Talisker gives its name to Talisker whisky, but the distillery is not at Talisker, it is at Carbost on the shores of Loch Harport.
At Talisker is to be found Talisker House.
It was to here in 1773 that Samuel Johnson moved on for his next freebie after Ullinish House:
"From Uilinish, our next stage was to Talisker, the house of colonel Macleod, an officer in the Dutch service, who, in this time of universal peace, has for several years been permitted to be absent from his regiment. Having been bred to physick, he is consequently a scholar, and his lady, by accompanying him in his different places of residence, is become skilful in several languages. Talisker is the place beyond all that I have seen, from which the gay and the jovial seem utterly excluded; and where the hermit might expect to grow old in meditation, without possibility of disturbance or interruption,It is situated very near the sea, but upon a coast where no vessel lands but when it is driven by a tempest on the rocks. Towards the land are lofty hills streaming with waterfalls. The garden is sheltered by firs or pines, which grow there so prosperously that some, which the present inhabitant planted, are very high and thick."
Bowell wrote of Talisker in his journal:
"Talisker is a better place than one commonly finds in Sky. It is situated in a rich bottom. Before it is a wide expanse of sea,on each hand of which are immense rocks; and, at some distance to the sea, there are three columnal rocks rising to sharp points. The billows break with prodigious force and noise on the coast of Talisker. There are here a good many well grown trees. Talisker is an extensive farm."
Do not be confused by Johnson's absence of gays and Boswell's rich bottom. They meant very different things in those days.
Talisker is dominated by Preshal Mor, a mountain, and away to the south, off a tributary of Sleadale Burn, which flows into the sea at Talisker is another rocky outcrop, Preshal Beg.
Beside the burn are the remains of a broch.
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Looking back towards Preshal Mor and Talisker House, a 2006 digital photo |
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Some years ago the incredible thing was washed up on Talisker Beach after a winter storm.
It appears to be some sort of mooring device, and it floats. It has a bollard on top and a ring-type bracket underneath. It is very large and heavy.
What frightens me is not that it was washed up at Talisker, but that it was lost at sea to start with.
It could do a fair bit of damage to a conventional ship travelling at 16 knots or so, if the two collided.
What if it had collided one dark night with one of these modern super fast catamaran-type ferries which travel around 50 mph? It doesn't bear thinking about.
Copyright © Gareth Boote 2006