David and Jane

The Guardian reports that the great Richmond Café in BA is to be replaced by a Nike store. According to the paper: "The plight of the Richmond has dominated local media since the cafe's insides were gutted last Monday morning. Apparently to ensure it could not be returned to its former splendour even if the local government rules against the Nike shop, the Richmond was emptied of its historical interior, right down to its grandiosely comfortable Chesterfield wingback leather armchairs, in a 3am raid. The movers took the precaution of pulling down the security camera on the front of the building first." Here's a final reminder of what's been lost. We'll resist the temptation to post a picture of what a Nike store will look like.... read more

Our first visit to Kylerhea had been a short one, and we decided to go back before we left Scotland. This time, we drove to Glenelg and took the turntable ferry. There were two other cars, a handful of passengers, and two elderly collies who romped and barked on the slipway. A crewman collected our fare and told us the story of the ferry. It used to be privately owned, but has been run as a community project for six years. When the Skye bridge from Kyle was first opened, he said, that bridge was owned by an American company, which charged a toll of £5.40 each way. A lot of people used the ferries instead. But the bridge is now free and the Kylerhea ferry ceased to be commercially viable. On the short crossing, we ... read more

The Road to the Isles is on the mainland, but from Allt Nan Sugh, you have to drive all the way to Fort William to get there. The shorter route is by CalMac ferry from Armadale on Skye to Mallaig. On the 1130am crossing, we saw porpoises off the port bow. The road runs for 46 miles through green glens. We went only as far as Glenfinnan. At the Visitor Centre, the National Trust for Scotland has a variety of schemes for taking your money, from a fee for the car park, through an honesty box outside the toilets, to selling tickets for the Bonnie Prince Charlie monument. This last, a figure of the Young Pretender atop a tower, commemorates the Jacobite uprising of 1745. Here is reputed to be the very spot where he raised ... read more

Near Glenelg, there are larger brochs than the one above Loch Alsh. Two in particular are so well preserved that you gain an instant impression of the size and layout from two thousand years ago. Tapering tower-like structures, set in a sheltered valley near a stream, they still have stone staircases and the remains of floors at upper levels. These are visible most clearly in the cavity between the two stone skins of the walls. From the information on signs at each site, it seems that there were brochs in Northern Scotland and on the Shetland Isles. It's thought that there were specialists who travelled around the region building them, and that the size of these two indicates that they were occupied by people of high social status. The signs show domestic scenes, with families gathered ... read more

Thursday The western shores of Loch Duich offer a view across to Dornie and Eilean Donan castle. Where the land curves eastwards at Totaig, we stood to watch a school of porpoises heading into Loch Duich from Loch Alsh. As the path climbed, we stopped to taste blackberries and tiny, sweet wild raspberries. On a hill overlooking the two lochs, surrounded by bracken, is a broch. This dry stone fortification is reputed to have stood here for two thousand years, built as a defence against marauders. Friday After a walk to a ruined castle at the entrance to Loch Eishort on Skye, we took afternoon tea in the lounge of Kinloch Lodge hotel. It's owned by Claire Macdonald, the cookery writer, and has a small shop selling, among other things, her books. ... read more