Geography alongside the A82

[Yellow Fang]

Me and a friend did a bit of cycle touring last year. We drove up to Fort William, cycled to Oban, then got the ferry to Barra, cycled to Stornoway, got the ferry to Skye, cycled back to Fort William, and drove back to Reading. One thing I thought was odd was that I can't remember seeing any agriculture between Fort William and Glasgow. All I could see was heather and mountains. No sheep, no cattle, no wheat, no crops of any sort for about 100 miles. Wild ponies can eat heather, can't they, so why don't you see any of them? The land can't be totally unproductive, can it, or what did the highlanders live on in the old days?

 

[OldShep]

Did you not see a lot of trees? They’re a crop
The deer must have been hiding from you as well as being a pest they bring in income.
you don’t say what time of year you travelled but there will be some sheep about but thin on the ground.
As for wild ponies, firstly I’ve no idea why you’d want them and whilst theoretically they might eat heather im sure they would seek out short sweet grass over tough old ling. Very difficult to manage heather now because of all the forests.
Before the clearances crofters would utilise every small bit of fertile land they could find. All lost to monograzing sheep years ago.

 

[ColinJ]

My mum was born on a croft near Oban. We used to go back up there every summer and when I was a small boy there were still haystacks in the fields, and cattle, hens and pigs etc. These days they seem to have been replaced by tents and caravans!

 

[Slick]

Me and a friend did a bit of cycle touring last year. We drove up to Fort William, cycled to Oban, then got the ferry to Barra, cycled to Stornoway, got the ferry to Skye, cycled back to Fort William, and drove back to Reading. One thing I thought was odd was that I can't remember seeing any agriculture between Fort William and Glasgow. All I could see was heather and mountains. No sheep, no cattle, no wheat, no crops of any sort for about 100 miles. Wild ponies can eat heather, can't they, so why don't you see any of them? The land can't be totally unproductive, can it, or what did the highlanders live on in the old days?

Your joking aren't you? Come back in October through March and you might get an idea of why it's such an unspoilt landscape.

 

[Yellow Fang]

Not saying it's not beautiful.

 

[Edwardoka]

A combination of the wettest climate on an island famed for being unreasonably rainy and the renowned highland midge means that no-one sensible has a job that requires being outdoors in the West Highlands.

Farming in the West Highlands pre-Clearances was largely done for subsistence, with the exception of raising cattle.
Population centres were never very large - cattle were driven to market in the lowlands.

Much of the ground in the West Highlands is too hilly/rocky/acidic/wet to ever be feasible or profitable for large scale agriculture.

There are still some small-scale farms alongside rivers at the bottom of valleys, but I've never seen these used for cash crops.
Also, land ownership and use in Scotland is a highly contentious issue, a lot of the land is estate-owned and given over to sheep grazing/grouse moors, the rest is non-native plantation forestry.

In its natural state it would have looked nothing like it does now.

 

[Slick]

All I could see was heather and mountains
That's the reason.