The weather is behaving as winter weather should with overnight snow and bright, sharp sunshine for my journey south. Drumbuidhe, being right next to the shore, gets very little snow but the trip out can be a bit interesting once you get to higher ground and it's always wise to carry a shovel. The trip out is made more interesting because the track is going through a really, really bad patch.
A distillery has started up at the big house and the leftover mash is being fed to the cattle. This is excellent news for the cattle who are in fine fettle with glossy coats and good health. However it's rubbish news for the track. The tractor and trailer used to take the mash out to the cattle has a combined weight of 7 tonnes. This is too much for the track and sections of it keep collapsing. It happened last winter and it's happening again with two bad bits, just above Auliston and just before Port a'bhata. Once a patch of the track gets soft, that patch gets worse and worse.
Last year the track was patched in the spring and I assume that's going to happen this year as well. Obviously it doesn't fix the underlying problem which is that the track is not robust enough for the current agricultural use. If it's patched again (rather than the whole track being upgraded or lighter vehicles beinng used) then the same thing will happen next winter, albeit in different places.
The issue of the track is complicated because I don't own it and there is no formal agreement in place for its upkeep. The current owners of the estate would like me to move out and buy Drumbuidhe so the more difficulty I have getting to and from Drumbuidhe, the better for them. The current owners are also short of money so they would like me to contribute to the cost of track maintenance. Since the track problems are caused by their use, this is unlikely to happen. The current owner also has unsupported confidence in his ability to devise schemes for track maintenance which I am definitely not going to support. His cunning plan to dig out the hillside at Sornagan a couple of years back is causing regular problems as landslips keep blocking the drainage channels.The rubbish track means that, if possible, I walk out. On Sunday there was a skiff outing which I walked out for and, for all the track problems, it's still a glorious route. Here's to a fine new year!
