A view into the past

We watched the semi-final match Netherlands-Uruguay in a Scottish pub in the village of Bonar Bridge. The other guests happened to be all sheep shearers from New Zealand and Australia. Their boss invited us to his house to stay the night.
The next day they took us to a farm to go shearing about 270 sheep. The whole farming family helped as well and we all got a task. The grandfather and me happened to be pushing the sheep up a ramp to the shearers truck, so I got the opportunity to talk with him for a few hours. This 77 years old and still quite fit man sketched for me the history of Bonar Bridge and the big changes of the last 60 years.
When he was young people were still walking everywhere, heavy stuff was moved with horse-drawn wagons. Bonar Bridge was a busy village because of the bridge over the Dornoch Firth. Most of the north-south traffic in Scotland was passing through it. There were hotels, blacksmiths, a busy market and several shops. Most other people were farming sheep and growing some vegetables and potatoes. People worked hard, were poor, but had a rich social life and always to eat.
With the rising wealth of the post-war decades, more and more people purchased automobiles and a new highway was built with a new bridge 20km from Bonar Bridge. It shortened travel time and distance from Inverness to the north considerably, but Bonar Bridge lost most of its customers. The hotels had to close, most shops did the same.
On the farms life changed as well. With the introduction of TV, easy access to luxury products and faster transport to the big city the world seemed smaller, life richer. Many young people moved to the cities to study a promising career. But many come home during summer holidays to help with the shearing. The young people that stay in the village often have alcohol problems or fall pregnant too young. It is hard for them to find a purpose.
Farmers in Scotland almost never own the land, but are tenants. They pay the land owner to live and work on their land. With the lower wool prices (farming is only possible because of heavy subsidies from the EU) farming seems not a smart thing to do. You work hard, earn nothing and the land owner can always send you away. Many of the estates are now turned into expensive hunting and fishing lodges, where the rich from the south come to satisfy their needs to kill. There is good money in logging, so pine plantations cover the mountain sides, leaving a poor soil and low diversity behind. On many estates there are only a few sheep left, so the farmer still has the right on EU money.
At the end of our conversation I asked my old new friend if life is better now than it used to be. His answer was that people are a lot wealthier, but definitely less happy. With the cars, the money, the subsidies a lot of new problems have arrived as well, for humans, animals and the environment.
This meeting was a fantastic experience to me. I realize that this story could be told about almost any village anywhere in Europe. And because I have traveled to countries where people still live like we did 60 years ago, I have seen the other side of the story. Those people want to become as wealthy as we are, but the wealth comes at a very high price.
Peter

Landscapes

Scottish and Northern Irish landscapes.

A Visitor

We're in Dublin right now. Before we took the ferry to Ireland a friend of us from Vienna, her name is Franziska (alias Franzi), came to cycle with us. Even though Peter is already on the road for 5 years this was the first time a friend came to visit and cycle with him.

Franzi isn't a cyclist but she wanted to see how we live and get out of Vienna and her daily life for a few days. She cycled 6 days with us and did great. We cycled 60km average. Franzi had a backpack with only a few clothes, a Thermarest matress and a sleeping bag which we tied at the back of the bike on the rack. She has no tent but slept with us in our 3 person tent. It fitted easily.

Franzi came by plane to Edinburgh where we bought a second hand bike in a very cool bike shop. (http://www.thebikestation.org.uk/) The shop gets old bikes from people for free, they pimp them up and every Saturday they sell the bikes they repaired the week before. When we came there, an hour after the shop opened, only two bikes were left. Apparently there is always a long queue and are all the bikes gone within an hour. It's also possible to hire a fully-equipped workstand for 4 Pound where you can repair your own bike. Manuals and expert help are present if you don't manage yourself.

Everybody is very welcome to visit us! Thank you Franzi, for the great week we spent together.