ruined house - the walls are in quite good nick - note the rounded corners - built like that to counteract the effect of the wind, so I am told!
Another picture of the ruins
This one shows the gable end quite well.
The view out towards Gometra - great coastal views to be had from here. Someone once told me that on a good day, all you had to do was point your camera seaward and "click" - you would be almost guaranteed a good pic. Today was one of those days.
However, occasionally the sky looked a bit threatening. Like in this view to the Treshnish Isles, which look great from this point.
As well as the ruins, there are some rather nice flowers to be found here:
Actually, I went ot take a pic of these, but they insisted....
At that point, the weather improved:
So it was time to head off back to the car. Just a chance for one more detailed look at the ruins:
What a great day that was! Thanks to all of you, really enjoyed it.
See you all again soon
Mountainman