In the town of Beauly, the post office is located in the corner space of a convenience store affiliated with the petrol station. Like Karl, one of the first things I do upon arriving in a new town is to visit a post office to request the postmark stamp in my documentation book. I typically preface my request with a monologue outlining my journey following Karl worldwide. At the Beauly post office, I also requested some insight on accessing Beaufort Castle.
In 1899, Simon Joseph Fraser, the 14th Lord Lovat, established the “Lovat Scouts”, a unit of highlanders for the British Army to fight in the Boer war. The training grounds for the unit was Lovat’s home of Beaufort Castle. The Lovat Scouts were disbanded after the Boer war but then shortly reinstated and reformed into two battalions, one with sharpshooters becoming the British Army’s first sniper unit.
On May 26, 1901, a letter was received by the proprietors of the Red Bird Bicycle Company accompanied by a local newspaper clipping from an Inverness newspaper. The newspaper clipping and letter were subsequently published in the Truro daily news.
The headline from the clipping read:
“Karl picked up by good samaritans - cared for in a military headquarters, meets a Strathcona’s Horse from Canada - the Red Bird’s reputation established.”
The letter was written by a local Scottish man who was both a good samaritan and an oportunistic entrepreneur:
“Gentlemen - enclosed please find a cutting which will, I have no doubt, prove of interest to you. Whilst on a cycling tour from Edinburgh, I was riding back to Inverness from Beauly when I came across the subject of this paragraph lying by the roadside seized with ague. I rode back to Beaufort Camp, the headquarters of Lord Lovat’s Scouts, where I knew Mr Creelman would be well attended to.
He was naturally a subject of great interest to officers and men alike. He was fixed up at the camp all right. Strange to say, while there, he met another Canadian, a lay member of Lord Strathcona's Horse Regiment who is now a trooper in the Scouts. It did one good to see the meeting of good countrymen so far away.
I was much struck with the personality of Mr Creelman and was greatly interested in his conversation. His high terms when he spoke of your bicycle were splendid and made me communicate with you. In this country your make is unknown and it would be a good deal I think if you could manage to introduce it in Edinburgh. It is a good thing and worth following up. I am a cyclist of a few years now, and I am really glad I was the means of being of service to a friendless chap so very far from home. Believe me I remain, yours very sincerely,” H. Ross.
The “ague” that seized Karl was related to malaria he contracted in India (Not Moose but Mosquitoes in Moosejaw and more to come in our India Karl Chronicles). He stayed at Beaufort Castle while regaining his strength and watched the training regimen of Lovat Scouts from the window of his room.
Beaufort Castle transitioned to the 15th Lord Lovat, who sold the castle in 1994 to Dame Ann Gloag, the wealthiest woman in Scotland. Consequently, the Castle is not accessible. I reached out to the corporate offices with whom Dame Gloag is associated, outlining the purpose of my request to access the property but was not met with any reply.
So now I resorted to inquiring with the post office staff member who was new to Beauly and couldn’t offer any insight. However, she pointed outside to a local man filling his car with petrol, who she expected would have some information for me. His advice was to seek out the lane adjacent to the castle, and at a minimum, it would be close enough for a good photograph.
I used my GPS to locate the Castle and scoured the vicinity in search of the allusive lane.
As you can imagine dear reader, there are many lanes in country towns, and I travelled up and down most of them in Beauly until I came across the one that seemed to be taking me closer to Beaufort Castle. At the end of this lane was a small cottage. It looked like it was occupied by someone who worked on the castle grounds, just like Downton Abbey, and this was the cottage allocated for Carson and Ms Hughes!
Next to the cottage was a closed double gate blocking access to another laneway from which I could see the glimpse of a red turret in the distance. I parked my car, hopped the fence and started speed walking towards the turret, worried as I was hoping to get some photos without getting into trouble for trespassing.
The closer I got to the Castle, the more I could see of the estate, including a few parked cars that I expected belonged to the estate workers. Then, I walked even faster.
As I travelled further down the laneway, I arrived at the centre of the massive front lawns and could see the Castle. The front windows to the room where Karl spent his recovery had the full view of the vast lawns where the Lovat Scouts were trained.
I got my camera ready.
While taking photos, I moved closer to the Castle until I heard an engine and saw a car heading towards me.
I was busted! Following a strong reprimand I shamefully speed-walked back to my car parked at the cottage. All in all, I’d say quite successful, and so dear reader, enjoy the photos of Beaufort Castle.
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The Karl Journey is now registered as an official expedition with the Royal Geographical Society