A discarded way marker?

[gaffr]

There has been more than a little talk on the Forum recently regarding waymarkings and signs etc.
Some time ago the SNH folks must have thought it a good thing to have granite boulders with inscriptions and symbols cut into the surface of the granite. The one in question....allt Ruadh in Glen Feshie...settled down to a long life in position beside the track taking walkers into the Sgorans....after all folks don't kick over large boulders weighing tonnes?. A bit different with cairns and sign posts which can be easily kicked over or pushed down
A few years back now the granite boulder was shunted aside and toppled over so that the expensive? lettering and symbols....the reason for it having been expensively put in place? cannot now be seen! I suspect that forestry extraction work maybe were responsible for this? Whatever nothing over several years now has been done to restore it to the original site. Taxpayers money?

The granite boulder showing the original position in the foreground.

If you lie down in a prone position you can read a small amount of the lettering.

[RyanfaeScotland]

That's an interesting find. I presume you knew about the inscription before hand and didn't just happen upon it?!

I wonder what it would take in terms of brute strength to right it up again?

[gaffr]

Hello,
Yes I was aware of the granite block being in place for some years before it was shunted aside.....with the information readable at chest level. I live fairly close to Glen Feshie so walking this track is a regular for me on my way to various parts of the Sgorans.
It was two or three years ago when I came across it in its now tumbled position. I thought that maybe it had been shifted temporarily to allow for the forestry folks to operate but it was never restored to the original position. Sent off recently a complaints mail as available on the SNH website.....automated reply was the only outcome!
Effort and expenditure must have gone into this placement so why no effort to have it restored?

[gaffr]

To be fair to the SNH folks...they have got back to me through an e mail.
It appears to be all about redundant information. The boulder in question was at the entry point of the SNH owned estate of Invereshie. SNH logos have altered so they were out of place cut into the boulder. I guess that when the National Park came along....I hope that I am correct with this....Invereshie was combined with Inshriach (Forestry Commission) to become the joint Invereshie/Inshriach Natural Nature Reserve . So now no Cairngorms Natural Nature Reserve?
So I guess that the signage and boards at the car park area for the Sgorans entry point now replace the granite boulder to reflect this change of the now joint Reserve.
Clear as mud?

[CharlesT]

To be fair to the SNH folks...they have got back to me through an e mail.
It appears to be all about redundant information. The boulder in question was at the entry point of the SNH owned estate of Invereshie. SNH logos have altered so they were out of place cut into the boulder. I guess that when the National Park came along....I hope that I am correct with this....Invereshie was combined with Inshriach (Forestry Commission) to become the joint Invereshie/Inshriach Natural Nature Reserve . So now no Cairngorms Natural Nature Reserve?
So I guess that the signage and boards at the car park area for the Sgorans entry point now replace the granite boulder to reflect this change of the now joint Reserve.
Clear as mud?

As it's now redundant, perhaps they'll let you take it home as a memento and re-erect it in your garden - a nice little feature.

[gaffr]

Maybe more appropriate for the SNH to have it transported to their own front garden at Achantoul for display.
Achantoul the former home of Seton Gordon....he who it is claimed spent overnights in all of the corries in the Cairngorm hills in pursuit of subject matter for his books.

[RyanfaeScotland]

...I guess that when the National Park came along....I hope that I am correct with this....Invereshie was combined with Inshriach (Forestry Commission) to become the joint Invereshie/Inshriach Natural Nature Reserve . So now no Cairngorms Natural Nature Reserve?...

No harm in changing the name, not like it was set in stone or anything.

[gaffr]

.....not like that it was set in stone or anything.

I received a precise account of the granite boulder saga from the folks at SNH.

Maybe we all don't have enough communication with the SNH folks?