Skirly Crag

Skirly Crag: a hill in the Scottish highlands, in the heart of which nestles a very special lochan. Helen Percy’s working life as a shepherd takes her away from her home in the lee of her beloved Skirly Crag for many months of the year. Forget beribboned Bo-Peep dresses. Think instead unbecoming waterproofs, the same shirt worn for a week, jeans smeared with gobs of birth-fluid and mustard-coloured lamb-skitter. Calf-length crinoline gowns are so out of fashion for the modern shepherdess! Why do I do this job, I ask myself? Why am I up at sparrow’s fart each day, with no days off, a pitiful rate of pay and bosses who are variously cantankerous, cussed or crazy? Then there is a rare day on the hill when the lark rises into the clear air above Skirly Crag, thrilling the glen with its reedy melody, and all is well with the world. Skirly Crag: a hill in the Scottish highlands, in the heart of which nestles a very special lochan. Helen Percy’s working life as a shepherd takes her away from her home in the lee of her beloved Skirly Crag for many months of the year. Forget beribboned Bo-Peep dresses. Think instead unbecoming waterproofs, the same shirt worn for a week, jeans smeared with gobs of birth-fluid and mustard-coloured lamb-skitter. Calf-length crinoline gowns are so out of fashion for the modern shepherdess! Why do I do this job, I ask myself? Why am I up at sparrow’s fart each day, with no days off, a pitiful rate of pay and bosses who are variously cantankerous, cussed or crazy? Then there is a rare day on the hill when the lark rises into the clear air above Skirly Crag, thrilling the glen with its reedy melody, and all is well with the world.