Leitch's Wood Morayshire

Images are sourced within 2km of 57.605962/-3.075083 or Grid Reference NJ3557. Thanks to Geograph Open Source API. All images are credited.

Fochabers Roadworks, Spring 2011

A year into the job, and the new bypass is beginning to take shape.

Anne Burgess

Fochabers Bypass Roadworks, Spring 2011

I wonder why the silt settles out of some ponds and puddles, but not others? This water was still the same opaque red colour two days later. See NJ3558 : Fochabers Bypass Roadworks, Spring 2011.

Anne Burgess

Gordon Castle Farm

A patch of dandelions by the roadside makes a bright foreground for the house and buildings at Gordon Castle Farm.

Anne Burgess

Small Burn at Whitegate

The burn is named on the 1:25,000 map as Small Burn, and the name seems appropriate. It drains the glen through which the Winding Walks go, and after crossing under the road near Whitegate it joins the Wishart Burn near Gordon Castle Farm. It is almost hidden by new beech foliage.

Anne Burgess

Wishart Burn

The burn drains the area of woods known as Deer Park, eventually reaching the River Spey.

Anne Burgess

Deer Park

There seems to have been some kind of road here, now almost vanished among the beech woods. It has been bypassed by a newer track which can be used to take out timber from the plantations nearby.

Anne Burgess

Gordon Castle and Baxters

Having had to turn back when the track I was following degenerated into a whin-overgrown bicycle-unfriendly path, I noticed that from the track there is a glimpse through the trees of the roof and tower of Gordon Castle, with the expanse of buildings at Baxters of Speyside in the distance.

Anne Burgess

Clear Fell on Deer Park

A section of the conifer plantation on Deer Park has been felled.

Anne Burgess

Deer Park

Part of the conifer plantation has been felled, but the broadleaved trees have been left alone.

Anne Burgess

Beech Leaves

At this time of year, the beech leaves are a bright shade of pale green which to me is one of the marks of spring.

Anne Burgess

Gordon Castle Garden

This archway is the entrance to the walled garden which served Gordon Castle. Brick retains warmth, so is preferred for walled gardens because it helps to encourage fruiting of trees trained up the wall. Some such trees are visible on the right.

Anne Burgess

Sheds at Gordon Castle Garden

Old sheds and stores outside the walled garden. It looks as if there is little use being made of them now.

Anne Burgess

Tree Stump by the Cross

The stone pillar is the Cross of the old village of Fochabers. In 1776 the Duke of Gordon, wishing to remove the huddle of cottages which had developed too close to Gordon Castle, had a new village laid out further south, and the tenants were transplanted to the new village. Only the old Cross remains to mark the spot. Somewhere near it was a large and renowned tree known as the Duchess Tree, commemorated in a tune by the composer William Marshall, but it isn't know exactly where it was. I don't think it was this stump, though it must have been a very large tree too.

Anne Burgess

The Cross

The stone pillar is what is left of the Cross of the old village of Fochabers. In 1776 the Duke of Gordon, wishing to remove the huddle of cottages which had developed too close to Gordon Castle, had a new village laid out further south, and the tenants were transplanted to the new village. Only the old Cross remains to mark the spot. At one time there were jougs attached to it. These are a sort of collar which was used to chain malefactors to expose them to public ridicule.

Anne Burgess

Gordon Castle Lake

The tranquil surroundings of the lake are even quieter now, because the direct access from the village has been cut off by the bypass roadworks. To reach the lake now means a detour longer than the walk round it when you get there. As a consequence there have been few people feeding the ducks, and the population today is markedly smaller than it used to be. The reflections of the beeches which lean down to the water are unchanged.

Anne Burgess

Fochabers Bypass

This section of the new bypass looks almost complete. It is sad that the bypass was inadequate, and in the wrong place, before the first divot was cut for its construction. There is just room for a single carriageway here between Gordon Chapel and Gordon Castle Lake, so when the traffic, as it inevitably will, outgrows a single carriageway there will be no possibility of widening the road. There was almost complete agreement locally that the bypass should go south of the village, but the Powers That Be rejected this on grounds of cost.

Anne Burgess

Fochabers Bypass

This section of the new bypass looks almost complete, for a short distance, at least. It is sad that the bypass was inadequate, and in the wrong place, before the first divot was cut for its construction. There is just room for a single carriageway here between Gordon Chapel and Gordon Castle Lake, so when the traffic, as it inevitably will, outgrows a single carriageway there will be no possibility of widening the road. There was almost complete agreement locally that the bypass should go south of the village, but the Powers That Be rejected this on grounds of cost.

Anne Burgess

Fochabers Bypass Roadworks, Spring 2011

This is taken two days later than NJ3558 : Fochabers Bypass Roadworks, Spring 2011, and shows that the red silt in the water has not settled out of suspension. I wonder why not?

Anne Burgess