On Saturday morning, we drove a short distance from John O’Groats to Duncansby Head. Friends had recommended we visit this spot to take in the amazing view.
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| We were the only visitors that day! |
From there we headed west, keeping close to the northern coast, stopping periodically when something caught our interest.
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| View of Orkney from Dunnet Head |
Our destination was Talmine, a tiny town on Kyle of Tongue (an inlet on the northern coast). My great-grandmother (my dad’s father’s mother), Isabella MacKenzie, had lived there as a child before emigrating to Canada. My aunt visited Talmine several years ago and told me it was a beautiful place. Still, we were totally unprepared for what awaited us in this remote corner of the world.
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| The first of the breathtaking beach views... |
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| Stopping at the bridge across Kyle of Tongue |
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A view of the bridge: ocean to the left, hills to the right
(the previous photo was taken on the right side of this road) |
The coastal road was narrow and winding, every bend offering a new perspective on the glorious landscape. I could not have imagined a more beautiful place to live.
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| Panorama of Kyle of Tongue |
I had what I thought was my great-grandmother’s address, but when we arrived in town, we couldn’t match it up with a house. We asked a few locals, but no one seemed to know of the MacKenzie family. Finally, we stopped at a nursing home, where a few ladies were out enjoying the sunshine. Several staff greeted us warmly and one approached to talk to us. I told her we were looking for the house of Bertie MacKenzie – Bertie, the wife of my great-grandmother’s brother Hector, was the most recent occupant of the house (the house has been empty since Bertie moved to southern Scotland, but is still owned by the family). I told the woman, whose name was Jane, that Bertie was a relative, and she said, “Well then, you’re related to me!” It turns out that Jane’s husband, George, is a second cousin of my grandad’s (George’s father and my great-grandmother were cousins)!!! Jane had known Hector and Bertie well, and directed us to their house. Since she was working that afternoon, she called her husband to show us around. We followed her directions and found the house we were looking for – where my great-grandmother and her siblings were raised, and where Hector and Bertie raised their own family.
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| The view from Grandma Isabella's front door |
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| The house |
A few minutes after we arrived at the house, George pulled up in his camper van and introduced himself. He invited us back to his place, so we followed him there and went in for tea. He also introduced us to his grandson, Callum, who (I worked this out later!) is my fourth cousin. We had a nice visit, but had to get back on the road sooner than we would have liked. We promised that if we ever made it back there, we would stay longer.
I called my dad as soon as we got back in the car to tell him about the place and our family finding adventure. As soon as I got off the phone with him, he called his parents to share the news (I found this out later when I called my grandparents myself). I really wished my dad could have been there with us. I tried as best I could to describe the place, but nothing seemed adequate to what I saw. It’s so astoundingly beautiful… It was also neat to have met some distant relatives. Before we left on this trip I secretly hoped that something like this would happen. It was fun to see it play out!
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| One last shot of the beach |
Our journey that afternoon and evening took us back through Inverness and into a small town called Boat of Garten, where Brendan had found us rooms in a hostel. This would be our home base for the next two days while we explored Speyside – Scotland’s whisky territory.
