(Again, out of focus and poor exposure, oh the shame.)

There was formerly a Rapunzel’s garden of weeds and thorns in the garden here at the club rooms by Gerry Square for the Caithness Cycle Club. But a spade, rake, shears and boiling water on dandelions has beat it back to reveal rich, dark earth beneath the pavings which hasn’t supported anything other than weak grass for at least two decades.

What I hadn’t appreciated about many of the old buildings in Caithness is that they’re built from the same material. This property was donated to the Club in perpetuity over 30 years ago and, in addition to the stone walls, parts retain slate flooring.

See those three indistinct blobs of grey on the hummock of grass?  Those are seals, resting at themouth of Thurso River.

The temperature still hovers around freezing after this week’s cold-snap, and sea-smoke was visible in the habour this morning (my current cheapy camera never would do that justice). Many of the side paths are still lethally icy, as the council has not fulfilled all of its duties to grit them… and for that reason, salt has completely sold-out in all the shops.

This was taken at Thurso boating pond, which is part of what was drained of the lower-river in the 19th Century. Because it’s still water, it commonly freezes over.

Following the interest shown in my missive about the SS Ashbury, I returned to Mount Vernon cemetery to looking into the other war-graves.

One other ill-fated ship which passed the north coast was the  DS Freidig (previously called the Melsomvik) of the Norwegian Merchant Fleet, and operating out of Haugesund. She was was transporting grain from Aberdeen to Liverpool when she floundered off Cape Wrath on 7 February 1944.

The Thurso life-boat, under the coxswain John McLeod was summoned and soon found a life-boat with five dead sailors onboard. Two living crewmembers were found on another lifeboat, and rescued. The remaining 26 crewmembers never were found, and presumed lost at sea.

For his outstanding seamanship, McLeod was awarded the RNLI’s Bronze Medal as well as the British Empire Medal.

The above graves contain the mortal remains of: Petter Ellefsen (b. 13 August 1884); Anton Dahl (b. 9 May 1900); Oskar Ehnsbom (b. 5 February 1906); Haakon Storsten (b. 13 January 1883).

Meanwhile, former public school boy, now university student, Philip Laing is told to expect a gaol sentence following his conviction for outraging public decency.  He had been photograph’d urinating on a war-memorial in Sheffield.

… oh, for the sweet influences of Pleiades.

There was a light frost in the north-facing part of the garden this morning, but a much heavier one is coming down.  The gritters were out in town for the first time this year, and walking down to Tescos to buy milk this evening, I looked across the Thurso skyline to see a fog hugging the contours of the rooftops.

© Central Caithness Churches.

Although the balm of autumn has been blown away, an area of high pressure remains over Caithness.  With my bicycle working again, yesterday I took a bicycle ride to Dunnet from Thurso.

I marked my turn-back point with Dunnet Parish Church.  Part of the central grouping of parishes for the Caithness Presbytery of the Church of Scotland, it is nestled by St John’s Loch at the base of Dunnet Head; making it the most northerly church on mainland Britain.

Records of a Christian site date from between 1223 and 1245, and the present building with a W tower is assumed to have been constructed by the 16th Century at least before Reformation due to the number of gravestone of that period in the graveyard and of its medieval monastic architecture.   The N aisle, however, was added in 1837.

It is noted for, between 1601 and 1610, having been the parish church of Timothy Pont, alumnus of St Andrews University and Alfred Wainwright of his day.  His sketchings and observations of Scotland in the 1580s and ’90s became part of Joan Blaeu’s Atlas Novus in 1665, some five decades after his death.

They are accepted as being the earliest known examples of cartography of a modern country compiled from actual survey, and display in minute details many architectural and topographic features; although, in many cases, these are recognizable from certain angles and vantage points.

Very little is known about Pont the man and, apart from his maps, the only monument to him is a marble placque in the church grounds.  At the time of his ministry, his brother Zacharias was minister for the adjacent Bower Parish.

© Seaview Farmhouse.

Like many of the harbour villages up-and-down the southern coast of Caithness, Lybster was formerly heavily dependent on the herring industry, and was where the outdoor filming of the 1947 version of Neil Gunn’s The Silver Darlings took place.

The actual village is just off the A9 road, and it can quickly be seen that the narrow streets would be wholly unsuited for a modern dual-carriage way.

The above photograph shows the harbour light, surely one of the prettiest harbour lights in northern Scotland. Construction of a wooden pier was first recorded in 1810, with the current harbour being first laid out in 1849.

In 1882, when the harbour light dates from, it was substantially renovated at the expense of the 6th Duke of Portland, who was Lord Lieutenant of Caithness from 1889-1910.

Lybster is twinned with Mackinac Island on Lake Huron, in recognition of Lybster-man, Lieutenant General Patrick Sinclair who was responsible for the construction of Fort Mackinac during the American Revolutionary Wars.

He died in 1820, and is buried at Lybster.

© Copyright Phil Williams and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Okie cokie, I have given up getting my camera fixed any time soon, but have enjoyed the sense of community with City Daily Photo, so am going to combine a journal of my regular doings or thoughts with piccies of the Hyperborean North which I locate on the Internet.  Full credit will be given to the authors where known.

Last night was a crisp clear sky, with an almost full moon visible over Thurso Castle from my house.  Although Thurso did not have a ground frost, it was felt at Halkirk (and which I cycled through today).

The village claims to be the first planned village in Scotland, but I have not seen definate proof of this.  It is certain, though, that is is based on a grid-plan design and of 18/19th Century construction.  The above photograph is of the village hall, or the Ross Institute constructed with a legacy from the Ross family in the first decade of the 20th Century.

The clock was the first electronic tower clock to be installed in a Scottish building, and the statue in front which represents Sorrow was erected in 1922 following the Great War.

Ten minutes drive north of Latheron on the southern coast of Caithness, the Achavanich standing stones are 36 in number and in a low-lying horse-shoe shape.

(Copyright Transport Cafe.)

… unless his name is Freddie Stroma.

Along with Swona, Stroma is one of the two islands in the Pentland Firth, and is situated about two miles off of Gills Bay in Caithness. Swona is administratively and historically part of the Orkney Islands, whilst Stroma is historically part of Caithness and, now, administratively part of the Highlands. Various pieces of popular history attribute the difference being to which supported snake-life (Stroma) and which did not (Swona).

Formerly, it supported a population of some 500, but since the 1960s has been uninhabited. Seen from the shore, it gives a melancholy look as empty houses built from the sturdy Caithness stone remain. It is now owned by a Caithness farmer who uses it for sheep grazing; as well as a conservation area. Although, not too bizarrely, plans have been mooted to make it a half-way point in a submarine tunnel linking Orkney to the mainland.

A number of ferocious tidal features are present in the Pentland Firth, including a tidal race which traces between the north and south ends of Stroma. The northern point is at Swilkie Point, which is reputed to be the site mentioned in the Old Norse poem, Grottasöngr as the magic mill where the salt of the sea is ground. The sea-king, Mysing had stolen a magic quern from King Frode.

Mysing’s land, connecting Stroma to Swona, sunk under the weight of the quern, but the sound of the mill is still heard beneath the waves.