Old Travel Blog Photograph Post Office Bettyhill Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of a vintage car and people outside the Post Office in Bettyhill in Sutherland, Scotland. Bettyhill is located on the A836 road 32 miles west of Thurso and 12 miles from Tongue. It lies 5 miles from the village of Skerray; its former fishing port was called Navermouth. The whole of the north western highlands, Assynt to Cape Wrath, Loch Shin to Strath Halladale and Reay, was known as Clan Mackay Country from the 13th century.





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Old Travel Blog Photograph Vintage Car Berriedale Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of a vintage car and people on the Berriedale Braes road in Caithness, Scotland. Just south of the village of Berriedale, on the way to the north, the A9 road passes the Berriedale Braes, a steep drop in the landscape, Brae is a Scots word for hillside. The impracticality, and cost, of bridging the Berriedale Braes prevented the building of the Inverness to Wick Far North Line along the east coast of Caithness; instead the railway runs inland through the Flow Country. Berriedale is located at the end of the eighth stage of the coastal John o' Groats Trail.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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Old Travel Blog Photograph Vintage Cars Stromeferry Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of vintage cars waiting to cross at Stromeferry located on the south shore of the west coast sea loch of Lochcarron, Wester Ross, Scotland. Its name reflects its former role as the location of one of the many coastal ferry services which existed prior to the expansion of the road network in the 20th century. It is served by Stromeferry railway station and is close to the A890 road. Stromeferry is on the southern bank of Loch Carron; Strome Castle is opposite on the northern bank. Observance of the Sabbath was strong in the Highlands in the 19th century and the railway company's running of trains on Sundays caused considerable controversy among the local population. On 3 June 1883, Stromeferry was the scene of a Sabbatarian riot in which over 200 fishermen took possession of the railway terminus to prevent the unloading of fish on a Sunday. 10 men were imprisoned as a result. The involvement of both police and military in breaking the riot was questioned in the House of Commons where it was stated that there was no law preventing Sunday traffic in Scotland.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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Old Travel Blog Photograph Steam Train Approaching Railway Station Kyle of Lochalsh Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of a steam train approaching the railway station at Kyle of Lochalsh, across from Isle of Skye, Scotland. The station was opened on 2 November 1897 by the Highland Railway, following the completion of the extension of the Dingwall and Skye Railway from Stromeferry. The extension took more than four years to complete due to the unforgiving nature of the terrain through which it was driven, 29 bridges had to be constructed and more than 30 cuttings excavated through solid rock, which led to it costing £20,000 per mile, making it the most expensive rail route to be built in the UK at the time. As built, the station consisted of a broad island platform on a pier next to the water's edge and a chalet-style station building close to the western end. Access to the station was, and still is, via a sloping access road.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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Old Travel Blog Photograph Shop Lochcarron Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of a shop in Lochcarron, Wester Ross, Scotland. Loch Carron village stretches for almost 2 miles, meandering along the shore of lochcarron. In the 19th Century the village was named Janetown, then Jeantown. Lochcarron is so called from an arm of the sea which it is intersected, and which derived its name from the river Carron, signifying in Gaelic a winding stream. At an early period, the parish here was in the possession of several Clan chiefs, the principle of whom was Macdonald of Gengarry, who had the western part of Strome. All these were gradually dispossessed by Seaforth Lord Kintail, who took the Castle of Strome in 1609. William and Alexander Mackenzie, who were brothers of this parish, were the authors of some popular Gaelic poetry.





All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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