Alec Finlay has imagined walks between some colour place names in the landscape (Alec Finlay: Some Colour Trends ). Alec was interested to know how the names relate to reality in nature, and if walks between them were actually possible. So I went to explore.
Blue Cairn
thigh-deep heather
piles of bluish-grey stones
why was this one
given a name?
snow patches
white hares
under a bridge
by a ford
two burns meet
Blacksnake
One of Alec’s conceived walks around Glenbuchat was between two burns: Allt na Greine to Blacksnake Burn.
Alec researches the meaning of place names through multiple sources:
On a misty dreich day, I went to find the Blacksnake burn.
Alec researches the meaning of place names through multiple sources:
OS, Blacksnake Burn; Milne gives G., snà ig, to creep or crawl, for a slow-maundering burn, but, according to Watson, the name is Black Sneck, from the Sc. sneck, a notch between two hills, or, in Alexander, a cut on the horizon. In the Peak District sneck is used in a similar topography to refer to a latch.
On a misty dreich day, I went to find the Blacksnake burn.
I
found
an idle stream
that crept along
curled in a
cleft
bend by bend up to
the notch of the loch
that unlocks the
latch
of the watershed which
feeds the divide I looked
on as the mouth
opened
into the dark head
of a snake
in
Milne
snake is snaig
to creep, or crawl
Watson gives sneck,
a notch between hills
Polmadie’s sneck’s
a lock
and Russell
gives snake
whose head she
has
seen in the
shape
of the
wee
loch itself
Alec Finlay, Some Colour Trends
Breac
Another walk Alec and I created connects ‘breac’ place names. Breac means 'speckled' or 'spotted'. It is a common feature in the natural environment-from trout to scree. Alec had found two hills in quite close vicinity with breac place names: Dubh Breac and Breagach.
I had walked there before, but set out to explore Dubh Breac more closely. At first sight it seemed just another amorphous lump with no distinguishing features, but on the top I found the most unusual circular white patches of stones.
wetted feet fording
Allt Chuirn Deirg
secret pools
& soundscapes
tracking the burn
to its source
where deer shelter
among wild-flowers
keep on till the last
patch of green leads
up the bleak slope
Dubh Breac
breac’s universal speckle
bright white stones
in dark heather
dubh’s black peat bogs
on the summit
Allt Chuirn Deirg
secret pools
& soundscapes
tracking the burn
to its source
where deer shelter
among wild-flowers
keep on till the last
patch of green leads
up the bleak slope
Dubh Breac
breac’s universal speckle
bright white stones
in dark heather
dubh’s black peat bogs
on the summit
I created a circular walk from Corriebreck to Breagach Hill via Dubh Breac, which Alec translated as: ‘a circular walk from Splotched Corrie to Speckled Hill via Darkly Pockled’
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| Click to enlarge |
We have also created routes and maps for some of Alec's other colour walks:
Blue Cairn to the Garnet Stone
White Well to Well of Cul-dearg
Ca-du ford to Bridge of Avon
White Well to Well of Cul-dearg
Ca-du ford to Bridge of Avon
Detailed walking routes can be found on www.deveron-arts.com (soon)
Alec Finlay, 'Some Colour Trends'
Gill Russell, 'Lorg-coise'
