Popular riverside path between Nairn and Cawdor impassable after collapse of embankment
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Nearly 100 metres of path has been destroyed between the Howford Bridge and Cawdor and a memorial cairn erected for a 14 year-old angler is now under serious threat.
The popular walk from the seaside to Cawdor is just under six miles and is used by by thousands of ramblers every year.
Cawdor Estate have moved swiftly to investigate the reinstatement of the right of way.
The river has swept undermined the path two hundred metres upstream from Graeme's pool which was named after Graeme Moffat who died of an aeortic aneurysm in 2001.
Members of the Nairn Angling Association who got to know Graeme on his visits to Nairn with his parents Archie (65) and Lorna, (62), decided to build the cairn at his favourite spot, two miles downstream from Cawdor.
Devastated by the loss of their only child, Archie and Lorna were so touched by the gesture, they moved north from their home in Wishaw to live in the town and be near the spot where the teenager had spent so many happy days.
"About 12 feet of the embankment where the cairn was built has disappeared with erosion and we do think some day it will just disappear into the river," said Lorna.
"We have appealed before for help to find some way of securing the cairn but nothing has been done. It obviously would be costly to protect it.
"It's looking very precarious and is now only a few inches from the river bank.
"There were trees and a lovely grassed area between the cairn and the river when it was built in 2002.
"Archie goes up every week to tidy up. He even provided a bench so people could sit and enjoy the spot."
But as the years have passed two large trees have been washed away and the erosion has continued.
"The bench itself would have been next to go but Archie dismantled it before it too fell into the river.
"We have always wondered what will happen if anything happens to us. Who will look after the cairn after we're gone?"
Lorna joined the angling association and became it's secretary and for a spell President as a thank you.
As a family she said they came up to Nairn every year and stayed at Spindrift caravan park on the banks of the river.
"Graeme was on the river most days and lots of the fishermen got to know him. In July of 2001 he said to me: 'How do you get a pool named after you?'
He died in October. I contacted Kenny Macdonald, the (then) association secretary to let him know Graeme had died. Kenny raised the matter at the agm and they decided to name the pool, where Graeme landed a lovely salmon, after him.
"We were overwhelmed. That's why we moved up here and I became Secretary in 2005."
Archie said: "I think the cairn will stay there for a while but will probably end up in the river. I don't think anything can be done. That spot on the river is nothing like it used to be when it was built."
A spokeswoman for Cawdor Estate. "I met with a Rights of Way Officer from Highland Council last week (Wednesday 19th Jan) and we are also in touch with SEPA (Scottish Environment Protection Agency).
"The council are going to put a fence up to protect the public from the collapsed embankment and they will try and instigate a temporary route for walkers to get through.
"But we need to find a long term solution to the reinstatement of the right of way and that will take time."
The pathway is partly on Cawdor Estate and partly on Geddes Estate. The cairn is on the Geddes stretch of the path.
