19. Sep, 2022
Finding the Wade Stone on the A9
19/09/2022.
We are now back in Sussex after our trip to the far north. I gave a short talk to the John o' Groats Book Festival, where this most north-easterly point on the British mainland was looking its best in lovely weather. Our hosts treated us most generously, and our walk to view the Duncansby Stacks revealed a superb panorama of the Orkney Islands, with the Pentland Firth displaying a distinctive tidal bore running north to south, a clear indication of just how treacherous this stretch of water really is. We then drove to Ullapool, where I signed some copies of my book The Immeasurable Wilds.
On our way south, I was keen to find the Wade Stone, a road-building monument dating from the 18th century which stands beside the A9. We had failed to find any evidence of it on our way north, which is not surprising as it actually stands beside the south-bound carriageway, not far from Dalwhinnie. I had bought years ago on ebay papers relating to the movement of the stone in the 1970s from its original position, the need caused by the upgrading of the road from a single to a dual carriageway. Please see my new page added to the website, "The Wade Stone."