Ashe County has a lot of history for it with being such a small area.  If you ever find yourself driving down the parkway and see that small road sign take the turn and see what a small rural community has to offer.

It had all started as someone’s idea to drive north, as far as possible in 3 days. We were in Ottawa, Ontario. North is Quebec. It was early March, not the mildest month in Canada to be embarking on an adventure of this sort, but at least preferable to the black fly season of summer. We went – all four of us (new cat included). Through numerous towns and past countless logging trucks we went. It was a rather uneventful journey for some time. Then came the Cree, the taiga and the James Bay Hydro-electric Project.

Chisasabi is one of nine Cree towns in the James Bay area. They are part of a re-housing pact between the aboriginals and the Quebec government for loss of lands due to the building of the James Bay project by Hydro-Quebec. It was the first time I had set foot on a reservation. Faced with rifles by the entry guards, we purchased our petrol from a gas station, with everything written in glyphs, and left with a reserved smile and wave. The Cree speak a “whispering language” that had no written form until the 1840s, when a series of symbols was created by a missionary. The only word of Cree that I learnt sounds something like “wajiwa” and I was told that translates to “greetings”. Chisasabi may mean “Great River”, but what stays in the mind of any non-aboriginal visitor to the town is the massive steel wigwam frame – their community centre and focal point. At that time the wigwam was fairly new, just as the homes, pick-up trucks and snowmobiles were. Chisasabi looked like any other rural Canadian town, well, except for that wigwam.

La Route de la Baie James – the road from Matagami to Radisson – is 620 km of seemingly endless taiga, an apparently half-dead forest. The pine trees were nearly bare of needles, as though some great calamity had befallen them. It was only much later that we were told that the taiga is lichen woodland. The lichen and the trees have a symbiotic relationship, though I’ve yet to figure out what the trees were getting out if it. Being seemingly endless, we didn’t know we were supposed to register the car with authorities in case we did not make it to the service station or the other end. That way they can name the frozen bodies. Even without knowing this, we were relieved to see Relais 381, the 24-hour service station with superb hot dogs and steamy showers. The authorities were relieved to see us and the car was duly registered. Further along this 620 km stretch, we happened upon Norman and his friends from Chibougamu, another of the Cree towns.  The lads were attending a technical college and on their way home they had run out of petrol. They were patiently waiting for someone to happen along and take one of them back to Relais 381. That someone turned out to be us.

Radisson is a town of 250 people in winter and 500 during the summer. We checked into the L’Auberge Radisson, a hotel with a museum and a store. It was the sort of store that sold rifles (and some decent wines as I recall). In fact it carried all sorts of camping and hunting equipment. Rifles are a necessity in this wilderness, as the larger animals don’t always take too kindly to we intruders. However, the only large animal I saw on this trip was the stuffed elk in the museum. As it was a quiet month, we were able to arrange a tour of the James Bay Hydro-electric Project. Our burly guide, Jean-Marie, drove us out onto the top of the dam, which was only a few feet wider than the jeep itself. I ventured somewhat close to the edge – a sheer drop down to the ice of the James Bay reservoir, thick white ice for miles upon miles. It was, to me, like a glimpse of what the last major Ice Age may have resembled. On the landside of the dam was the spillway, ”the staircase of the giants” – colossal steps covered in an unmoving cascade of blue-tinted water. Jean-Marie took us inside the generating station, an enormous underground labyrinth of surge tunnels (rented out to film crews for action sequences), control rooms and massive turbines – one of which we were allowed to get close to, but not near enough to be sucked in by the centrifugal force generated by 60 turns a second.

These four days are etched in my mind. An excursion characterised by reminiscences of nature’s power, human ingenuity, the differences of culture and no photos as my camera had unknowingly expired. Never mind, I can always return now that Air Creebec flies from Montreal to Radisson.

Arran is a small island, 20 miles long and 56 miles round, located off the south-west coast of Scotland.

Ferries run from the Scottish mainland to the Isle of Arran. Most people reach the island via Ardrossan which has a direct rail service from Glasgow.

The history of Arran is of strong interest to local Archeologists, tourists, and residents.

The first people on Arran to leave visible signs of their life and times here were the Neolithic people, who lived on the island in the period between 4,500BC and 2,000BC. They were farmers, and traces of their field systems have been found on Arran. However, they have left their most distinct legacy on Arran in the form of stone circles, standing stones and cairns. We do not know what these monuments were used for, but it is safe to assume that they had some kind of ceremonial function.

Machrie moor standing stones is a small ancient circle protected by a stone wall. Continue on the footpath and you will reach the main site, three-quarters of a mile across the fields.

Robert Pollock has produced an excellent guide with diagrams which details these and other circles on this site. Two of the circles have recently been excavated, and the amount of peat growth over the original prehistoric ground surface can be seen as a tidemark on the stones. Indeed one of the circles had completely disappeared under the peat.

Druid Stone is likely to be a Neolithic or Bronze age stone, despite its local association with the Iron Age priesthood. A druid was a member of the priestly and learned class in the ancient Celtic societies of Western Europe, Britain and Ireland.

Ruins of Lochranza Castle are located north of Brodick.

It features the striking ruins of a 14th century castle, a former hunting lodge of the Scottish Kings.

It has been claimed that Lochranza Castle has literary connections, being used as the basis for the castle in the Tintin adventure "The Black Island".

Brodick Castle is made up of red sandstone and it lies at the foot of Goatfell Mountain 1.5 miles out of Brodick; the main port on the Isle of Arran off the west coast of Scotland.

The name Brodick comes from the Norse words, meaning 'broad bay'. Arran means 'peaked island' in Gaelic.

It's a fascinating Island filled with mysteries and folklore. Visit now before the times destroy it.

The first time I went, it was breathtaking, the panoramic view from the top, and looking down at every thing makes you realize how good those birds have it that they can see something of great magnificence from such a perspective. But it should not be surprising to that Pilot Mountain is home to some of the most wonderful creatures such as squirrels, quails, etc. It's a haven for any breathing thing.

However, besides sightseeing and bird watching, you can do a lot more on Pilot Mountain. Elevated at about 2,500 feet, it's ideal for rock climbing and hiking, as well as camping. It is a little chillier than ground level, but that can be to your advantage during the summer. If you are a parent, with teenagers, or even pre-teens, this is the perfect summer destination for you and your family. The hiking is my favorite, but I never really have to climb the rocks. Bummer! However, the best part of the whole experience is the time I got to spend with family and loved ones.