For Argyll

This is not an Argyll story but it’s a Scottish one that has inspired everyone who has heard of it, mostly through Roger Hutchison’s book, ‘Calum’s Road’. Calum MacLeod, a crofter from Arnish at the remote north end of the Isle of Raasay finally gave up waiting for the Council to build a road through to his community and did it himself. He began in the Spring of 1967, supported by a guidebook on roadbuilding and using what came to hand - a pick, an axe, a shovel and a wheelbarrow. It took him twenty years but he did it.

Now The Herald announced today that Professor Max Murray, emeritus Professor of Veterinary Medicine at Glasgow University and inspired by the story has, through his own association with The Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust, initiated a similar project there. It will build five miles of road to serve the villages and school of Upper Gambia, providing access to the main agricultural areas - and it will be called ‘Calum’s Road’.