A couple of weeks ago, me and Kirsten cycled up the steep hill to the Heights of Dochcarty, dumped the bikes by the stream crossing, and toiled our way up to the bealach just to the east of the Cioch Mor.
The wind was howling through the gap, rain battered us. We headed over to the far side of the col to gaze down into a wild valley, with a sharp pull beyond which takes you onto one of the outlying ridges of Ben Wyvis, the iconic mountain around these parts.
It's a truly wild scene. No sign of human habitation. Pretty much pathless. An uninterrupted, glorious view into a natural world.
Fast forward to this morning, and a leaflet is dropped on our doorstep, inviting us to a "presentation" to be held about......the new "wind farm" that they want to erect. Guess where? In that remote and beautiful area we stared down at in awe. Their visual representations show so clearly that it these ugly monstrosities will dominate the view of Ben Wyvis from anywhere in the east. I'm presuming even from Inverness?
I won't even bother to go into the politics of wind factories and the fact that the technology is effectively disproved as unreliable and too costly. Look up what's happening in Denmark. Read what the Germans have said post-Fukushima (hint: no more nuclear, but definitely NOT turning to wind power).
Wind power is all about profits for multinationals and landowners and there is a whole industry growing up around it, full of people trying to make a fast buck by spoiling our landscape forever. Have they no conscience at all? Are they really that smug, sitting in their million pound pads in the middle of built-up cities? I suspect I know the answer.
And even as I write, it's dawned on me that, Inverness Airport being where it is, visitors upon landing will immediately gaze across at the mountain that dominates the skyline....and be confronted by a man-made scene which strips away the feeling of wilderness that they've probably come to the Highlands for.
When and where will it all end?
Total empathy. A wind farm was built here in Harrogate on Knabbs Ridge a few years back and it totally destroyed a beautiful skyline, it's visible for miles. I drive past it every day and it never fails to annoy me. I hope common sense prevails and the proposed farm does NOT get built.
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