The Summer Walkers

E 
Sometimes when you journey 
Through the pages of a book 
A 
You're taken places beyond words 
You let them speak their truths 

Today I've opened treasures 
That my eyes could scarce believe 
A 
They're the words of confirmation 
Everything that makes me sing 

E 
Summer comes to Sutherland 
And you bend the hazel bow 
A 
You harness up the ponies 
And you head out on the road 

By Kilbreck and Altnaharra 
You journey to your rest 
A 
With the guiding might of Suilven 
For the campsites of the West 

E 
And it's up by the Shin 
And up by the Naver 
A                    E 
And the long winding shores 

Of Loch Maree 
E 
By Ben Hope and Ben Loyal 
By Stack and by Arkle 
A               E 
The road reaches long 
                E 
Now the summer is here 

E 
No, your words are not of sentiment 
Shallow or untrue 
A 
But wells of living water 
From their clear deep sides we drew 

The songs, the tin, the horses 
This country's great and ancient wilds 
A 
Your faith in God and man and nature 
And the keenness of your guile 

E 
And it's up by the Shin 
And up by the Naver 
A                    E 
And the long winding shores 

Of Loch Maree 
E 
By Ben Hope and Ben Loyal 
By Stack and by Arkle 
A               E 
The road reaches long 
                E 
Now the summer is here 

E 
So have you stood out on Coldbackie 
At the time the sun goes down 
A 
Or up on the king of campsites 
In the hills about Brae Tongue 

That's when music filled your evenings 
It's all so different now, this world 
A 
For you were the summer walkers 
And the fishers of the pearl 

E 
So as we close another chapter 
That we label Archive Gold 
A 
Still the Conon flows each morning 
And the dew falls on the sloe 

But today you took me walking 
Through a land that we have lost 
A 
While our children sit at websites 
With no access to the cost 

E 
And it's up by the Shin 
And up by the Naver 
A                    E 
And the long winding shores 

Of Loch Maree 
E 
By Ben Hope and Ben Loyal 
By Stack and by Arkle 
A               E 
The road reaches long 
                E 
Now the summer is here