Fife and Scotland - the offbeat perspective

Back in 1995, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was desperately seeking a new kind of light entertainment program and one of the projects they began was a television series called Hamish MacBeth.

Eventually, three series were produced; two with six episodes and a third with eight episodes. Robert Carlyle, later better known in 'The Full Monty', 'Trainspotting' and as a baddie in a James Bond Movie, played the main character of the title and who is the local constable in the fictional village of Lochdubh (meaning 'black lake from Gaelic). In such a small community, the 'local bobby' turns a blind eye to trivial transgressions of the law but soon discovers there's often more sinister or bizarre stuff going on than most people know about. Because of his position within the small community, he is often compelled to use unusual methods outside of official procedures since detectives from the neighbouring Strathbane CID do not appreciate his help.

Hamish MacBeth, the television series, was based upon books written by M.C. Beaton (Marion Chesney) and proved to be a highly popular series and which was bought and exported to many countries around the World.

It was filmed in the village of Plockton; about twelve miles from where the Skye Bridge touches down on the mainland at the Kyle of Lochalsh. Plockton has also been the site where scenes from the 'Inspector Alleyn Mysteries' series and scenes from the original version of the 'The Wicker Man' were filmed.

The distance between Kyle of Lochalsh and Plockton isn't great but it is mainly along single narrow track roads with passing places where it has been possible to install them. I say this because we were confronted by a broken down lorry at one stage and where we and other motorists were compelled to squeeze through the remaining narrow gap with a sheer drop on one side; not a task for the faint hearted!

We were also confronted by a new hazard when we came into a small hamlet. In the main, or more accurately only street, a herd of long haired and horned Highland cattle had decided to settle on the warm and dry tarmac soon after some heavy rain. On approach, they seemed totally unphased by our approach until we were going very slow and ultimately compelled to stop and allowing the photographs shown above to be taken and including the cow waiting for a telephone call!

In Hamish McBeth, the illusion of being a small village is brilliantly portrayed but the reality is different. The first sight we had of Plockton was a railway station and which came as a surprise because we hadn't anticipated a rail link to this place. Further down the road, we saw the local academy and again this shattered the illusion of Plockton being a small and tiny place. In truth, much of the television series had concentrated on a small part of the harbour area and ignored much else of the town.

Not that the actual town is huge but the peninsula on one side of the harbour and where much of the filming was conducted definitely helped in conveying the existence of a fictious community far smaller in size. The picture above is the fictional home of Hamish MacBeth and lies close to the tip of the peninsula.

On our visit, we drove to this location and parked close to this point. On a neighbouring gate, there was a plaque describing the punishments for failure to close the gate. I did photograph it but it but the picture did not turn out too well and I didn't write it down else I might have included it here in this text.

Being located on the west coast of Scotland, this is where the 'Atlantic Conveyer', a strong and warm ocean current originating in the Caribbean Sea, makes landfall in the UK and where it influences local weather to a major extent. I was not surprised to see Palm trees growing in the harbour area since similar exists at even more northerly locations around Loch Ewe. The harbour has many leisure craft anchored and a lunch of seafood cannot be bettered. Both the Plockton Hotel and Plockton Inn are former winners of the AA Seafood Pub Awards.

Overall, Plockton is a secluded gem often overlooked by tourists to the area. If visiting the Isle of Skye then take a little time out and visit Plockton too, On its own, it's a great place to be. Located close to the Kyle of Lochalsh, it becomes so much more and offers great holiday options both on the mainland and Isle of Skye.