Photograph © David Wilson
In the book The Chessmen, Fin has given up his job as a Detective and has got a job as a gamekeeper. He comes across is old friend, Whistler, who the landlord has a grudge against, and so Fin finds himself in conflict with Whistler. Whistler leads Fin a merry dance over the hills and moors of UIg, in a storm, but ends up saving his life. They end up sheltering from the storm in a beehive dwelling. When they wake in the morning they are confronted by a unique site - "a bog burst" which caused the loch to disappear. A plane, with a corpse, is revealed lying at the bottom of what would have been the loch.
"'What is it Whistler?'
But Whislter said nothing, and Fin turned to see what he was staring at. At first, the sight that greeted him in the valley simply filled him with confusion. He understood all that he saw, and yet it made no sense. He turned and looked back beyond the beehives to the jumble of rock above them, and the scree slope that rose up to the shoulder of the mountain where he had stood the night before and had seen lightning reflected on the loch below.
He turned back to the valley. But there was no loch, just a big empty hole....."
Extract from The Chessmen by Peter May
A "bog burst" happens after an extended period of dry weather, heavy rain drains down through cracked peat creating a sludge beneath it. The weight of the top layer, and pressure from the loch it contains, means that it just slides away and the loch drains itself empty. This event actually happened in the 1950's when a loch between Morsgail and Kinlochresort, vanished overnight.
The disappearing loch is just after the beehive dwellings at Morsgail. To get to the dwellngs and disappearing loch, follow the track towards Morsgail Lodge for about 1.5km. Turn left over the bridge and follow the track around Loch Morsgail until you get to the south east corner of the loch and then follow the path south until you get to the sheilings below the slopes of Scalabha. Following on from here you will see a somewhat unremarkable depression of what was a loch - the disappearing loch.
Click here to return to the Peter May Trilogy home page.
A path takes you to the shore of Loch Seaforth, a long fjord-like loch and a stronghold…
The golden eagle is one of two eagle species found on Harris
A path leads you into the North Harris hills; one of the largest areas of un-roaded land…
The breath-taking views over Loch Seaforth and the chance to see native trees in an…
The mountain hare is about twice the size of a rabbit with much longer hind legs and a…
With some of the highest densities of breeding golden eagles in all of Europe, North…
The Bonnie Prince Charlie monument is in the village of Arivruach, Lochs to mark where he…
The observatory is a purpose built hide perched in the interior of the rugged North…
Built in 1994, the Pairc Land Raiders monument is dedicated to the memory of the people…
The mountain hare is about twice the size of a rabbit with much longer hind legs and a…
Loch Crabhadal (Cravadal) is a wild, remote and spectacular area of North Harris.
Sundews are a group of low growing carnivorous plants that grow in nutrient poor soils.
An oval ring now with 5 standing stones, and the remains of a low cairn inside.