Scottish Highlands Explorer Photos | Glen Docherty and Loch Maree

	120
	Colin Dunn
	2004

Glen Docherty and Loch Maree

One of the most evocative views in the Highlands of Scotland is this view down Glen Docherty to Loch Maree in Wester Ross. Unfortunately, this scene is now a thing of the past, as a new road is being laid to replace the wonderful old single-track road. To date the work looks like it's being done sensitively, and the new road promises to be quite scenic. However, it is never likely to rival the romance or pure nostalgia that this fine old road offered. Another link to a simpler time and lifestyle is lost.
Picture Added on 14 December 2006.

Comments

Really is a splendid view but nostalgia is a thing of the past. The new road is sensitively landscaped and motorists can enjoy scenery in a much more relaxed state rather than having eyes glued to the next bend and avoiding approaching traffic and stray sheep. I expect similar romantic attitudes could have been expressed two centuries or so ago when the original pony track was opened. Prior to that the communication to the coastal villages was mainly and inevitably by sea - romantic maybe but times move on!
Added by Alasdair Macintyre on 17 March 2007.

Hi Alastair. Maybe there's an element of rose-tinted spectacles in my notes, but I'm still concerned. I drove the road a couple of weeks ago, and the straight at the bottom of the glen is now so long that I suspect most motorists will be travelling far too fast to see the view, let alone the roadside sheep that give roads like this much of their charm.

I think that what brings most of the tourists and money to the area is the apparent remoteness of areas like this, and how different it is to the mainstream of Scotland - they're looking for something simpler and better. Romantic, yes, but the older areas with single-track roads do seem to be set back a few decades from the pressures of the modern world, or at least so it seems to the tourist.

As soon as there's a big modern road into it, however, the tourists simply drive through it as quickly as they can seeking that elusive phantom of old world charm. In a way, bringing in the new roads is killing the golden goose, and I wonder what will happen to the tourist business when all of these old eccentric, narrow, pot-holed, lay-by punctuated, charming and irritating roads are gone.
Added by Colin on 21 March 2007.

I have to agree with Colin. I started to visit this most gorgeous part of the country some five years ago each year counting down the days when I could visit again. The view as you topped the brow of the hill and looked down into Glen Docherty and Loch Maree just took my breath away every time. The hairs stood up on the back of my neck and in my opinion it was the best view in the world! The modern road, of course, will take away this utter feeling of remoteness, which is why one has visited this area in the first place. What a shame.
Added by Pat Herbert on 11 September 2007.