Today we started driving south on Skye towards Armadale and I finally managed to get a photo of the peaks of the Black Cuillin as the mist hadn’t descended, as it had on other days.
Once we had arrived in Armadale, we walked up through the Castle estate towards the museum. There were some beautiful trees in the garden.
The Museum is called The Museum of the Isles. It concentrates on the History of Clan Donald, which had a profound influence on Highland history. Clan Donald ruled the western seas for almost 400 years, virtually independent of royal control and with an empire big and powerful enough to challenge the Scottish Kings. They were called Lords of the Isles, and remained so until 1493, when the Scottish King took the title away.
Clan Donald is not only one of the oldest but also one of the biggest of all Scottish clans. The museum showed a list of all the surnames associated with the clan, and it was here I found my own maiden name so I was delighted to find my family were part of the clan.
The museum outlined a great many feature of highland life, illustrated with artefacts and photos. It detailed the history of the Jacobite rebellions, and explained the rise of the popularity of tartan after its earlier suppression, the history of the Highland Regiments, the use of bagpipes, and the emigration of so many Scots abroad. We would have spent longer here, but time was pressing and we had a boat to catch, so we spent our last minutes looking at the ruins of Armadale Castle.
This Castle is not particularly old. Clan Donald established itself on Skye in the 15th century, but at first occupied houses nearby. They only began to stay in Armadale in the 1650s and a new mansion was built on the present site in 1790, some of which survives today as estate offices. In 1815, this was extended and included lavish interiors, arcaded public halls and a marble staircase. A fire destroyed part of it in 1855, and it had to be rebuilt. In 1925 the MacDonald family moved to a smaller house, leaving the castle abandoned, and it gradually became derelict, which is all rather sad.
After that, it was time to leave the beautiful island of Skye, and we were all very sad to do so. We had so much enjoyed the lovely scenery and the friendliness of the people we had met, and we would all have liked to have been able to stay longer and see more.
This was our final sight of Skye, as we sadly sailed away on the ferry Lord of The Isles, making for Mallaig. It was a short journey across the Sound of Sleat, and we approached Mallaig within half an hour.
This is the pretty harbour at Mallaig, where we were fortunate to spot a dolphin. Sadly, by the time I had got my camera out and prepared it, the dolphin had gone. We had a snack in Mallaig (and some retail therapy) and then it was time to board the Jacobite steam train for our journey to Fort William.
The locomotive had to be photographed from the road, as the train is longer than the platform so we couldn’t get near it. We even had to walk right along to the end of the platform and get into a carriage that wasn’t ours, then walk through to ours, as our carriage wasn’t at the platform either.
When the train started, the line was close to the coast and we had beautiful views of the island of Rum, Eigg and Muck. Then the train turned inland and we had views of Loch Eilt. Then we were warned that we were approaching the Glenfinnan Viaduct, and there was a rush to the windows.
The viaduct is built of concrete and is quite spectacular, having 21 semicircular spans. It is the longest concrete bridge in Scotland, being 461 yards, and crosses the River Finnan at a height of 100 feet. Since it is so high, the views are superb.
I took photos of the Viaduct itself before and after we crossed it, and the better photo was after we had crossed it.
You can see all the other passengers leaning out of the windows to take pictures. Harry Potter has made this a very popular journey!
Next, we passed Loch Eil on our way towards Fort William
With no guide to tell us what we were looking at, I have no idea of the name of this mountain, unfortunately. We crossed the Caledonian Canal, and had the opportunity to photograph Neptune’s Staircase. I did get a quick photo, and it does show the flight of locks, but one would need to take it from a much higher position to make much sense of it. Soon, we were in Fort William and back in the bus for the last part of our journey, which was through the Cairngorm National Park.
On our trip, we passed beautiful Loch Lagan, but I seem to have messed up the photo of it - it isn’t easy to take photos from a moving vehicle, trees jump into your viewfinder and the windows are full of odd reflections. But it is so beautiful I found somebody else’s photo of it.
You can see this is so much better than anything I have ever taken! Our guide gave us a few interesting facts about this the loch and house. They both featured in the TV program ‘Monarch of the Glen’ as Glenbogle house and Loch Bogle.
Apparently, Queen Victoria was much taken with it and wanted to buy the house, and she and Prince Albert stayed there. But they didn’t stay long, as she was driven mad by the midges, so she decided not to buy it, and she bought Balmoral instead.
All too soon, we were passing through Dalwhinnie and rejoining the main road towards Perth and Edinburgh. We made a brief stop in Pitlochry, along, apparently, with every other tour bus in Scotland. The queues for coffee and ice cream had to be seen to be believed! We only just had time to buy an ice cream and a coffee, and we were on our way again. We were able to cross the Forth Road Bridge, rather than the new Queensferry Crossing, as the latter has protection from the wind which means there is no view. We had a lovely view of the Forth Bridge on one side, and the new Queensferry Crossing on the other. Unfortunately, both photos have disappeared while I was trying to post them - no loss, they were both terrible!
So now we are back at my friends house, ready to do a little more sightseeing tomorrow, then we will be off to Cheshire to visit family.
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