Dunvegan Castle, Skye

Dunvegan Castle is unique in Scotland in that it has been inhabited nearly continuously by the one family, the MacLeods, for over 850 years. It was abandoned for only 80 years after the potato famine in the mid 19th century. It is situated in a sheltered inlet in Loch Dunvegan, which is a deep sea loch on the otherwise exposed north west coast of the Isle of Skye. The rocky knoll upon which it is built was originally an island but now it is linked to the mainland.

During the famine, many Highland chiefs led the good life while evicting their tenants and giving them "free passage" to far off places places such as Nova Scotia. In the case of the MacLeods, the 25th Chief also had had to abandon the ancestral home and lands and took his family to London where he found work as a clerk. It was not until 1929 that his second son returned, as an old man, to Dunvegan.

The 29th Chief, John Macleod died a few days ago. During his life he was criticised for attempting to sell the magnificent Cuillin mountains for £10 million pounds in order to repair the crumbling castle. I thought this rather unfair as, during his stewardship of the Cuillin, mountaineers had enjoyed unrestricted access when many other owners of Scottish mountains had done their best to impede access.

He is succeeded by his son, Hugh Magnus, who is the 30th Chief and now guardian of the Castle and its ancient relic, the Fairy Flag. This is a silk banner of Middle Eastern origin which dates from about 500 AD. Legend has it that it may be waved 3 times to save the Clan in times of trouble. So far it has been waved twice.



The magnificent Cuillin with salt water Loch Scavaig and fresh water Loch Coruisk at its feet. Skye is sea kayaking heaven.

Turnberry: tourneys, tees, castle and lighthouse.

The steady wink of a lighthouse beacon as the winter sun slips into the west is a reassuring sight. The great light of Turnberry stands on a rocky headland that juts into the Firth of Clyde. It is built upon the sad ruins of Turnberry Castle, which dates from the 12th century.



Only the stump of the castle, seen here in front of the lighthouse, now remains. In its day, it was a magnificent stronghold which was built over an inlet of the sea. A portcullis could be lowered after a ship had entered this sea gate. A reconstruction of the castle in its heyday can be seen on the local town of Maybole's website. The castle was probably the birth place of Scotland's King Robert the Bruce in 1274. He was of Norman decent and it is thought that the name Turnberry has Norman French origins: "Tourney Berg" or castle of the tournaments. Nowadays there is not a great deal of jousting but great golf tournaments are held here during the Open Championship. This will next be held at Turnberry in 2009. The lighthouse is situated just behind the 17th tee and, in previous Open Championships, it has featured in a favoured TV vantage point that beams the view of tee and also distant Ailsa Craig to a worldwide audience of golf fans.

Although spring tidal flows in the lower Firth of Clyde are generally less than 1 knot, the waters off Turnberry Point can be quite lively, even in otherwise calm conditions.

Culzean Castle

I have mentioned this before, but a particular pleasure of Scottish paddling is seeing her great maritime castles from a new perspective. The romantic cliff top Culzean Castle was built between 1777 and 1792 by Robert Adam for David Kennedy, 10th Earl of Cassillis. It is built round the original keep walls and the famous oval staircase occupies almost all of the interior of the keep.

The top floor of the round tower forms part of the Eisenhower Suite. This was gifted to General Eisenhower by the Scottish people after WW2. He visited the suite 4 times.



Culzean estate is literally littered with interesting buildings. This is the Dolphin House which was originally the castle laundry. It is built right on the high water mark, on a raised beach at the foot of a cliff. It is now an outdoor education centre.



This is the Gazebo, which is perched at the north east end of the cliffs. Like many buildings at Culzean, such as the Ruined Arch at the main entrance, it was built as a ruin.



Not all the buildings were decorative. Below the Gazebo lies the gas house. Coal gas (or town gas) was discovered by William Murdoch a prolific Scottish inventor, chemist and engineer. Murdoch was born in Ayrshire, not very far from Culzean. The gas house at Culzean was the first in Scotland and lit the castle until 1940. Coal was brought in to the little jetty below the gas house and, even today, you can still find occasional pieces of coal at low tide. Another Scottish inventor, "Tar" John McAdam, invented metalled roads and laid the first stretch of tarmac on the Carrick Hills just north of Culzean.

Sunday afternoon tea and surf at Culzean Castle

Culzean Castle is perched precariously on the edge of cliffs.

It poured all morning but at 12 midday Tony and I decided to head for Maidens on the Ayrshire coast of the Firth of Clyde. The clouds and rain hung over Ayr on the journey down but the sun came out when we launched. The WWW is working well these days, Tony was most impressed.



We headed south from Maidens, past Turnberry light house then headed out into about 1m of swell off Turnberry Point. Then we ran with the swell all the way up to Carrick Bay, to the south of Culzean (pron. Culane). Most of the swell was about 1m but there were occasional biggies and on one of these I got a real good surf up to 20.3km/hr.


GPS screen dump.


Approaching Turnberry Point from the south.


Turnberry lighthouse.


Carrick Bay.

We had a very pleasant cup of tea in the magnificent sandy cove of Carrick which lies under the cliffs of Culzean. After exploring the sheltered shoreline beneath the Castle, we made our way home in the sunset. We got back to Maidens before dark.


Another fantastic day draws to a close.

The Indomitable Human Spirit.

I have doubts about whether I am worthy to write about our brave fellow sea kayaker Andrew McAuley. As I write, Andrew has become separated from his kayak about 80 km off the fjord coast of New Zealand South Island. Andrew has nearly completed his amazing crossing of the Tasman Sea from Tasmania. A search for him will be launched shortly as the sun comes up. My thoughts are with his family during their anxious wait.

It is the boldness of spirit that has been shown by people like Andrew that has ensured the survival of our species through times of flood, war, famine, earthquake and ice age. People like Andrew never say "You can't do that" or "It's impossible". We lesser mortals owe our existence to exceptional people like Andrew. Indeed, Polynesia was populated by a few brave souls paddling into the emptiness of the Pacific in open canoes.



Being separated from my kayak is something that concerns me greatly. In 1985 the joint that linked my windsurfer to its rig broke. The board disappeared downwind in seconds and I was left with a useless rig, a harness and a wetsuit. I was 1 km offshore in a force 6 wind and an ebb tide. I was sailing on my own. I had no means of summoning help and the visibility was poor. I decided to dump the rig and swim at right angles to the current. 3 hours later, a combination of wind and swimming took me ashore 3 km down tide from where I had launched. I have never been so exhausted and relieved as when my toe first felt firm Solway sand.

While playing in surf, kayaking just offshore, I have several times lost my hold on my boat after baling out. My fear of separation from my boat caused me to write this recent post.



I pray that dawn brings good news of Andrew.

Dunagoil Iron Age hill fort, Bute

On our recent paddle back from Arran, we made landfall under the magnificently situated Dunagoil hill fort. Although man has been on Bute for 6,000 years, the fort dates from the Iron Age, about 2,500 years ago. The vitrified walls can be seen on the crest of the hill. The stones that compose the walls of the fort have been intensely heated until they have melted together. There is a similar vitrified fort on Eilean Buidhe, one of the Burnt Islands in the Kyles of Bute. Strangely, there are no vitrified forts in England or Wales.

Archaeological excavations have uncovered many artifacts which were used by the people who lived here. These included tools and moulds for the manufacture of iron weapons but also included more peaceful items such as weaving combs and jewellery.

Winter storms isolate the islands

Our recent calm crossing to Arran on MV Caledonian Isles has not been typical of this winter. Island communities in Scotland have been isolated for long periods when the ferries have been storm bound. Simon Willis's site recently carried remarkable pictures of the Corran ferry sailing, despite stormy weather, to maintain the link to communities on the isolated Ardnamurchan peninsula.

This week, the Daily Mail and the Independent have reported calls for a tunnel to be built connecting the Western Isles to the mainland. Suggested routes are either from Stornoway on Lewis to Ullapool (41 miles) or from Benbecula to Dunvegan (25 miles) on Skye, which already has a bridge link to the mainland. If this dream is realised it would transform access to the Outer Hebrides and make a link across the Sound of Harris even more vital.


Even in calm conditions, we felt a sense of isolation and commitment as MV Caledonian Isles steamed away from Brodick back to the mainland, an hour away.

Here are another couple of photos from our Arran trip taken with the little Sony DSC U60 camera.


This is an over the shoulder shot looking back at Tony, who is dwarfed by the scale of the sea and the mountains of Arran.


The sun is well set behind the mountains of Arran.

At maximum aperture, the shutter speed was only 1/25th second. I panned on Tony so he is reasonably sharp. The movement and slow shutter speed have blurred the background. Despite its imperfections, I like this photo because it brings back the chill and uncertainty of the approaching darkness. We still had an hour paddling back to the mainland.

We sea kayakers are lucky, we can choose when to make our crossings, islanders and their provisions and exports cannot.