Over the Sea to Skye
Sorry for the delay in posting; for the past week we had very poor WiFi coverage on Skye.
“Sing me a song of a lad that is gone,
Say, could that lad be I?
Merry of soul he sailed on a day,
Over the sea to Skye.
Mull was astern, Rum on the port,
Eigg on the starboard bow;
Glory of youth glowed in his soul;
Where is that glory now?
Give me again all that was there,
Give me the sun that shone!
Give me the eyes, give me the soul,
Give me the lad that’s gone!
Billow and breeze, islands and seas,
Mountains of rain and sun,
All that was good, all that was fair,
All that was me is gone.”
Inverness
In preparation for Dave and Christa’s arrival, we drove to Inverness Airport and turned in our compact rental car and rented a medium-sized SUV.
Even with the larger vehicle, we knew space would remain tight, so Amanda and I spent the afternoon packing items into the vacant space where the spare tire is so (in)conveniently removed by the rental company.
To any neighbor that was paying attention, we must have looked like we were hiding bricks of cocaine in the spare tire well. (At the end of the day, it truly was the only way we were able to get the four of us and our stuff into the car the next day.)
Amanda and I also downsized our lives into our two carry-on-sized bags. We used a company called Radical Storage to store the two large suitcases until our return to Inverness on August 2.
With a spare room in the apartment ready, a new rental car stuffed like a drug mule, and our large suitcases in storage—we were set for Dave and Christa’s arrival.
Dave & Christa Arrive
After flights from LAX to LHR and LHR to Inverness, we were finally able to greet them at Inverness Airport around 9:30 on Saturday night.
It took us about 25 minutes to complete the drive back to our apartment in Inverness.
Culloden Battlefield
On Sunday morning (Jul 23) we cleaned up the apartment, shoehorned ourselves into the SUV, and headed for the Culloden moor.
The four of us standing with the battlefield behind.
The red flags mark the front line of the Government troops.
The blue flags (in the distance) mark the Jacobite front line.
Amanda standing at the spot where, following their standard Highland Charge, the Jacobite army first engaged with the Government forces.
Following the battle, Cumberland locked down the battlefield for several days, allowing no one in or out. After he was convinced none of the Jacobites on the field remained alive, he forced locals to bury the dead.
Jacobite soldiers were unceremoniously stripped and thrown into common graves. The mounds known as the Graves of the Clans remain visible to this day.
Well after the fact, the grave mounds were marked with clan names. There is, of course, no way of associating particular graves with individual clans.
Regardless, any Outlander fan worth their salt has to take a picture with the Clan Fraser memorial stone.
The Memorial Cairn was erected in 1881, some 135 years after the battle.
Leanach Cottage—During the battle, a similar cottage stood on this spot and served as a field hospital for Government soldiers.
On the Culloden moor.
Loch Ness
Google Maps estimated the journey from Culloden to our cottage on the Isle of Skye at three hours. 😳
Fortunately, the route took us along Loch Ness on a beautiful day.
Eilean Donan
Eilean Donan is a Scottish castle situated on a tidal island at the confluence of three sea lochs in the western Highlands.
Easy access and its dramatic location make it one of the most photographed castles in Scotland.
The castle’s brochure said, “We’re often described as Scotland’s most romantic castle” and this became the running joke for the day.
Our good-natured ribbing aside, can you imagine a castle much more romantic than this?
Eilean Donan, or the island of Donan, takes is name from a 6th century Irish saint. Bishop Donan came to Scotland in around AD 580 and is believed to have established a monastic cell on the island.
Strategically located where three sea lochs meet: Lochs Long, Duich, and Alsh—Eilean Donan has been inhabited since the Iron Age.
However, it wasn't until the early 13th century that the first castle was built on the site, probably as a defensive measure against the Vikings. These fearsome people of legend had raided, settled in, and, for a time, controlled much of the north of Scotland and the Western Isles between 800 and 1266.
Inexplicably, we were not allowed to take photographs inside. Being a careful rule-follower, I only took one illegal image!
Amanda, on the other hand, was a very bad girl and took not one but two photos!
She couldn’t resist the beautiful 18th century dresses.
Though today one of Scotland's most famous castles, Eilean Donan was just one of dozens of strategically placed defenses along the country's western seaboard in the early to mid-13th century.
Skye Bridge
The Skye Bridge allows vehicle access at the southern tip of the Isle of Skye. In part because you can visit without having to take a ferry, Skye is a hugely popular tourist destination.
Sligachan
About half way up the eastern perimeter road we arrived at the village of Sligachan—which means “small shells” in the Gaelic language.
The Sligachan Old Bridge was built between 1810-1818. The waters under the bridge are said to be a portal to the faerie world.
Legend has it that the beauty of Scáthach’s daughter and the tears of love she shed in the river, mean that anyone brave enough to dip their face in the water will be granted eternal beauty by the faeries.
You must dip your face into the river for at least 7 seconds, which is why I’m definitely not blessed with beauty.
We had dinner at the Sligachan Hotel (visible in the background).
On the opposite bank of the River Sligachan, the Collie and MacKenzie Statue would dominate the horizon, were it not for the massive Cuillin Mountains beyond.
The bronze sculpture above was erected at Sligachan, against the backdrop of the Cuillin Mountains to pay tribute to the two renowned mountaineering figures.
Professor Norman Collie and John Mackenzie are credited with creating many of the routes across the Cuillins on Skye—one of Scotland’s most famous mountain ranges.
Two Cuillin ranges dominate the landscape on Skye.
The Red Cuillin are the mountains nearer Sligachan and are a favorite with hikers and backpackers. They are granite in composition, from which they get their reddish color.
The Black Cuillin Ridge lies further away, across Glen Sligachan, and is an eroded magma chamber of a huge volcano, which gives it its black color. These mountains require technical rock climbing skills to access.
The Outlander Song
The song that so many readily recognize as the theme music from Outlander, long pre-dates the series.
A Gaelic song composed c.1782, it was rewritten in the 19th century with the lyrics changed to solemnly mourn the journey of Bonnie Prince Charlie following his defeat at Culloden in 1746.
Charles depended on supporters to shelter and hide him from his Hanoverian pursuers led by the Duke of Cumberland. At length, he arrived on the island of Benbecula (map below), where it was decided that he should move on to Skye.
The island was under travel restrictions, and the prince could not take the risk of being spotted. Though not a Jacobite supporter, Flora Macdonald was moved by the great loss at Culloden and, as an act of charity, obtained permission from Hugh Macdonald, commander of the local militia and her stepfather, to leave Benbecula and travel to Skye.
She was permitted to take two servants, and a crew of six sailors. Bonnie Prince Charlie was dressed as an Irish spinning maid named Betty Burke, and in that guise he sailed with Flora "over the sea to Skye" on June 27, 1746.
From Skye, he made his way at length to the shore of Loch Nan Uamh (where we visited The Prince's Cairn on our Hogwarts Express post) and boarded a boat. The boat took him to a French ship on Loch Moidart where he escaped to refuge in Europe.
Alternative lyrics to the tune were written by none other than Robert Luis Stevenson, probably in 1885, as a mournful and romantic song about the definitive and tragic end of the Jacobite rebellions.
These are the lyrics with which we are most familiar. Though, of course, for Outlander, “lad”—which referenced Charles Stuart, was replaced with “lass”—in reference to Claire.
Raven Cottage
Like the Bonny Prince, we too journeyed from Culloden to Skye, though under vastly different circumstances.
From the Culloden Moor, south past Loch Ness and Eilean Donan, over the Skye and Sligachan Bridges, and past the Cuillins—at long last we arrived at Raven Cottage, deep in the remote Eynort valley, near the center of the island.
For the first time ever, our check-in time was at 6 pm. Given the long journey and stops along the way, we arrived at our home well past the check-in time.
You can take a tour of our new home below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax7KNLBwMqM
