Skye, Oban, and Mull

The evening at Fort William was fine, mostly spent in the lodge bar enjoying the returned presence of the internet, We got to breakfast as early as we could manage – it's starting to get harder and harder to drag ourselves out of bed first thing in the morning. The day we had planned was long, and I was sick of driving (and Becky sick of riding) by the end of it. We headed all the way up to Skye, through beautiful mountain country in the western highlands. The weather was great all day, affording beautiful views of Glen Garry and Glen Ellis (If my memory can be trusted) along the way.

Over the Sea to Skye ... we had it easier than Price Charlie, methinks!

Skye proved somewhat frustrating. We hadn't planned out a full day, instead wanting to play the island by ear and take it easy. We headed up to Dunvegan castle, but found out when we got there that it's not on the Historic Scotland or National Trust for Scotland lists. That means that we'd have to pay admission, almost $30, so we decided to forget it and head over to Uig and the Isle of Skye Brewery. Note that Skye is a rather large island with single track roads, so it takes a long time to get around it. Uig proved to be a bust also, as the brewery had just a gift shop, and didn't offer any kind of tours or tastings! Oh well.

We bought a couple beers to try (Hey, might as well enjoy some beer fresh from the brewery even if the brewery is a let-down), drank them on a bench, took some pictures, and headed for Portree.

Portree was more of a success! We had a good time wandering around the downtown area, shopping, and checking out the pier. It was low tide, so the ports and bays were not as pretty as they could be (Seaweed-covered rocks and flocks of seagulls everywhere – fun!) but it was still nice.

We tried to get fish and chips from a seafront shop, but they were “closed to tidy up a bit” when we stepped in. The hour-long closings that businesses have in the afternoons are starting to get irritating (We got burned in the same way again in Oban – more later) Skye also has some absolutely towering mountains, the Cuillans, whose peaks are steep and high enough that not even plants seem to be able to grow. They make for some great pictures!

We headed back for the mainland a little hungry and somewhat disappointed with Skye. It's difficult, because while we can see what all the hype is about, we just didn't have that great a time on the island. But it still beats a day at work I suppose. It's definitely a place where you need to stay for several days and soak up the local scene to really appreciate. The site of the Battle of Glen Shiel was right beside the road, so we visited it for a little while and Becky took some great pictures before we headed off.

We stopped for dinner at the Invergarry Inn, back on the mainland, on our way to Oban (About a 3.5 hour drive). Becky had fish and chips which she enjoyed, and my steak and ale pie was every kind of delicious. It made me want another one from the Auld Hoose in Edinburgh so I could decide which was better! The one at the Invergarry Inn was heavily peppered. I have to say I've never had any food other than a couple cajun dishes that managed to pull off that quantity of black pepper. Pretty impressive. We also got to drink some of “The Garry,” a beer brewed only for the inn by, of course, Isle of Skye Brewers. Much better than the Skye Lite that Becky first ordered, which had skunked in the cask. Ew. It's great if all your customers order your custom-brewed Real Ale, but you should probably keep an eye on the other Real Ales to make sure they haven't gone bad!

The rest of the drive to Oban was fairly uneventful. Our bed-but-not-breakfast was nice, and we arrived around 9pm. I apologized for coming in late, and Bruce, the host, just laughed and said “Oh I've had much later.” He showed us the room and bathroom and gave us a map of the city, then took his leave! He pretty much left us alone, and we appreciated it. We took showers and went to bed.

In the morning, we dropped by a pancake place for a little taste of home. The pancakes were huge and good, and I couldn't even finish my breakfast (Which consisted of nothing but three pancakes). We walked around the town a little bit, then bought our ferry tickets for the trip to Mull. We couldn't get a spot for the car until the 2pm ferry, so we had a bit more time to kill. Pictures were taken and then we headed back to the car.

I checked out the local rugby club (Just because it happened to be on the map) and it made me jealous, just like the one in St. Andrews did. Two-story building, bleachers, permanent goalposts and a nice field. I can't imagine having all that to play on!

We kept poking around town for a while, then decided to try and find a place where we could get on the interweb. Our map had internet access points marked, so we headed for the closest one, the coffee shop in the local co-op. It was closed for... who knows, everything just closes for an hour in the middle of the day here. It just had a sign up that said they were closing at noon. Next we drove back to the city center, parked, and walked to the library, which was also on the map as an access point. We asked at the desk if they had wifi, and they said no, but their computers were free to use. Great! Then she told us that we had to fill out a form before we could use their computers, and that they were closing for an hour-long lunch in 15 minutes. Ugh. So three times in two days we got screwed by places closing in the middle of the day. We finally gave up and paid a pound for 20 minutes back at the tourist info center, then got in the queue for the ferry.

Here goes nothing!

View of Oban from the deck

A cruise ship and a returning Ferry.

After the adventure of driving the car onto a ferry for the first time, we went upstairs to the lounges and actually took a nap for most of the 45-minute trip. Upon arriving in Craignure we checked into our hotel, unwound for a while, and then got a boring dinner at the hotel.

More twin beds, LOL.

We could see Duart Castle from our room!

At 6:15 we had a tour of Duart Castle scheduled with Sir Lachlan MacLean, Chief of Clan MacLean. It should be noted that McVey is a sept (Associated family) of MacLean, so as you might expect I was extremely excited to meet the chief of my clan!

We arrived on time and were directed to the drawing room.

When we got there there was about a dozen other people, and in the center was Lachlan MacLean, telling some story to entertain everyone. I can't begin to summarize the tour. It was intensely personal, which everyone there agreed was the best thing about it. Lachlan's great grandfather purchased the property in 1910, and it was at that time a run-down castle. Duart Castle is situated on a point of land that juts out into the sea, at the meeting of three bodies of water. It's on what was historically the main shipping lane from Ireland to Britain, and commands what is probably the most significant strategic point in all of the Hebrides. Believe it or not, you have probably seen it. Several major films have been filmed here, thanks to its beauty both inside and out, as well as the spectacular scenery that unfolds around it. Entrapment is probably the movie most people are likely to have seen (Or at least remember), starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Sean Connery.

The Kitchen where Sir Lachlan has memories of his mother cooking
while he rollerbladed through the castle with his sister

Pantry and indoor Well

Lachlan, the current Chief, grew up in the castle. Nearly all of the artifacts inside, be they dresses or cannonballs, he has seen and learned about for decades and decades. His knowledge of the clan is, obviously, quite extensive, and is only surpassed by his knowledge of the castle and its collections.

Sir Lachlan's portrait at 25 years old

Walking stick given to Sir Lachlan's relative on the birth of his 13th child ... he's not sure if it was for congratulations or to use to keep them all in line!

All of the cloth bedding was a gift of the clan/townspeople during WWII - they saved up their ration coupons to provide Sir Lachlan's parents a beautiful bedroom set as a wedding gift.

Courtyard and the Rowan tree

Spiral Staircase

One of the best parts of the tour was when he spoke of the Battle of Inverkeithing in 1651, during Oliver Cromwell's campaigns in Scotland. 700 Buchanans and 800 MacLeans joined the main Scottish army, marched across Argyll and Fife, and met Cromwell's army at the north side of the Queensferry crossing of the Firth of Forth. The Scottish cavalry was rapidly cut down by English pikes and muskets, and most of the Scottish army turned and fled. The clansmen of Buchanan and MacLean stood fast against Cromwell's vastly superior numbers and armaments, fighting to the death, meeting each English charge with a counterattack, even as they were viciously cut down, suffering canon fire the entire battle. If you read the wiki entry, the two batallions of infantry mentioned towards the end of the fight are Buchanan and MacLean.

Afterwards, they were hunted down and killed like vermin, the throats of the wounded and prisoners cut. Even fellow Scots treated them terribly: at the nearest castle, Pitreavie, the Scottish laird refused entry to a group of wounded soldiers, going so far as to drop stones on them from the battlements to disperse them, killing some. It's noteworthy that this was tantamount to treason on his part, as all of Scotland was united against Cromwell, and his act was a transparent and cowardly attempt to save his own ass should Cromwell come knocking at his door, looking for those who had provided succor for the soldiers after the battle.

It's also from this battle that the second and final battle cry of Clan MacLean is taken, the first being “Death or Life,” meaning the only acceptable outcomes are death or victorious life: no surrender. A young prince of the clan named Hector lead the MacLean forces (The Buchanans had their Chief as their leader) and his gallantry was noted by the English commander, who ordered his troops to concentrate on Hector's position to try and kill him and break the spirit of the highlanders. Incredibly, no fewer than six (And as many as eight) of Hector's kinsmen moved to protect him as his death seemed imminent, pushing their way between him and the English charge, each successive clansman shouting “Another for Hector!” as he was cut down. It is the only case in which the origin of a clan's battle cry can be so specifically and certainly pinpointed. When I told Sir Lachlan that I was not only a McVey but also a Buchanan on my mother's side, he was quite surprised, and expressed as much. Definitely a high point! I missed the site of the battle on this go-around, and it would be a logistical nightmare to make it all the way back there (Fairly close to St. Andrews), so I will have to save that battlefield for our next trip.

Clan Flag flying on the roof
After the tour we retired to the drawing room and enjoyed some whisky. We chatted with others on the tour, all of them English or Scottish, and had a very nice time. I got a picture with Lachlan, thanks to Becky, and we got a picture of us in front of the castle.

Dave with his "view" and his chief!

We'll actually be going back to maybe get more pictures and to purchase a guidebook before we take the ferry back to Oban. After that, a drive past Loch Lomond to Glasgow, a night spent finishing the beer we've purchased and repacking all of our stuff, returning the rental car, and flying back to the States bright and early Friday morning!