Imagine Scotland 40 million years ago
Imagine the world as it was. Go back millions of years, well
before mankind. But after the worst ice ages. Imagine the
mountain scenery around Glencoe for example. Glaciers have
scoured out the valleys. The glaciers have already dumped the
huge boulders in the valleys, the remnants of their terminal
moraines. Earthquake eruptions have already caused huge chasms
and cliff faces where roped rock climbers now go for sport. The
slow weathering of the mountain tops centimetre by centimetre,
year by year, has caused the mountain scree that runs under your
feet to-day and is so tough on your knees. It has reduced the
height of the mountains to mere 4,000 foot stumps from the
giants of 14,000 feet they were once, the size of the Alps. Yet,
if you have a mind so to do, it is not difficult to view this
world exactly as it was. Exactly. To-days human existence will
be tiny specks and easy to ignore. They've only been here for
the 10,000 years since the last Ice Age. The herons have been
here that long, so have the deer. A little dreaming and you are
back in time. It will take you three hours to the tops of the
big mountains. The easy method of looking back millions of
years. Just climb Cuil Hill opposite our cottage in Glencoe. It
will take you half an hour. You'll not see much sign of human
life. But you will see the area as she was 40,000,000 years ago.
www.bayviewkentallen.co.uk