The Drove Roads of Scotland by A.R.B. Haldane

In December 2015 I explored the well-made track from the bottom of the Struie, up by the semi-ruined house at Garvary, past some fine examples of glacial deposits cut through by the Wester Fearn Burn, before an indecisive path through heather ended at an isolated nineteenth-century shepherd’s house. I’d had my eye on this route for a while. Half the day would be gone before they caught sight of Clach Goil, the big rock on the horizon. After a night wrapped in their thick woven plaids, they started the slow business of herding their own animals away from the growing crops of the low country by the Dornoch Firth, and over Church Hill. At Kincardine, by present day Ardgay, they bargained hard, and perhaps rewarded themselves with the entertainment of the fair, or bought food at the stalls, or drank with friends. They bought beasts brought from further north, from Strath Naver, Edderachillis, and Assynt, and they would sell them again at the big trysts of Muir of Ord, Crieff or Falkirk. Many who tramped past this spot had been at the Kincardine Fair.

Most days they just had oatmeal, mixed with cold water, or had it made into porridge if they stopped near a house. It was more than probable that two hundred, three hundred, and more, years ago others sheltered from the wind right there, taking oatcakes and cheese from a leather bag beneath their plaid. In the lee of the big rock, I extracted my oatcakes and cheese from the plastic bag in my rucksack.

The Drove Roads of Scotland by A.R.B. Haldane