Scotland II

After we got back on the mainland, we headed north.  The first stop was in Glencoe, site of the infamous Glencoe Massacre in 1692 (this trip was quite a mixture of geography and history)!  With a stop at the 'most photographed castle in Scotland', Castle Eilean Dolan, we ended up on the Isle of Skye for a few days.

The Glencoe Massacre was embedded in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 when James VII of England was kicked out for being Catholic in a country that had been Protestant since the rule of King Henry VIII.  William of Orange, then de facto ruler of The Netherlands and a staunch Protestant, was invited to become the King of England.  He brought the added advantage of being married to Mary, sister of James VII, thus ensuring a continued line of succession.

The massacre itself occurred when a garrison of Campbells being billeted with the local community of MacDonalds, fell on their hosts and slaughtered them - under the shadow of these mountains.

Castle Eilean Dolan has been in the hands of the McRae family since its purchase in 1911.  Over 20 years it was reconstructed and improved for visitor access.  It is now one of the most popular, and picturesque tourist sites in the Highlands.

Following a further drive, with three sleepyheads in the car, we reached the Isle of Skye.  Our first stop was climbing up the rugged trail to the Old Man of Storr, high on the hill behind me.  It's part of the Trotternish Peninsula, which features a 30 mile long landslip, including these cliffs.

What a landscape!

Eventually we found our B&B, with a view like this down over Loch Snizort and out to the Waternish Peninsula.

Over the next two days we explored the island, and I came face-to-face with the historical evidence of the clearances.   By the late 1700s the profit from raising sheep began to outweigh the meagre rents tenants paid on large highland estates, so landlords began to simply evict people whose families had lived there for centuries.  They went to the slums of Glasgow, and they came to North America, with large numbers of Scots settling in what is now Ontario, and North Carolina.  The evidence of abandoned homes is there to see in the rocks of the old foundations.

The story of the clan system, the culture and the Gaelic language that typified the Highlands before the clearances is a long and complex one.  At the other end of the social scale from the evicted tenants was the clan chief, in this case the chief of Clan Macleod, who resided in Dunvegan Castle, with its 42,000 acre estate.  Clan members owed their loyalty to their chief, and were prepared to follow him into battle if called upon.

Although I do have Scottish ancestors (my grandparents were immigrants to Canada), and I have a consuming interest in Scottish history, we were also just tourists enjoying the spectacular scenery of Scotland, and the white coral beaches and blue waters of Skye are indeed beautiful!