STATUE

[spiggie]

Does anybody know what that statue that stands on one of the hills across from Dunrobnin Castle represents? [/b]

[doreenhedgehog]

Here you go, the lazy way!:

A mile northwest of Golspie, you can't miss the 100ft monument to the first Duke of Sutherland, which peers proprietorially down from the summit of the 1293ft Beinn a'Bhragaidh (Ben Bhraggie). An inscription cut into its base recalls that the statue was erected in 1834 by "a mourning and grateful tenantry [to] a judicious, kind and liberal landlord [who would] open his hands to the distress of the widow, the sick and the traveller". Unsurprisingly, there's no reference to the fact that the duke, widely regarded as Scotland's own Josef Stalin, forcibly evicted 15,000 crofters from his million-acre estate - a fact which, in the words of one local historian, makes the monument "a grotesque representation of the many forces that destroyed the Highlands". The campaign to have the statue smashed and scattered over the hillside has largely died down; the general attitude now seems to be that the statue now stands as a useful reminder of the duke's infamy as much as his achievements.

It's worth the wet, rocky climb to the top of the hill (round-trip 1hr 30min) for the wonderful views south along the coast past Dornoch to the Moray Firth and west towards Lairg and Loch Shin. It's steep and strenuous, however, and there's no view until you're out of the trees, about ten minutes from the top. Take the road opposite Munro's TV Rentals in Golspie's main street, which leads up the hill, past a fountain, under the railway and through a farmyard; from here, follow the Beinn a'Bhragaidh footpath (BBFP) signs along the path into the woods. You can go back the way you came, or follow a clear track which initially goes north from the monument and then winds down through Benvraggie Wood to meet a tarred road; turn left here to link into the path of the Big Burn Glen walk

[daviddd]

cool! Always wondered how to get up there! Must make an effort now, maybe on a spring / summer evening coming back from Invershnicky!

[~~Tides~~]

Isn't is costomary to take eggs to throw at him or something like that?
Or am I talking rubbish?