Diana Gabaldon Tour, Day Five

Monday was Crathes Castle with its sensational gardens (right) and 'Royal Deeside' which nearly lived up to its name: we missed Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall by 20 minutes at McEwans of Perth in Ballater.

Yesterday was the trip over here, to Skye. We had planned to come by the six car Glenelg Ferry but it wasn't running, so we swung by Eilean Donan Castle, allowing some to renew old acquaintances, and Irina to take this beautiful shot of Lochalsh with Skye in the distance.


Today we saw Dunvegan Castle, seat of the Macleods, looking proudly over Loch Dunvegan. But beyond the far shore of that loch, beyond the world famous Three Chimneys Restaurant, lie the villages that were 'cleared' by the MacLeods in the 1780s. We visited one of them. It used to be a remote, hard working, close-knit community; now just overgrown stone cottages with a tumbledown church, first consecrated about 1300 years ago, all set by a spectacular waterfall, the shore not far below. As with all clearance villages, it was a thought provoking visit: the residents had committed no crime, there was no Court of Appeal, just the promise of better land in Carolina... if they ever got there.

If we needed to know more of those times, of that society, and indeed of the one before it, there was no better oracle than Seoras, the storyteller, clad in traditional belted plaid, sitting by the fire in his 'Black House'. As he talked of the myths and legends of Skye, as he stroked his beard and the peat smoke wafted round the simple room, we were all a little mesmerised and left pondering on druids and magical wells.

The MacLeods of Dunvegan

The funeral of John MacLeod of MacLeod, 29th chief of the clan was held on Saturday. He was a fine man who would always find time to greet members of the clan if he possibly could.

The seat of the Macleods is Dunvegan Castle in the north of Skye. John MacLeod attracted some unfavourable publicity recently for putting the Cuillin Hills up for sale. He did this as a last resort to raise money for the castle roof which, as I have seen, does not always keep out the rain. Indeed the castle has recently been a challenge, perhaps a burden, for successive chiefs.

They have been at Dunvegan since the 13th century and in medieval times it was a fine, easily defended, base. However in 1773 Lady MacLeod was finding the castle 'very inconvenient'. She claimed it 'must always be a rude place', to which Dr Johnson retorted that 'were it in Asia, I would not leave the rock'. But then came the awful potato famine of the late 1840s when tens of thousands of Highlanders emigrated. The 25th chief had to leave Dunvegan. He took a job as a clerk in London and the castle was let. Not until 1929 did the chief of the clan return to the rock. Since then the estate has diversified and the tourist potential of the castle, (no longer 'a rude place'!) realised. The clan motto is 'Hold Fast' and I have no doubt that Hugh, now the 30th chief will do just that. The best of luck to him.