On completion of Day 204 I was welcomed by the staff of
Ackergill Tower in Wick http://www.clarenco.com/venues/ackergill-tower/about-ackergill-tower/
. Ackergill Tower very kindly
gifted my accommodation whilst in Caithness and I am sincerely grateful for
their kindness and generosity.
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| Ackergill Tower in Wick who gifted my accomodation when I stayed in Caithness on Day 204 of my BRIT 2012 walk |
Day 205 of my
BRIT 2012 mile walk took place in Thurso in Caithness. Thurso is a
town and former burgh on the north coast of the Highland council area of
Scotland. It is the northernmost town on the British mainland. The name comes
from Old Norse Thjórsá, meaning "Bull's River". Historically,
it is one of two burghs within the county of Caithness.
Thurso's
history stretches back to at least the era of Norse Orcadian rule in Caithness,
which ended conclusively in 1266. The town was an important Norse port, and has
a later history of trade with ports throughout northern Europe until the 19th
century.
In 1330
Scotland's standard unit of weight was brought in line with that of Thurso at
the decree of King David II of Scotland, a measure of the town's economic
importance. A major expansion occurred in the mid-20th century when the
Dounreay nuclear power plant was established at Dounreay, 9 miles to the west
of the town. Within a period of about five years, Thurso's population expanded
rapidly, from around 2,500 to about 12,000 between 1955–58, as the nuclear
plant attracted skilled migrants from all parts of the United Kingdom. By 1960,
it dropped back to around 9,000, after a lot of the initial Dounreay
construction crew left the area.
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| Dounreay Power Station |
Thurso is also
the name of the viscountcy held by the Sinclair family in the Peerage of the
United Kingdom. The present Viscount Thurso is also the local MP.
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| The Ancient Standing Stone in the Thurso Heritage Centre and Museum |
I was joined
today by the Lord Lieutenant, Anne Dunnett, and was delighted to be shown the
Thurso Museum and Visitor Centre in the heart of the town http://www.caithnesshorizons.co.uk/ Four main areas
of interest at the Museum are the Viking / Norse invasion exhibition and
subsequent control of the area, the Industry Exhibition in Thurso which
includes the Dounreay history, the importance of the archaeological finds
including the Standing Stones and the importance of Robert Dick’s work.
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| With the Lord Lieutenant, Anne Dunnett, and the Lord Lieutenant's Cadet who joined me on Day 205 of my BRIT 2012 walk |
Robert Dick (January 1811 – 24 December 1866) was a
Scottish geologist and botanist. At the age of thirteen, after receiving
a good elementary education at the parish school, Dick was apprenticed to a
baker, and served for three years. In these early days he became interested in
wildflowers - he made a collection of plants and gradually acquired some
knowledge of their names from an old encyclopedia.
When his time
was out he gained employment as a journeyman baker. His father advised his son
to set up a baker's shop in that Thurso. Dick went there in 1830, started in
business as a baker, and worked laboriously until his death.
Throughout
this period he zealously devoted himself to studying and collecting the plants,
mollusca and insects of a wide area of Caithness, and his attention was
directed soon after he settled in Thurso to the rocks and fossils. In 1835 he
first found remains of fossil fishes; but it was not till some years later that
his interest became greatly stirred.
Then he
obtained a copy of Hugh Miller’s Old Red Sandstone (published in 1841),
and he began systematically to collect with hammer and chisel the fossils from
the Caithness flags. He forwarded the best fossil fish specimens to Miller and
to others after the death of Miller. In this way he largely contributed to the
progress of geological knowledge, although he himself published nothing and was
ever averse from publicity.
His herbarium,
which consisted of about 200 folios of mosses, ferns and flowering plants
"almost unique in its completeness," is now stored, with many of his
fossils, in the museum at Thurso.
Robert Dick
had a hard struggle for existence, especially through competition during his
late years, when he was reduced almost to beggary. A monument erected in the
new cemetery at Thurso testifies to the respect which his life-work created,
when the merits of his work came to be appreciated.
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| Parked up on the road crossing between Orkney and the Isle of South Ronaldsay where I stayed on Day 205 |
My thanks to
the Lord Lieutenant, Anne Dunnett, for welcoming me to Caithness and giving her
time to walk with me. I am also grateful to James King, The Lord Lieutenant’s
Cadet for taking the morning off of his work to come and walk with me and
finally to , Fiona Macintosh from Thurso Air Training Corps & The
University of Highlands & Islands, who coordinated the walk in Thurso.
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| The old man of Hoy appearing through the fog as I approached Orkney on the ferry |
I left Thurso
by ferry that afternoon for my journey to Orkney. The weather closed in and
unfortunately the views diminished the further we sailed towards Orkney. As you
will see from the photo of the Old Man of Hoy, it was a bad day for weather!
I finished Day
205 with 697 miles to go.
Best wishes,
Phil