Hike the Highlands Festival https://www.hikethehighlands.com

Sugar Loaf

Rob & Deidre MacDonald, Cape North, ask me to share this poem Deidre’s father wrote about Sugar Loaf. SugarLoaf Mountain is one of the 18 guided hikes featured in this year’s Hike the Highlands Festival. The MacDonald’s family annually hike SugarLoaf Mountain.

                                          Sugar Loaf                                

                                    When the stout mariner bound from Bristol port,

                                    Sailed at last into the gentle bay,

                                    This peak, clear-etched against the sky

                                    Beckoned him proudly on his way.

                                    When highland crofters exiled from their homes

                                    Found rest at last beside the Western seas,

                                    They raised their voices to this tree-clad mount,

                                    And saw unfold a second Hebrides.

                                    Now in these times of feverish change and care,

                                    Proud Sugar Loaf, unvexed, serene,

                                    Stands like a prophet from the days of old,

                                    Proclaiming what will be and what has been.

                                    Here from this peak the sovereign eye can scan

                                    The full, wild beauty of this rugged land,

                                    And mark where the Aspy merging with the sea,

                                    Fashions a garland of white, gleaming sand.