Millrace Books — A Cairngorm Chronicle

A Cairngorm Chronicle

A F Whyte, illustrated by Rose Shawe-Taylor

Before dawn on a June day in 1904, three young men set off from the Shelter Stone, where they had rested after descending from Cairn Gorm the night before. [Click to read more] By the time they reached the Dell of Rothiemurchus at the end of the day, they had covered thirty-eight miles and climbed 9,300 feet and nine Munros. Such a feat is still a major achievement today but at the time it was almost unheard of.

A F Whyte’s account of that long Edwardian summer’s day forms a major part of A Cairngorm Chronicle. Other chapters recall other outings and digress into byways of history and the Gaelic language. [Click to read more]

“… full of enquiries and observations — about Gaelic place names, inter-visibility, the source of rivers, how to make a herring bap and the benefits of soaping your socks […] What is it with the Cairngorms? They produce literature where other ranges yield writing. The same might be said of Millrace Books with this well-made and present-sized offering.” John Muir Trust Journal, October 2007

The book was put together in the 1940s from writings and memories spanning half a century — a warm tribute to one man’s favourite mountains. Its author was born and educated in Edinburgh, elected Liberal MP for Perth in 1910, appointed president of the Legislative Assembly of India in 1920 and had a long and distinguished career as a journalist and lecturer.

“Before I turn to the six short-listed books, I want to mention with honour three that didn’t quite make it to the list. […] A F Whyte’s A Cairngorm Chronicle was in fact written some sixty years ago, but Fred Whyte had buried it in a drawer and his daughter only discovered the manuscript after his death, and then again long after that it has been published […] in a very handsome small volume. Because of the posthumous nature of the publication, we didn’t feel we could include it on our short-list, but we found it full of flowing and enthusiastic, if slightly dated, writing. Rich phrases such as ‘a coign of vantage’ emerge that take us back to a bygone and better time. And the sheer rollicking fun of the 24–hour walk over the four four-thousanders comes shining through.” From Lord (Chris) Smith’s speech announcing the winner of the Boardman Tasker Award, Kendal, November 2007

A Cairngorm Chronicle is published here for the first time, in a hardback edition of 500 copies.

cover	hardback
dimensions	170x120mm, xviii + 158 pp, b&w drawings
price	£14.95 (list)	£13.50 (website)
ISBN	978 1 902173 238