A road trip around the north coast of Scotland in September 2023...
- Boath to Dornoch
- Dornoch to John o'Groats
- John o'Groats to Tongue
- Tongue to Lochinver
- Lochinver to Ullapool
- Ullapool to Torridon
- Torridon to Inverness
Boath to Dornoch
The mermaid of the North
There was a fisherman by the name of Donal who one day went up to the loch above Nigg Hill to gather willow to make a new creel. On his way back, he decided to go onto the cliffs and gather some seagulls' eggs for himself. While he was filling his pockets he looked down and sitting on a rock was a beautiful lady with long reddish fair hair, singing to herself. As he got down onto the shore, he realised she was a mermaid.
He crept up behind her and held her by the left hand, which was the way to hold a mermaid as all her strength is in that hand. She begged him to let her go, but as he lived alone, he decided to take her home. He took her tail and hid it so she couldn't go back to the sea. After some time of looking and being unable to find it, she settled with Donal and they had lots of children.
She became very domesticated, doing everything for her husband and family. But one day, when in the loft of the shed, she found something and recognised it as her tail. So she took it and went back to the sea.
When Donal came home and found her gone, he went down to the shore and begged her to come back, but although she came to speak to him, she refused to return to his house. Every day, her children would come to Shandwick Bay and she would give them fish to take home and eat.
Dornoch to John o'Groats
John o'Groats to Tongue
Tongue to Lochinver
Lochinver to Ullapool
Ullapool to Torridon
Torridon to Inverness
