Coile Eagascaig
tune – Goodbye Johnnie

Return to Coile Eagascaig where oft’ I’d been before
Many years since have passed yes twenty years and more
As the wood came into view I wondered what I’d see
Thinking back to Tournaig days what changes would there be?

I thought about the bothy its history and its lore
Well do I remember the wire that tied the door
It’s said the Tournaig bard himself when on new songs he mused
For silence peace and solitude the bothy he’d have used.

Who knows the song on Tournaig ‘part’ composed up there
With Loch nan Dailtean waters tranquil and so clear
The green and fertile fields beyond peaceful and serene
The panoramic mountain range complete a perfect scene.

The bothy was adaptable as history did unfold
It housed a cottage industry many stories have been told
In our time some ‘stuff’ it held for cattle and for sheep
And used by weary travellers for shelter and for sleep.

As I approached the bothy in my mind I heard a bark
In my vision she was there our beloved collie ‘Lark’
I now could clearly see her as in days gone past
Thinking of idyllic days we knew they would not last.

The bothy still standing there but now without a floor
And in place a barrier where once there was a door
Renovations are in hand reliably I’m told
Otherwise just as it was few changes to behold.

I sat and had my coffee reminisced for a wee while
Did not stay nor linger my thoughts not to beguile
Crossed the hill to join the road down by the cattle shed
Assisted with its building oh how the years have fled.

Through the gate along the front beside the garden wall
Water lapping on the shore familiar sounds recall
Now the lodge and garden bring my ramble to an end
The thoughts and sounds of yesterday I will them not contend.

Hector was employed at Tournaig Estate for a short period and vividly remembers going to the bothy with the family’s pet collie dog Lark. As he approached Coile Eagascaig his thoughts would dwell on the bothy and how the Tournaig Bard made use of the building when composing songs. He also recollected helping The Joiner from Aultbea in building the cattle shed.