Diary of FRANCIS PALMER ASTLEY (1825-1868), kept during a voyage he made in 1846, when he sailed to Iceland and crossed the island on horseback. Francis Astley later bought Arisaig estate (in 1852) and his descendants, the Astley-Nicholsons, owned it until 1956

‘After crossing the river for seven or 8 miles we kept crossing dreary swells of oldish lava, very barren, there being large patches of stones and sand without any vegetation and the rest showing moss of the same sort as found in the Cairngorms and a few plants, all most all of them very small but with very pretty flowers, On our left hand we saw the hills that form the south side of Hvalfjord, they have still large patches of snow on them. The pace of travelling is but just better than a walk’.