Loch Lomond road will be out for 14 weeks from October

(The connection between our cottage in Scotland and jazz is very tenuous and I apologise for the ps).

Pulpit Rock has been a standing joke for years. These lights convert the road around a 1/2 mile stretch of the Loch Lomond road into one way traffic. They were put up 30 years ago, and described then as "Temporary". Yeah, right, temporary. Of course.

At a cost of £9 million the road is to be converted to a viaduct over the edge of the Loch. Add a few £mill to that if public works estimates are run to order. It will be like the viaduct around the top end of Loch Awe by the Cruachan works built in 1976. So this will take off about 4 minutes from the journey from Glasgow to Inverness via Loch Lomond.

But it will make this route much much more accessible for heavy lorries and big vehicles. The road is already one of the ten most dangerous in Scotland, mostly because of stupid overtaking of slow moving vehicles. This is not the most dangerous bit.

Wait a minute. I agree this is a major road with A road connections to Fort William and Inverness. At present most of the major Highlands traffic goes up the more robust, faster A9 through Pitlochry.

When these major roadworks are completed a lot of that traffic - particularly for Skye, will use the Loch Lomond road. That puts pressure on the Moor of Rannoch, Glen Coe and the awful stretch between the Corran ferry and Fort William. Loch Ness side is a disaster. Overtaking mainly is the problem followed by speeding, motor cyclists, white van drivers - a total nightmare.

The road along Loch Lomond will be closed for 14 weeks after October. I suppose it is progress, but I don't like it. It was never a major problem slowing down, they are not going to get rid of all the twists and turns anyway. Don't know.

Progress. Don'tcha love it?

John
PS Sorry about this bit, but  need to get some pages of a jazz website promoted and if I give them links from here, then that will help.

Jazz bands in Sussex The sussex Gershwin tribute jazz band Jazz Smugglers NOSTALGIA show in Sussex The leading jazz band in Sussex, Jazz smugglers Sussex jazz workshop every Sunday Jazz Smugglers plays at all the Sussex Festivals Romantic background jazz in Sussex Small jazz trio for a Sussex party band How to promote your event and gigs

MACDONALD'S HISTORY. GOING BACK 5,000 YEARS?

I had an email in to-day from Canada. This is what Robert said.

MY GRANDMOTHER ASHLEYS MOTHER WAS A WINKLER FROM NEUSTADT ,ONTARIO.  ROBERT G MAC DONALD. B.A.M.D. retired and living in Quebec,canada.I am Quebec rep for Clan Donald of Canada.I saw your picture to day while looking over Glencoe Viking story. I have Vikings disease. Interesting. (Readers need to see the lowest paragraph on our Viking page in our website to which this comment refers. http://www.bayviewkentallen.co.uk/glencoevikings.html)

Hello Robert. That is interesting.

So you have Viking DNA in you.

And you are a part descendant from middle Europe as well. There was a mass of Central Europeans – Polish many of them – who left the Continent in the mid 1800’s to go to either England or the USA. In both places they were free from the Wars in Europe and free from persecution. The US ones settled mostly in St. Louis. Look at the St. Louis telephone books for the pages of Winklers there.

I’ll tell you something about the MacDonald's you probably don’t know. No one knows this because it is a very modern theory put forward by the most renowned archaeologist in the country.

There is a period of pre-history called the Obanian period. This is where they found remains of Mesolithic people in the five caves. They date these remains to the period between Mesolithic and Neolithic, the only remains of this kind of this period in the country. Why? Because the rest of the similar sites around the country have sunk without trace below the rising sea levels. Around this time and later they found goods which were imported, particularly so much later when metal came to be worked.

Cunliffe points out that the trade in goods between Spain, Britanny and the rest of the continent and Scotland would have caused great wonder to the communities seeing these things for the first time. The men who brought in the goods were seamen, they knew about boats, tides, weather, stars, currents, navigation and suchlike. Because of this they would have had great status in the community. They would be very highly respected because of their deeds, and their stories and their knowledge. Leaders. All the coastal communities would have had high status compared to the new farmers inland.

In Scotland, in the West, these people became known as the MacDonald's – almost an independent kingdom – not for nothing much later were they called the Lords of The Isles. No one dominated the waters like the MacDonald's until the Vikings came. 

John

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