M
I was having a blether with an old boy - Calum Fife - from Gerenish yesterday and he could recall the Army lorries loaded with fuel drums coming in through Gerinsh and travelling along the machair to Iochdar, then heading across the beach at Carnan to Cregorry at low tide. Apparently in the early 1940's the road between LochBee and Iochdar was not capable of taking the weight of a loaded lorry.
It was a combination of LochCarnan, and Lochboisdale, which was used to bring supplies to the island. Once the bridge opened in '42 the fuel pipeline coming from LochCarnan was slung underneath.
He also talked of the pipeline being dismantled and of the quantity of fuel which still remained in pipe and how it was salvaged by an enterprising chap from Iochdar, Ewan Dubh, who ran a very large Buick which he had bought from one of the American servicemen stationed on the rocket range. Apparently the vehicle sounded completely different from anything else around at the time. The use of aviaiton fuel - not it having a huge V8 engine - being the only possible explanation that satisfied the locals.
D |