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The Beehive Cells<br />
Page 42: A shieling at Fidigidh<br />
Uachdrach.<br />
Page 43: The ruins of the old<br />
Ardveg house.<br />
Below: The ‘new’ house at Ardveg,<br />
built in 1934, beyond the ruins of<br />
the old.<br />
Photographs taken by the author,<br />
Marc Calhoun.<br />
with their attendants, spread about. We selected<br />
a good position for sketching, and very soon a<br />
boy was sent to us with the offer of milk. His<br />
stock of English was not good, and he could<br />
only speak of the group of huts as the city.<br />
Shortly a damsel brought us a bowl of milk.’<br />
When It Was Alive<br />
Most of the cells Sharbau sketched are in<br />
ruins, but I am able to find the spot where he<br />
made his drawing . Oh how I wish I could have<br />
seen this place when it was alive. anks to<br />
Sharbau, and Captain omas, we have some<br />
idea of how it used to look.<br />
My quest for shielings in the Morsgail Deer<br />
Forest is done for the day. I have covered<br />
eight miles, and it’s time to find a campsite. I<br />
have no doubt where that will be. e night<br />
will be spent in another favourite place, one<br />
full of shielings and only three miles away -<br />
the Ardveg.<br />
From Fidigidh, an hour of bog-hopping takes<br />
me to Hamanavay, where I cross the river to<br />
make the mile climb to the Ardveg. e Estate<br />
has just been sold and I have been told the new<br />
owners are in residence, so I decide to pay<br />
them a visit before setting up camp.<br />
Inspired Me<br />
With his tales of the MacDonalds and<br />
MacLennans, who once lived in the Ardveg,<br />
Alasdair Alpin MacGregor made this remote<br />
hamlet immortal in e Haunted Isles. at<br />
book inspired me to camp in the Ardveg back<br />
in 2001. I was fortunate to return in 2013 for<br />
the book launch of John MacDonald’s An<br />
Trusadh, Memories of Crofting in the Ardveg.<br />
Under the bright sun of a late summer<br />
afternoon, the wind keeping the midges<br />
away, I arrive to find three of the new owners<br />
in residence: Julie and two of her children.<br />
After pitching my tent near the old<br />
blackhouses, I am treated to supper in the<br />
‘new’ Ardveg house (built by John<br />
MacDonald’s father in 1934); a roaring coal<br />
fire warming cold toes.<br />
In the twilight, after enjoying true island<br />
hospitality, I return to the tent. The deer are<br />
barking as I settle in and there are no midges.<br />
I need to get some rest for tomorrow will be<br />
a long day. There are several shielings in the<br />
Ardveg with beehive cells I plan to visit<br />
before making the long walk up to Uig,<br />
where I hope to find another campsite<br />
under Hebridean stars.<br />
44 SCOTTISH ISLANDS EXPLORER NOVEMBER / DECEMBER <strong>2016</strong>