Gratitude Friday 10 24 25 Camusfeàrna

The beaches of Camusfeàrna are a treasure house for any man whose eye finds wealth at the sea’s edge. There are more shells than I have seen on any other littoral; a great host of painted bivalves of bewildering variety and hue, from coral pinks and primrose yellows to blues and purples and mother-of-pearl, from jewel-like fan shells no bigger than a little fingernail to the great scallops as big as a side-plate. – Gavin Maxwell

For some reason, in recent weeks, I started to think about the Ring of Bright Water, a magical place in the highlands of Scotland on the west coast facing the Isle of Skye. Ring of Bright Water was the name of a book written by Gavin Maxwell in the early summer months of 1959, leading up to a publication date of 12 September 1960. He named it Camusfeàrna, it was his home at a place named Sandaig. A movie by that same name came out  in 1969 starring the same cast as the movie Born Free. Both the book and the movie became huge hits. By delving around the internet, I learned that Maxwell wrote the book in longhand, with a fountain pen and the manuscripts are now preserved in the National Library for Scotland, including a inky otter's footprint on volume three.

This is relevant as the book is about otters, particularly one smooth-coated otter, he brought England from the Marshes of Iraq. It was later determined that the otter was a previously unknown variant which was subsequently named  Lutrogale perspicillata maxwell or "Maxwell's otter. Maxwell named the otter Mijbil. He raised Mijbil along with another otter, Edal at Camusfeàrna, on the west coast of Scotland. There is a trilogy of books, and I have read them. He died not long after they were published at an age younger than I am now as he was a hard drinker and heavy smoker.

Julie, before she met me when in art school visited Camusfeàrna during a summer studying through the Glasgow School or Art. She loved Scotland and this particular area near the five sisters of Kintail so much, she decided that when she married, she would return, which of course we did on our honeymoon. We have returned to Scotland four times, and to Camusfeàrna twice. That first time, shortly after we exchanged vows, the path to that ring of bright water was through a pine forest. A decade later, it had been cut down for lumber. The journey was through cleared land with replanted saplings. I am forever grateful she shared this place of wonder with me, a place of magic, of light and one teaming with life.

We hope to return at some point but not sure if we will. If we did, I suspect the path to that magical place would again be through a growing tract of trees. It is a trip we could do as the path is not arduous. I hope we get to do so. To see that water and the most magical west coast of Scotland. Like those trees, the place changed over the years. The roads improved each time, and there was more and more development. One that first journey we took a ferry to Skye, by that second visit, there was a massive bridge.

I have been thinking about returning as I still have the desire to travel. We actually have done less of it in recent years as we save more for retirement. As far as travel, I would offer younger people the advice to do it now. We still can and we have some adventures ahead, but travel in early adulthood is different. It changes us for the better and informs us about who we become. For both of us, we saw horizons beyond the ones immediately around us and it shifted our world view. Possibilities increased with broader vision. It is one of my greatest joys in life that I have experienced such travel a few times.

This is a recovery themed blog, and every facet of this post connects with recovery. Recovery has furnished opportunities and the capacity to live more fully. To state the obvious, I am still alive, We are still married, 32 years! I still have opportunities to do things in my life in ways that would simply not be in the cards had I stayed in addiction. Long life and companionship were dim prospects. The picture at the top of the post is one I took the last time I was in the vicinity of Camusfeàrna. Our first trip was in the era of print film. Will we see Scotland again, I do not know. But it is a place we have been and a place that found is way into our hearts and will stay there.

I am grateful to know the place that Gavin Maxwell and his otters lived. What are you grateful for today?