An open gate in Backies with a ramblers' sign pointing to a track heading uphill was too much to resist, even though we were already almost at the limit of our planned walk, particularly as....
....'sidhean' refers to a hill, sometimes elongate, where fairies live.
After a short walk through stunted woodland we came to a second gate leading through to the sort of very pretty, open field that is so typical....
....of cleared fields associated with crofts. Backies, being a township to which too many families were removed at the time of the clearances, is dotted both with croft houses which are now either good homes or sadly abandoned.
We kept stopping during the steady uphill trudge to turn and look back at the unfolding view across Golspie's houses to the long line of south beach, Loch Fleet and the Dornoch estuary.
The third gate led through to a rougher field, a field which will look magnificent in September when the heather comes into flower. By this time we were wearying but persisted, hoping to find our way out onto the open moor until....
....we reached a fourth gate, in the boundary deer fence. Beyond was what we sought, the open land that offers the wonderful freedom of Scotland's hills and the sort of elongate hill that is the home of fairies - but the gate was nailed shut.
Why? What is it that drives the owners of vast areas of Scotland to hinder public access to land which they don't actively use? Why give us the choice of climbing the gate, and risking injury well as damage to the fence, or of turning back.... or of coming back another day with a pair of wire cutters to further enlarge the hole to which Mrs MW is pointing?
Today we were too weary to proceed, so set off for home, stopping again to enjoy the sun's warmth and the panoramic views, and to watch a roe deer which had found herself trapped between us and one of the croft's fences.
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