The isle of Skye

Sunday 2nd October

Off again bright and early this morning to visit a place of huge historical significance called Culloden where Bonnie Prince Charlie in April 1746 fought a battle with the English soldiers in a futile effort to reclaim the crown. Over one thousand Jacobite followers were slaughtered in one hour and the positions where they fell and the graves where they were buried were all marked and the place is now revered by the Scots. This was the final claim on the crown of England. We then travelled on to Inverness, passing through some beautiful countryside. We turned south at Inverness and headed along Loch Ness, 23 miles long and up to 1,000 feet deep. The weather is very ordinary today but we managed to stop several times though unfortunately “Nessie” was not showing herself. As we turned away from Loch Ness the road meandered through the most amazing terrain (sorry for the amazings, but there isn’t another word suitable! While travelling I saw a field next to a forest and a flock of about a hundred partridges running out of the forest and into a field, probably because it is hunting season now. It is extremely hilly and it seemed as though every few miles the Highlanders had a battle and slaughtered one another. They had a belief that any dispute could be sorted out with a sword). The next stop was just before going onto the Isle of Skye at a place called Eilean Donan Castle which has been used as a backdrop in over twenty films. From there we travelled up to a small place called Portree. Here we picked up a local guide who took us for a tour up the west coast to Uig, a Norse word for shelter. We travelled on the narrowest winding roads you could imagine and he showed, us the crofters, small landholders who were jacks of all trades. There were approximately 60,000 of these all over the island who paid a tax to the chieftains who early in the 18th century realised they could make more money by grazing sheep on this land, so they simply evicted these subsistence farmers who had no alternate options and so they were forced to emigrate all around the world and now there are only about 6,000 left. This is called the time of the clearance. We ended our tour back at Portree where we stayed the night in a two star hotel. There is no internet on the Isle and not a lot of phone facility but it was a beautiful and fascinating place to visit. I was extremely glad we had an opportunity to see this place.