I remember promising to undertake a walk along the complete length of the Findhorn, one of the Highlands' most remarkable rivers, but like so many projects, I never got round to it.

One man who has walked the length of the River Findhorn, and then canoed back down it, is Jamie Whittle, an environmental lawyer from Forres.

Such was his experience that he has written a book about it – White River – a book that I've found to be every bit as remarkable as the river.

Jamie broke his up-and-down journey into two distinct parts, both of which offered him very different perspectives on this powerful river.

His walk, from the mouth of the river at Findhorn Bay to the source, high in the Monadh Liath, was a solitary and relaxed affair, following tracks and riverside trails through a variety of landscapes, camping along the way.

The second journey, undertaken some time later in the year, was a series of canoe descents, in a Canadian open canoe, down some of the river's white water stretches, less relaxed, more brutally physical, than the easy walk upriver.

While I greatly enjoyed Jamie's descriptions of the landscapes he journeyed through, and the wildlife that he encountered throughout both trips, I sense the journey itself was only a hook on which to hang the real meat of the book - Jamie's highly developed sense of environmental awareness and his understanding of what I've referred to as "wild land connection".

Indeed, Jamie makes the argument that such connection is vital to the survival and the wellbeing of the human species.

It's perhaps not surprising in today materialistic age that land tends to be valued solely on economic grounds. Few of us value land, and landscapes, in an aesthetic or philosophical way, but Jamie Whittle would argue, with his lawyer's sense of balance, that we need both sets of criteria if we are to successfully blend our lives with that of the natural world and its resources. This understanding is the outcome of much research, not only in the dry dust of environmental law but in ecology, history, psychology, mythology, philosophy and economics.

In an attempt to try and synthesise all these various elements Jamie has written his book in what he describes as an "ecological style", mixing poetry with prose and grounded observation with short essays on a variety of cultural and environmental issues. And it works wonderfully well.

His poetry is simple, and often beautiful. Here's an example

A stag antler
Lies in the peaty water
Upon a gravel bed

A gravestone
Stands at the end
Of the road

Where the deer track begins
No visible inscription
Too weathered

What a place
To be buried
Clear air
Eternal silence

This is no book of sentimental outpourings about the beauty of the Findhorn and its surroundings – Jamie recognises the ecological problems we face today, the degradation of the land caused by decades of mono-management that is nothing short of abuse, and he doesn't forget the people, those who live on the banks of the river and those folk who once lived there ...

"I have been struck by the range of people for whom the River Findhorn is important – be it for recreation, its economic provision, its wildlife, its sactuary. That enthusiasm gives me genuine hope in these changing times, when the environment is under greater pressure from human species than ever before.

Humanity faces the most fascinating – yet serious – challenge it has ever had to address collectively, and it is one that demands creativity, care and commitment. In seeking direction, we can turn to the teachings of the natural world. By connecting with the rhythms of the land, our decisions about what is appropriate become all the wiser."

This is a book that should be read by every student of the land, all those who work on the land, and everyone who finds renewal and recreation on it.

White River, by Jamie Whittle, is published by Sandstone Press and costs £9.99

http://www.cameronmcneish.co.uk

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend