The Four Elements in Scotland

Fire – Burning Heather

The burning of the heather has been done for hundreds of years in Scotland. It is carried out to prevent over-growth of old heather and to let new vegetation grow through for animals to eat.

With heather burning there is always a risk. Last year’s fires got out of hand and the whole hillside was engulfed in flames.

Hill fire in Poolewe, 6 miles away from Gairloch.

Shetland

Lerwick Harbour, Shetland.

This map shows how close the Shetlands are to

Norway. It’s no surprise that Norwegian customs survive on the islands

today.

The Festival of Up Helly Aa starts with a procession of ‘Viking warriors’ who walk through the town of Lerwick in costumes. It ends with the burning of a replica viking longboat.

This Viking festival of fire takes place in Lerwick in Shetland on the last Tuesday of every January.

Fire – UP HELLY AA

This is Kerry Bridge, 2 miles out of Gairloch. And this is what it’s like when the river floods!

Kinlochewe, 20 miles away from Gairloch is one of the wettest places in Scotland. In Istanbul the annual average rainfall is 710 mm, whereas in Kinlochewe the average rainfall is 2277.8mm.

Water -Loch Ness

Loch Ness has become best known for the alleged sightings of the Loch Ness monster also known as “Nessie”.

The loch is so deep that it could hold the world’s

population 3 times over.

Isle of Tiree

The Isle of Tiree regularly hosts world class water-sporting events and it attracts both amateur and professional board, wind and kite surfers. It is an ideal location due to warm Gulf Stream winds, big waves and long beaches.

Wind - Tiree

Wind – Renewable energyIn 2012 40.3% of Scotland’s energy came from renewable energy. Scotland’s renewable energy is extraordinary by European, and even global standards, with the most important potential sources being wind, wave, and tide.

Ardrossan Wind farm in Ayrshire.

Peat is a combination of lots of partially decayed vegetation. The most common being Sphagnum moss which mainly forms in wetland or boggy areas.

Earth-Peat

It is harvested with a tool called a peat spade. It is a special spade with a sharp cutter attached to the side. Peat is mainly used as a household fuel in the fireplace as it burns slowly and not too fiercely.

Whisky – involving all elements

Whisky is a type of distilled alcohol made from fermented grain mash.

Different grains are used for different varieties of whiskey, including barley, malted barley, rye, malted rye, wheat,

buckwheat and corn.

Earth

WaterWater and other ingredients are converted to spirits in the process of distillation.

FireFire is used to boil the water and barley, to make the alcohol in pots as shown here.

While the whisky is in the barrels some of it evaporates into the atmosphere and this is called the ‘Angels share’.

Air

Whisky is typically aged in wooden casks (barrels), made traditionally of charred white oak. Many whisky distilleries reuse wine and port barrels.

Alan titchmarsh video?

At present, there are around 700 different malt whiskies. We hope you will be able to visit a whisky distillery when you visit us in Scotland.

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