Ceardannan
The Summer Walkers
Memories from Kirtomy
“Oh, yes, the Ceardannan coming. Oh, I loved it when they used to come! There were the Stewarts and the Williamsons and they were quite admired. The Williamsons used to come for the pearl fishing, the freshwater pearl fishing. Very good-looking people, they were, and so were the Stewarts - and very clean. The Stewarts would have beautifully-painted carts and everything.
And then on the other side from Caithness we had the MacPhees. They didn’t speak Gaelic but they had a cant. It wasn’t the same as the cant that the Stewarts had - they had different one. They were very humorous - they had a lot of humour in them.
We got quite friendly with some of the Stewarts and would play with the kids. There was a lot of them very musical too, and we used to go along to listen to the accordions and that.
You knew when they would come, and then one morning you came past and they were gone, and everything was gone with them as if they’d never been there.
And the Stewarts and the Williamsons, they settled, kind of, and you don’t see them now, you know … there’s a sadness about that people going.”[1]
[1] Mackay Country Oral History Recording 2004 – Sandra Munro, Kirtomy and Bettyhill.
Memories from Strathy
“That’s where they put their stance, just right beside the river, and they had the camp there. You’d hear them playing the pipes and the accordion and dogs barking and bairns yelping, you know! It would be the Stewarts from Lairg.
There’d be maybe two carts, and horses and they’d spend some time there - a week maybe - before they’d go off to the next place. It was great. A lot of music. Pipes and accordions, and they had great ceilidhs down there.
We were just that bit in awe, you know. I suppose my mother would be afraid - there was a lot of us - young girls. She wouldn’t want us at the river anyway, for a start. You were told not to go near the river.
I’m not sure when they would have stopped coming, but I remember them in my primary school days.”[1]
[1] Mackay Country Oral History Recording 2004 – Janette Mackay, Strathy West.
Melness and Kinlochbervie
‘Out on the road, ceilidhs would break out every time several families met up at a big campsite. The local people would come and join in, especially up at Melness, and at Kinlochbervie we had huge ceilidhs. Ailidh Dall would play the pipes, there would be signing, melodeons, tin-whistle sometimes, dancing, stories.’ [1]
Essie Stewart
[1] Page 13 – Quoted by Timothy Neat in his book ‘The Summer Walkers’, published by Canongate, Edinburgh – 2002.