Places on the Eagle Brae distance sign
The Eagle Brae distance sign is located right in the centre of our log cabin village, on the mound. It has a weird and wonderful mixture of destinations, showing how far away each one is. Some of the places have connections with Eagle Brae, some are key locations in mankind’s story, and some are there to provoke thought, inspiration and discussion! So, here’s our guide to all the places on the distance sign and some insight into why we chose to include them…
Broch of Mousa
The Eagle Brae distance sign is located at the centre of where there once was a broch. A broch is an iron age circular tower-like stone building, built around 2000 years ago. The broch on Mousa Island on the Shetland Islands is the tallest and best-preserved broch left in Britain today. Interesting to think there was once a broch just like this at the centre of Eagle Brae.
Campbell Island
Campbell Island is a subantarctic island 370 miles south of New Zealand’s South Island and belongs to New Zealand. The earth’s circumference is around 24,900 miles. So at 12,106 miles away Campbell Island is almost exactly opposite Eagle Brae and the furthest land on earth from Eagle Brae.
Dunnet Head
John O’ Groats is always cited as the most northerly point of mainland Britain. In fact, this isn’t true, Dunnet Head is the most northerly point. The longest possible walk from south to north on the UK mainland is from Lands End to John O’ Groats, and on the back of this John O’ Groats has somehow got the reputation for being the most northerly point.
Giza
We added Giza in Egypt simply because it must surely host the most remarkable structure ever built by mankind, the Great Pyramid of Giza. It dates back around 4,500 years ago and it remains a mystery exactly how the people then managed to build it.
Hadar
Hadar in Ethiopia is where the famous early hominid called Lucy was found in 1974. The skeleton was from a 3 million-year-old early hominid that became a crucial piece of the story in understanding humans’ evolution from the apes. The collection of bones found was called Lucy because the archaeologists who discovered her supposedly listened to the Beatles’ song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds multiple times on the day they made the discovery.
St Kilda
St Kilda is a group of islands 40 miles to the west of the nearest other land in Scotland. It represents the westernmost land ever inhabited in the UK. Extremely isolated and with very limited resources, it’s remarkable that folk ever lived there at all. In fact, it was inhabited until 1930 when the last inhabitants were evacuated and their population became so small life became impossible.
Kasol
Kasol is a small village in Himachal Pradesh in the Indian Himalayas where one of Eagle Brae’s owner’s Pawana is from.
Kirkcaldy
Eagle Brae is located on Struy estate owned by Mike’s family. Mike’s family used to own the Nairns linoleum business in Kirkcaldy in Fife which was very successful selling linoleum all over the world. It was the profits from this industry that enabled Mike’s great-grandad to purchase Struy estate back in 1934.
Leixlip
Leixlip is a town in county Kildare Ireland where the Eagle Brae office manager Ian is from. The name means ‘salmon leap’ in old Norse language.
Mauld
Mauld, at 0.5 miles, is the closest to Eagle Brae of all the locations on the sign! It’s just across the glen on the other side of the River Glass. We’ve included it as that’s where Eagle Brae employee Greg is from.
Mauna Kea
Mauna Kea in Hawaii is the tallest mountain on earth when measured from base to peak. The majority of it is underwater, so that’s why it generally doesn’t get recognized for this interesting accolade!
Mt Chimborazo
Another sucker punch for Mt Everest! Mt Chimborazo is in fact the highest point on earth when measured from the centre of the earth. The peak of Mt Chimborazo at 20,549 ft is over 8000 ft less high in relation to the mean sea level than Mt Everest. However, when measured from the centre of the earth to the peak, Mt Chimborazo is over 6,800 ft higher than Mt Everest. This is due to the earth’s bulge around the equator.
North Pole
The North Pole needs no introduction. It always feels like we are a very long way north here at Eagle Brae in the Scottish Highlands, but to get to the North Pole you have to go over 2000 more miles north. 2000 miles south will take you well into Africa!
North Sentinel Island
North Sentinel Island is a fascinating place. It’s one of the Andaman Islands, belonging to India in the Bay of Bengal between India and Myanmar. This is one of the last places on earth still inhabited by an uncontacted hunter-gatherer tribe – the Sentinelese. Their language is still unknown and contact is prohibited. It’s an extremely dangerous place to try and visit with the inhabitants firing off arrows and spears at anyone who attempts to visit – even at helicopters! Most recently, two Indian fishermen were killed in 2006, and an American missionary in 2018, and in all cases the Indian government does not pursue legal prosecution as the inhabitants are not considered subject to the laws of the land.
Paisley
Paisley is a town on the west side of Glasgow where Colin, who worked for Eagle Brae for 9 years, is from.
Jersey
Jersey in the Channel Islands is where Mike, one of Eagle Brae’s owners was born and raised.
Stonehenge
Stonehenge in Wiltshire is Britain’s most famous prehistoric monument, thought to have been built between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago. It’s a stone circle comprising massive standing stones weighing around 25 tonnes each. It is a construction of remarkable precision. The central stones are perfectly aligned with the sunset of the winter solstice and the sunrise of the summer solstice.
Williams Lake
Williams Lake is a town in British Columbia, Canada, where the Eagle Brae log cabins were made. Each cabin is made in Williams Lake first then shipped over to Eagle Brae and assembled for the second time.
We hope you enjoy looking at our distance sign during your stay at Eagle Brae and learning a little about this unique mix of places. Find out more about Eagle Brae here on our blog.
