Away with the faeries at Lochan Uaine

Mystical place: An Lochan Uaine has an unusually green appearance
 that some say is caused by faeries washing their clothes in its water.

Thirty-three years after first stumbling across a book that mentioned a mysterious faery loch in a remote part of Scotland, I finally had the chance to visit it this year.

It is almost impossible to locate 'An Lochan Uaine' on a map, because it is so small and inconsequential relative to the mountainous splendor of its surroundings.

Tucked away in the vast wilderness of the Cairngorms, it is about seven miles due east of Aviemore -  but don't think about driving there, because you can't.  To reach it you must leave the road behind and take to quiet trails that lead into the mountains and an area known as Ryvoan Pass.

I'd read about An Lochan Uaine. I'd written a poem about it, which had became a song, a play and a short movie. Yet I'd never been to this place that had sparked my imagination in so many ways for more than three decades. Now, as I stood at the edge of the lochan, it felt like the closure of a personal journey that I'd carried since my teenage years.

The story began in 1985 as I read what was then a 30-year-old book about remote locations in Scotland. Each place described was accompanied by a single, page-sized black-and-white photograph. There were no people on the images, just the raw beauty of unspoiled wilderness.

On one page there was a photograph of An Lochan Uaine - a small body of water in the mountains. I recall the monochrome picture had a wintery feel. The words that accompanied it described the green water of the lochan and mentioned a folk tale that claimed faeries washed their clothes there and, as they did so, the dye would run and give the water its green tinge.

I wrote a poem in 1985 based on the tale. Faeries of Green Lochan was included in the 1987 paperback Inspired, a collection of young writers' stories and poems. I turned it into a song to perform at open mic events. In 2003, in a two-person play, I expanded on the theme of the mystical faeries and the lochan, and performed one of the roles at an amateur dramatics show at Bournemouth Centre for Community Arts. The screenplay was included in Eating Clouds in 2008. That led to the animation and live-action short film Faeries of Green Lochan of 2011. I had ambitions of filming it on location, but practicalities meant the live-action scene was filmed at a lake in Dorset, England.

This autumn I finally made it to the Cairngorms and sought out the lochan and its mystical green water. Heather, who was also the 'Woman in the Cloak' in the film version of Faeries of Green Lochan, and I set out on the tricky hillside trail that led to the lochan. The views were breathtaking as we followed a narrow path through fir trees and pines that hugged the steep edge of Ryvoan Pass. There was a magical feel to the place, and I was struck by the number of fly agaric mushrooms visible in the undergrowth. These distinctive bright red with white spot mushrooms had featured in animation sequences of the Faeries film, although at the time I had not known whether they were to be found near the lochan. They were - and in abundance.

Water's edge: with Heather beside An Lochan Uaine.

And then we were there at the edge of the lochan and its green water. A connection that spanned 33 years had been fulfilled. In the remote surroundings of the Cairngorms I wondered if this peaceful place guarded a precious secret. Were they out there - the faeries, hiding in the undergrowth and waiting until all folks had departed before coming to dance and sing at the water's edge and scrub their clothes clean?
Who can say? All I know is the place has a magical feel, and that is enough.

• The short movie Faeries of Green Lochan:

'The Magic Lake' from 26 years ago

Although I have to pinch myself to fully believe so much time has elapsed, it is 26 years since this small excerpt from a planned novel I was working on found its way into a small science fiction and fantasy fanzine in West Australia.

At the time I was breaking loose and exploring the world - or more accurately the vast island continent of Australia - as a backpacking 21-year-old. It was early 1988 and the previous year I had put together the short-run paperback Inspired, featuring a selection of five writers and poets of which I was one.

As I travelled through West Australia I'd planned to complete a fantasy novel and in the first few months did some work towards that goal. When I came across a small fanzine called WAFTAM, with a unicorn on the cover, I recognised a moment of serendipity as my work-in-progress novel was centered around unicorns. I sent a short contribution to the publication.

The fanzine editor duly published my work in the next edition of the fanzine, which was also renamed WOFTAM. Although this writing project never fully matured, here for posterity is a snapshot of my writing from 26 years ago, as published in issue one of the WOFTAM fanzine, in Perth, West Australia in March 1988:

THE MAGIC LAKE

Jarrad looked up to see the rain clouds had parted and a full moon was shining brightly in the night sky. However, what was even stranger were the horses. He noticed they were all outside the cave, standing perfectly still and silent. Their gaze seemed to be fixed distantly on the lake, as was Melinda's. The strange harp-like music, although still distant, was much more noticeable.

"What is it?" he asked, bewildered.

"Look at the lake," Melinda pointed. "Do you see the moon's reflection?"

"Yes, what about it ... Hey! It's moving, and it's changing shape," Jarrad checked himself and looked back up at the moon. Indeed, the moon had not changed. It was still the same uniform circle of brightness, unobscured by any night clouds.

That being so, thought Jarrad, then the reflection on the lake should also be a clear, circular patch of light. He looked back at the lake. It wasn't.

Jarrad was thinking up his next question when Breeze, the king's fair-haired daughter answered it.

"A unicorn," she spoke in a hushed tone. "It's a unicorn."

Jarrad blinked, looking once more at the blurry ball of light which seemed to be skating across the lake's surface. Indeed, now that he came to think about it, it did resemble a unicorn.

"A real unicorn?" he blurted out. Melinda turned, a dreamy contentment etched on her face.

"The horses believe it to be real. That is why they stand so silently, with such reverence. The night owls are silent now. All the other nocturnal animals are quiet. They can all hear the music, and all see the unicorn on the lake," she said. She smiled at Jarrad, then turned again to the lake. "But it is not a real unicorn, unfortunately. It is merely an illusion created by the magic lake. The magic which tonight's full moon has activated."

'Inspired' the book - 26 years on

Back in 1987, as a 21-year-old, I made my first foray into the world of book writing with Inspired. It was a paperback collection of short stories and poems by five young writers. I initiated the independent venture and brought together the writers, who submitted their work. My brother Gordon illustrated the front cover, and 100 copies of the book were printed and distributed (a few made it into the local public library).

More than a quarter of a century later it was but a distant memory and then I caught sight of a photograph of the front and back cover, reproduced here, and it reminded me of life's journey from way back then to where I am today.

Inspired was an outlet for my creative writing, as it was for the other contributers. Within its pages I was able to pour out a lot of the ideas and imagination that filled my late teenage years. Included in the collection was the short poem 'Faeries of Green Lochan', which went on to become firstly a song that I played regularly at open mic nights, and then a stage play performed by myself and a fellow drama student, Yvonne, at the Bournemouth Centre for Community Arts, in England, in 2003. That stage play, together with the song (the poem, put to guitar music and sung) evolved into the short live-action/animation film 'Faeries of Green Lochan', featuring myself and Heather, that was created between 2010 and 2011 and premiered at the First Bermuda Bakatown Film Festival in January 2012 - some 25 years after the original poem had first appeared within the pages of Inspired. The film can be viewed on YouTube.

Inspired was never likely to make money, but it did provide a creative outlet for a group of young writers. For me it is now also a historical record of where I was as a young writer and something I can compare to my later collection Eating Clouds (2008).

One message that early book represents is that, no matter if no one else is going to give you a break in the world of literature, you can always find a way to share your work with others - even if only to 100 potential book buyers. It also acts as a measure of your belief in yourself as a writer and your desire to work towards your writing dreams.

I'm particularly pleased that I was able to take one of my early works, 'Faeries of Green Lochan', which was actually written in early 1985, and develop it in a number of artistic forms. And there is another strange coincidence. As my most recent work Lennon Bermuda prepares to be given a worldwide launch in the UK later this month, I note that Inspired opened with a quotation from John Lennon's Aunt Mimi, her words to a 17-year-old Lennon that "Playing the guitar is all right as a hobby John, but you'll never make a living at it". I wrote to Mimi Smith for permission to use her quote, which she granted in her letter of reply. A loop that stretches 26 years can therefore be traced between Inspired and Lennon Bermuda.