A Cycling Tour of the North West Highlands and Skye - 1936 From The Diary of Mary M. Harvie
Born in 1918, Mary Harvie was a keen hosteller. Over the last few months, her son Harvie has transcribed a diary of her adventures and has kindly shared some lovely memories of a fantastic cycling trip to the North West Highlands and Skye with her older sisters in 1936, aged 17 years. Sat. 6th July
Left home at 7am Glasgow old Edinburgh Road. Anniesland Cross then main boulevard to Balloch. Lovely day, sun very warm. Had tea at Luss very nice place. Then on again through Tarbert to Ardlui. Grand scenery and peaceful water. Sunbathed at Ardlui for 2 hours & explored Glen Falloch. Very small church at Ardlui. Continuing through Glen Falloch to Crianlarich with Ben Vorlich and Ben More in the distance. Arrived about 6pm The hostel not quite finished but a nice crowd. Jock & David & Alex three joiners at the Hostel were very nice. We six went a nice walk on the Killin road and round the foot of Ben More. At their suggestion we arranged to climb Ben More on the following day with them.
Sun. 7th
Beautiful day so 11am saw us complete with haversack and camera start the climb of Ben More 3842 ft. We certainly did get sun burnt. It was terribly hot. We had a bathe in a mountain stream. Lovely
Crianlarich
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and cool. On we went & after 3hrs. hard work we reached the top. Some bits very dangerous and rocky. We added another stone to the cairn and put our names in the homemade bottle. Lovely view all round Loch Lomond, Ireland and the Trossachs. We had a well-earned meal, while the sun burned holes in us. Then after a rest down we came. Rolling, sliding, sitting on the grass, running and jumping. We reached the bottom, Ella and I first, and kindled a fire to have another meal. But alas when the haversack arrived a search for tea proved fruitless. For spite we drank boiled water. Tired, but happy we arrived back at the Hostel in the evening. Bed time came, but we were so warm we couldn’t sleep for a while.
Mon. 8th
The next morning we were like lobsters but we cooled down. Another glorious day. Goodbye to the boys then off. Through Tyndrum, Bridge of Orchy to Loch Tulla, where we had a lovely bathe and beautiful sands. A lovely free wheel
of 5 miles, then round to the Black Mount. A lorry passed us & he waved. When we turned the corner he was stopped. He offered us a lift to Ballachuilish we didn’t refuse. Each holding their own bike we sat on the lorry. What magnificent scenery all round. Glencoe is really beautiful. Jean knew the people in the bakers shop at Ballachuilish so we called & had a lovely free tea. Then we crossed over the ferry to North Ballachuilish, another beautiful run into Fort William. Straight through and along Glen Nevis to the hostel at the foot of the ben. Early in arriving owing to lift. Nice hostel and nice warden. Good store so after our meal we went for a walk along Glen Nevis. Back to bed.
Tues. 9th
Along to Fort William again accompanied by Peggy a dutch girl. On the road to Mallaig quite a good road to Glenfinnan where Prince Charles’ monument stands. At the end of Loch Eilt. Beautiful scenery here too. But the road becomes dreadful. Gosh stones, holes and no road in places. A lorry full of sand going past stopped and took all four of us, bikes & all. He took us as far as he was going. A good lift of 5 miles of terrible surface. We thanked him profoundly. We carried on till we saw a house on the hill side. Up we went to see if we could get something to eat, but alas the house was empty. We drank water from the burn and ate dry bread. A passing motorist and 3 women passengers stopped and gave us lemonade. He turned back as the road was so bad. Still enjoying the best of weather we carried on. The road became better near Lochailort. The sun was so warm Jean put on her cape to cover her arms. She skidded and cut her hand and knee. I was
