We woke to the hopes of better weather today. Blue skies are peeking out between the clouds more and more as the morning goes on. So we headed out on one of the drives I had planned. First off was a thatched house on Struan Road. I had done this “drive” on Google and got the GPS coordinates, but when we got there, there was nothing there. Will have to recheck this one. Next was a drive all the way out to Fiskavaig. On the shore here can be found rare blue seashells. Only problem—there is no way to get down to the shore. The cliffs are very steep and after all the rains recently, the hills are very slippery. We did get to see some of the entrants along the road in the Tattie Bogal Scarecrow Festival contest. Some were so cute! There was a Blues Brothers one and a really scary one, one in a kayak, a pirate one, and one that looked like he was blowing in the wind.
Talisker Distillery is near here as are the Talisker cliffs and waterfall. There is a legend of Cuchullin, the Hero of Ulster, who took 2 strides from the northern tip of Ireland and landed on Skye, bound for Skiach’s School for Heroes in the mountains, from where she taught the art of war.
Then it was on to Dun Beag. The Dun Beag broch stands on the top of a knoll to the west of Bracadale (Skye). Dun Beag means “small fort.” The interior measures over 34 ft. and 9 inches in diameter and is enclosed by a wall over 14 feet thick. The entrance is to the east and has door-checks one-third of the way along the passage. On the left are visible the long intramural galleries. Right and left of the entrance passage are the entrances of a bee-hive cell and a chamber with a stairway leading to the upper levels. Dun Beag means 'small fort'. The site was excavated from 1914 to 1920. A large amount of prehistoric and more recent artefacts were found (Stone Age & Bronze Age), suggesting a prolonged use of the broch. I may just have to include a picture of what it would have looked like, as it is really amazing. It is said that you shouldn’t come to the site at night for the fairies may carry you off. This is a Picts house from about 2300-1900 years ago. The raised hill in the water that you can see from here is Cnoc Mhairtein. There were lots of sheep on the hillside here and one of them began calling out in a bleating sing-song voice and said (and I swear this is true) “La-la-la!” It sounded just like Babe from the movie!
Next we returned to St. John’s Chapel from 1838 that we visited on our last trip. Eveidently there has been some renovation work going on for the old rusted iron fences have been replaced by lovely red-painted iron ones. I was also surprised to find Scotts here! I didn’t remember that from last time. There was a John Scott and his wife Margaret Birt Ross Scott and their grandson John Scott, all from Drynoch Lodge. The elder John Scott died in 1893 and had been a tacksman at Drynoch for 43 years. The church here was Episcopal. At the bottom of the graveyard nearest the loch are some lovely Celtic crosses and a poignant reminder of the tragedy at Lockerbie. There are said to be powerful ghosts at night here. This is a prehistorical burial ground and a fairy ground where the fairies shrank cloth. It is said you can hear their songs at times. The only thing I heard, though, was a strange scraping sound just above the back of the church ruins as I passed.
We looked for Varkasaig as it has a beach that has sand that turned from white to black in one night in a storm. But we didn’t see the town at all. Then we headed to Skinidin to see the ruins of the Shieling of the Women nunnery, which we believe we found high on a hill. Near here is Orbost House, which was home to Otta Swire (1898-1973) who wrote the book of Skye legends that was so highly acclaimed.
Near Skinidin is Glendale which was the site of the Glendale Uprising. In 1882, John MacPherson of Milovaig led an uprising against the landlord of the Glendale Estate, who was seeking to clear the crofters from their land to make way for, more profitable, sheep. His actions led to the Royal Navy gunboat, Jackal, landing a troupe of marines at Meanish Pier in early 1883 to effect MacPherson's arrest. He was taken to Edinburgh and imprisoned for two months. His noble stance encouraged others into defiance and the actions of these "Glendale Martyrs" led to the formation of the Napier Commission and security of tenure for crofters throughout Scotland. A memorial to the Glendale Martyrs now stands beside the B884 on the pass that divides Glendale from the rest of the island.
Glendale is also one of the few places left in the UK with total absence of light pollution. Viewing the Milky Way from here is supposed to be amazing. There are meteor showers in the Spring and Fall and the Aurora Borealis in Winter, Spring, and Fall. They say that the Aurora Borealis looks like search lights over Dunvegan Head and peak activity is this year! But we haven’t had a clear night yet, so no luck for us.
Our last stop was at the Old Kilmuir Graveyard in Dunvegan, situated on high ground overlooking Loch Dunvegan. A stone wall encloses the gravestones surrounding the ruins of St Mary's Chapel. The roofless ruin has a date of 1694 over the north entrance, but the condition of some stones predates this period. There are also late medieval gravestones and some 18th century table stones. Central is an obelisk from the early 18th century in memory of Lord Thomas Frazer, father of Simon Fraser of Lovat, who died while visiting the Chief at Dunvegan Castle in 1699.
For many years the principal burial site for the MacLeod Chiefs was at Rodel, Isle of Harris, but after that the Clan Chiefs were buried at Kilmuir. Within the walls of the ruin are buried the MacLeod Chiefs since the 24th Chief, John Norman who died in 1835. He and his wife Anne and his daughter Emily, the historian, had been very involved in life at Dunvegan and improvements to the Castle. The most recent burial was the 29th Chief, MacLeod of MacLeod, John MacLeod, who was buried there 24th February 2007. Also many of the famous MacCrimmons, the hereditary pipers to the MacLeods, were buried here. A tablet is placed on the wall of the church in memory of these great pipers.
Other MacLeod families have burial areas in the graveyard, including the MacLeods of Suardal, Herebost, Struan, Hamer Greshornish and Orbost. The hereditary wardens of Dunvegan Castle, the McSweens of Roag, one of Skye's oldest tribes, are on the west side of the churchyard, with carved grave slabs with claymore and foliage designs on them. The MacLeod names dominate but many other families are buried here as well. On the horizon are MacLeod’s Tables.
At this cemetery is the grave of an old lady who died at age 105 in 1674. Her stone read: Sacred to the Memory of the MacLeods of Bharkasaig Bay and Gillin popularly known as the Clann Mac Mhic Alasdair Ruaidh descended from Tormod, second son of William (Cleireach) Vth chief of MacLeod, and in remembrance of the inimitable poetess, Mairi Nighean Alasdair Ruaidh who died in the year 1674, aged 105 years.
We drove up to Dunvegan for the restrooms. In the early 1920s, a storm swept away 4000 trees here. The MacLeods have been here since the beginning of the 13th century. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip landed here on a tour and planted trees. Sir Walter Scott slept in the fairy room of Dunvegan Castle. Fairy music has been heard in the Fairy Tower—a piper, but no one was there. Dunvegan was a Neolithich stie (Stone Age), then a Celtic site (Began’s Dun), then Norse.
We went by the Co-op for groceries then back by the Old Man of Storr—oh, he lost his head in a severe storm in the early 1900s. He must’ve been even more impressive before that. We have also gone by Loch Snizort many times. This is where we stayed at Skeabost Hotel one year. St. Columba landed in Loch Snizort in the 6th century. A large whale has also visited here. In the pool at the bottom of the waterfall is said to live a waterhorse. Oh, and speaking of the Co-op, they are the ones who have the oh-so-delicious cupcakes to which I have become addicted. Just listen to this description: Lemon Cup Cakes butter enriched sponge cakes with lemon buttercream icing, a smooth tangy lemon curd filling and a sprinkling of white chocolate curls. Could there be anything more delicious? Maybe there is—I hear that Katie has taken a cake-decorating class and is now an expert at making delicious cakes with lovely roses upon them.
I think it is so cool that the people over here say the letter Z as “zed” and the letter H as “hate-ch.” I also love the words they use that we have no idea about such as “knackered” which I think means tired or upset, and “chuffed” which means very happy. They also use the term “Scheme” instead of “plan.” But this sound so strange to me. Kind of like something underhanded. “The air force has a pilot training scheme.” “There is an insurance scheme for you.”
Next door to us is what looks in all seriousness like a haunted house. In this abandoned house, the windows are broken out but the curtains still hang at them and blow in the breezes. I also remembered the name of the Michelle Pfeiffer movie filmed on Skye—Stardust. Not a great movie but interesting because of its locations.
Pictures from top: Kilmuir Cemetery in Dunvegan; Brother’s Point; “haunted house” next door; our view to the north.
