I took a hike up to the Old Man of Storr

From Kilt Rock, it was a short drive down to The Old Man of Storr. I had not ever heard of it, but in my B&B they had a travel book and it mentioned that it was one not to miss and I am very glad that I didn't. I didn't know what to expect which was good and bad, as I would have planned better, but I did have enough time to make the hike and enjoy the unique scenery. This was a high light. 

Driving down from Kilt Rock...this was outside my window.

 

 

The Storr is the highest point on the Trotternish Ridge on the Isle of Skye. The Trotternish Ridge is the longest geological landslip in Britain and exposes the innards of an ancient landscape sculpted by volcanic activity. Below The Storr is The Sanctuary, home to the extraordinary rock pinnacles the Old Man of Storr and the Needle Rock. http://www.trekkingbritain.com/thestorrviatheoldmanofstorr.htm

There was a little parking spot but it was full, so I ended up parking on the side of the road (there was an area for parking along the road).  When I started I had no idea how long it would take me.  I thought it would be just a quick hike and I would be there, but no.  I started out going up a well made crisscross path for about 1/2 a mile (give or take).  It looked almost like a lumber yard so I wasn't sure I was going the right way but I just kept going and then I entered a wooded area....

 

My camera actually makes this look lighter than it was.  There was no light coming through the trees and the thought crossed my mind of Little Red Riding Hood going to Grandma's house.  I was waiting for the wolf to just walk across the path in front of me (it was rather unnerving).  After I walked out of this main bit of trees, I continued through the woods another mile or so on my way to the base of The Storr.  

 

 

The path took me to the forestry boundary fence.  Once I passed through gate the rest of the land is open and amazing.  It is here that I had my first good look at the Old Man of Storr.

I took a moment to take some pictures of the view that I could get from that height (I had gone about hundred and fifty metres in height).  The view across from the base is the Sound of Raasay to the Isle of Raasay and the Scottish mainland.  Lovely, isn't it?

 

I actually considered stopping at the fence for about 5 seconds as it looked like I had a bit more to climb but I knew that I would regret it so I continued along the path towards the Old Man of Storr.

 

 

 I found out that I went up another three hundred metres until the path turns left and I headed up to the foot of the Old Man of Storr. It was really cool and so much taller than I had first imagined.



 

 

I looked up how the Old Man of Storr got its name and there are some interesting stories surrounding the rock formation.  One legend (and the most popular) "is that the Isle of Skye was once over run by giant beings. The old man of Storr is one of these beings, who was buried with earth when he died, but his thumb was left sticking out."  Another popular legend is that "the old man of Storr, along with his wife, were fleeing from the giants when they made the mistake of turning round to look at them - they were both turned to stone. There was another rock thought to be the old man's 'wife' but it toppled over many years ago." http://seeker7.hubpages.com/hub/Supernatural-Mythical-Stones-of-Scotland  However it came to be, it is really impressive.  The Old Man of Storr showed up in a couple of movies this year, Prometheus and Snow White and the Huntsman so now you will know what you are looking at if you watch either of them.

 

Just a little way from the Old Man of Storr is Needle Rock. It also is called "The Cathedral".

 

 

This high up I was able to take some amazing pictures of the the surrounding area so enjoy.  I sure did.

 

 

 

 

Crofters, Flora, and Kilt Rock

To continue on with this really full day, I took a slight detour on my way to Kilt Rock. I saw a sign for the Skye Museum of Island Life and as I had seen the same on the map, I thought "Why Not?" As you can see from the map, I followed the road right along the coast (beautiful, beautiful country).  I believe that these pictures are of Loch Snizord, on my way up to Uig and then to Kilmuir where the Skye Museum of Island Life is located.  The Museum was opened in 1965 and it showed the ingenuity of the people because they not afford to import materials and were limited to that which was available in the area and  more importantly, was free. "Many corfters were able to buld their own house and the work could take from a few weeks to a year or more. In most communities in the past, neighbours helped one another in their seasonal work and it is said that when a house was being built neighbours joined in, often to the extent of forming a human chain passing stones from hand to hand. They thus put into practice the time-honoured adage - 'many hands make light work'.  The type of cottage to be found on Skye was built with walls of up to three feet in width and beating a hip-ended roof with over-hanging eaves of thatch which formed a fringe around the wall top. The roof is constructed on the couple and purlin system with rafters of rough round timber. Light branches laid neatly over the purlins carry the 'divots'or turf squares which are neatly tiled to form a bed for the thatch. The thatch used in Skye was common rush or locally-grown reeds. Thatching is a dying art and it is now becoming very difficult to obtain the services of an experienced thatcher." http://www.skyemuseum.co.uk/construction-layout.html

 

The Old Smithy





I believe this is the Weaver's cottage
 







The idea behind the museum was to preserve an actual township of thatched cottages, each one showing the actual way of life of a "Crofter" at the close of the nineteenth century. 









I took this picture before I learned that I wasn't to take pictures, oops.





 






Real life roof being thatched, and unfortunately it is a dying art.



                    View from the "village".                                                            

 

 I was able to view the cottage with its bedroom and kitchen, the "weavers cottage" , the "old smithy", the barn and the The Ceilidh House.  Interesting thing about the Ceilidh House is that this is the place where the village would gather to together in the long winter evenings and sing song and gossip about what was going on in the world.  It is where the sense of community was born on the Isle.



 

I am throwing this in because it is interesting and if I had known before I left what it was, I would have taken a closer look.  This is the monument of Flora MacDonald (yes a member of the clan from the first castle that I talked about when I got to the Isle of Skye).  She lived an amazing life that started with hearing stories as a little girl of the desire that her countrymen had to have a Scottish King on the throne, the last having been King James II.  His son, James Francis Edward Stuart's attempt failed, so the hope lay with his son,  Bonnie Prince Charlie.  In 1745 the  Bonnie Prince arrived in Scotland and after a few successful battles Prince Charles and his followers, the Jacobites, suffered a horrible defeat in a bloody battle at Culloden. After the battle, King George II of England issued orders to torture and punish any who had helped in the rebellion.  Prince Charlie's supporters realized that they needed to get the prince out of Scotland before he was killed.

According to legend, Flora and several other clanswomen "secretly created a woman’s costume for the prince. Then, Flora traveled with Prince Charlie, whom she disguised as her maid, Betty Burke, through the Highland country and across the sea to the Isle of Skye.

The English king’s men followed them closely and gave them no rest. The trip was dangerous, and they spent many days tired, hungry, and soaking wet from the Scottish rains. Flora could have left the prince and returned home, but she refused. After several weeks, the prince continued on his own and found a ship that took him to France. Flora returned home to her clan. Once home, Flora was arrested by the English and taken on a long sea journey to London, where she awaited trial. Conditions on the ship were horrible, and Flora must have been very frightened and homesick. On board, however, she charmed the crew, and the captain of the ship wrote a letter requesting that Flora be kept out of jail, since she was such a nice and charming girl. The letter worked, and Flora was kept in a private home with several other clanspeople, rather than in a jail.

In London, Flora charmed those who cared for her and made many friends among English Jacobites, who came to visit her regularly. The English Jacobites knew Flora’s story and felt privileged to spend time with such a brave young woman. Flora returned home two years later with many friends and a sizable fortune raised for her by the English Jacobites. She never stood trial." http://ncmuseumofhistory.org/workshops/womenshistory/flora.html

After that, I traveled around the horn, traveling on road that were barely big enough for my car, past Staffin to Kilt Rock.  Just a side note, the barely big enough roads where built by the women who where left during World War I.  After the men left, the women needed ways to get to where they needed to go, so they built the windy roads so that they could get to one another.  They were later paved and now used as road ways.  They have created small places to pull over so that when you need to pass, you use them to allow the cars coming your way to get by.  It was a very intense driving experience.

 Kilt Rock is a 200 foot high sea cliff that is named after the similarity between the cliff face and a kilt, with vertical basalt columns forming the pleats and intruded sills of dolerite forming the pattern.

A cute Oriental man took my picture in exchange for me taking one of him and his wife.  This was a really good prelude into my next stop, Old Man of Storr.

 

 

 

 

Hold Fast...

I am going to start this post by letting you know that this day is packed with stuff and each main stop will have its own post.

 

I have included this map so that you can get an idea of the road that I took. I had three major stops for the full day that I was able to spend on the Isle of Skye. You can see where my B&B was located, at Kyleakin. When I arrived and after I checked in I went from Kyleakin to Armadale. The next morning my first stop was Dunvegan Castle, the stronghold of the chiefs of the MacLeod for nearly 800 years. I left the B&B early and started on my way up. I drove on the A863 up through Bracadale and then on to Dunvegan and I did as I had done the entire trip and stopped along the way and took a ton of pictures.

This was a very common scene, the Scottish goat

 



It was amazing to me that the landscape was so different on just this tiny Isle.  Every time I stopped, it was to take a picture of a totally different version of the beauty that was all around me.  I was constantly amazed. 

This is my Highland house

 

This next set of pictures was to show the change in the weather that always seemed to be just around the corner.

 

It took about two hours (mainly because of all my stopping to take pictures) but I finally arrived at my destination

 

Dunvegan Castle

 

Dunvegan is the only stronghold in the Highlands that has been continuously owned and except for the 80 years after the potato famine, occupied by the MacLeod family.  They have lived in this part of the Isle of Skye for the past 8 centuries and the castle itself contains the work of at least ten building periods.

 According to the stories, Dunvegan and the MacLeods became intertwined in the 13th century through the marriage of Leod and the heiress of the Macarailts.  Leod was the son of Olaf the Black, King of the Isle of Man and he and his wife had two sons, Tomod and Torquil.  This was the time that we started to see the term MacLeod as the word "Mac" means "son of".  Tomod became the Chief over the MacLeods of Dunvegan, Harris and Glenelg and Torquil became the Chief over the MacLeod's of Lewis.

 

These are the two tartan colors warn by the MacLeod clan.  The first is known as the MacLeod dress, and the second is known as the MacLeod hunting.

 

One other interesting thing I learned was about the MacCrimmon Pipes.  The bagpipes are associated with the MacCrimmons, hereditary pipers to the MacLeod for 13 generations.  On the farm that the Chief gave them, they started the celebrated Piping College and the finest pipers in Scotland would come to learn from the MacCrimmons.  Even today, Dunvegan remains a place of great renown in the world of piping and each year there is a recital, in honour of the ancient tradition of the Chanter upon which the Fairy Lady assured the first MacCrimmon that he would play the finest music in the world.

 

I had to collect pictures of the interior from the Internet as I was not able to take any pictures as I walked through the castle.  The tour was amazing because you could walk into any room except the library.  I was able to get close to the furniture, pictures, heirlooms and the history of the castle. 

 

                                                                        The Library

 

                           

                      The Front Hall

                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                     The Dinning Room

     
                   The Drawing Room 

 Gaelic became the language of the the Highlands after 1263 and continued to be until the latter part of the 19th century. The Chief was known as the "father" of the clan, the judge of all, the leader in battle and the patron of the arts. During the 18th century the Chief of MacLeod had an entourage that included fighting men, bards, musicians, entertainers, doctors and lawyers. The clan system was carefully organised but because the way of life was misunderstood by those that lived outside the system, it was feared and the central government in Edinburgh was constantly trying to establish authority over the clans in the Highlands.

 

 

It was after the Jacobite rebellion in 1745 when life changed forever and the power of the Chiefs was broken. They were no longer the rulers over their clan, but reduced to Anglo-Saxon style landowners. In 1609 it became a crime to speak the Gaelic language and the sons of the chiefs were educated in the Lowlands of Scotland or in England.   

 

 

Today the clan lands of the MacLeods are now confined to the Isle of Skye and include Dunvegan, the lands immediately surrounding the castle and the great range of the Cuillin mountains further to the South of Skye.

 

I found two interesting stories surrounding the clan MacLeod.  The first has to do with the motto - "Hold Fast". 

This originates from Malcolm the third chief (1296-1370) who while returning from a clandestine visit to the wife of Fraser of Glenelg, was confronted by a mad bull in Glenelg. Armed only with a 'Dirk' he slew the beast. As a souvenir of his prowess he retained one of the Bull's Horns. This horn is on display in the castle today. It is a great clan treasure, indeed to this day, each male heir has to prove his manhood by successfully draining this horn filled with Claret.  The horn holds a bottle and a half of claret, which must be drained at one draft, without setting down or falling down. Finishing this feat in under 2 minutes, the present chief has maintained the honor of his family.   (http://www.dunvegancastle.com/content/default.asp?page=s2_2  )

 

 

The other story has to do with the "fairy flag". 

The most treasured relic of the clan is the Fairy Flag of Dunvegan, called in Gaelic "am BratachSith".  There are many stories surrounding the "fairy flag", the most logical is that it was brought back from the Crusades.  However, analysis shows that it is silk from the Middle East and thought to have been dyed yellow.  It has also been dated between the 4th and 7th centuries A.D. (400 years before the first Crusades).  Because of questions surrounding the origin of the flag, there are many stories but this is the one I liked the best.

The story behind the flag is one of the greatest romantic tales in all the highlands...

A great young Chief of the clan MacLeod fell in love with a fairy princess, a bean sidhe, one of the Shining Folk. The pair were determined to marry but the King of the fairies forbade the union. Such was the young fairy princesses distress that he finally relented and agreed to a period of 'Handfasting'. This was a form of trial marriage which traditionally would last for a year and day and was common in the highlands at the time. however The king demanded that at the end of the handfasting the princess must return to her own folk and take nothing human with her.

The couple lived in harmony and soon a young son was born to them. Alas the time sped by and soon the handfasting was over. The couple parted with great sorry at the famous fairy bridge and the princess returned to the fairy kingdom. As she left she made her husband, the chief promise that her son would be cared for well and never allowed to cry for the sound of his cries would cause her untold grief even in the far away fairy realm. The Chief kept his promise and the young MacLeod was never left unattended and never allowed to cry.

However the young chief grieved terribly for the loss of his wife and the other clansfolk decided that they should organise a great party in the Castle of Dunvegan on the occasion if his birthday to take his mind away from his grief. The birthday celebration ran long into the night with high spirits and the young nursemaid assigned to watch over the infant crept from the room to watch the revelries. As she watch enraptured by the celebrations she did not hear the baby kick off his covers and begin to cry. The Child's mother heard the cries from her fairy realm and suddenly appeared by his side. She took up the young baby and cradled him back to sleep, covering him in a fairy shawl. She sang to the child and was still singing when the maid returned. The maid could hear the lullaby but not see where it was coming from. She immediately took the baby with the shawl she did not recognise to the chief and told him what happened.

Many years later when the child grew into a young man he recounted a tale to his father that the shawl was a great talisman for the clan and that should they ever find themselves in mortal danger they could wave the flag three times and the fairy legions would come to their aid. however this talisman could only be used three times whereupon it would return to where it had come form taking the flag waver with it. The Chief instantly realised the young man was telling the truth and the flag was kept safe.

The Flag has since been used twice; Once when the Macleod's were vastly outnumbered by their bitter enemies the MacDonald's. The chief took the flag from its case and waved it three times, at which point the battle suddenly turned in favour of the MacLeod's. A second time the land was blighted by a plague on the cattle and the clan kinsmen were dying of starvation. The chief again raised the flag and the Fairies returned to bring the cattle back to life. This may seem like a fanciful tale but many MacLeod's believe wholeheartedly in the legend. So much so that during world War II many Macleod servicemen carried a picture of the flag in their wallets. It is said that of the Macleod airmen who defended these shores during the Battle of Britain not one who carried the picture was lost and indeed the Chief of the clan offered to bring the flag to Dover to wave at the Germans should they attempt to invade. http://www.scotclans.com/scottish_myths/symbolic_scotland/flag_denvegan.html


Thoughout Dunvegan's history the MacLeod Chief's have wanted to improve the quality of life.  Initially the direction was towards the production of vegetables and the squared walled gardens were created with that purpose in mind.

It is believe that the 25th Chief, Norman, created this round garden.

 

Because of the Potato Famine however, serious gardening was no longer an option and the grounds became a "romantic wilderness"
 

 

In 1974, the 29th Chief decided that he would attempt a restoration and his perseverance paid off with the Dunvegan gardens becoming one of the "most interesting orticultural experiences in Scotland".

I know this was a really long post, but it was life long dream and I wanted to do the experience justice.  Thanks for hanging in.