Day Five--To the whiskey and the Cuillins

As I am unable to write every day, I am post-dating this post for Monday, September 3, 2007. Pictures to follow...
At breakfast we noticed a common theme on most Scottish breakfast menus: kippers and smoked fishes--Haddock and Salmon to be exact. When you are near the sea, prepare for seafood to be a main staple of all meals. So it is with breakfast. Kippers-- for those of you unfamiliar as of yet--are fish. I've already eatien so much seafood, what's a few more salmon breakfasts? Okay, so breakfast brought with it talk of last night and the second great conversation we had with the Harley-riding Dutch couple. They own a business in Belgium, which led us to spend lots of time absorbed in exchanging disgruntled gab about taxes. More than this topic, though, we talked about motorcycles (again) and discussed the mertis of touring Skye on a Harley on a day such as yesterday. Really, if you are a motorcyclist, this is a truly lovely place to tour. The roads are (generally) good, but bad weather can creep up suddenly and change the quality of the drive. So be well prepared. Today we were going to go out sailing in the Toravaig House owners new sailing vessel. Only one problem: the pump was broke. Which was a real shame, because today was gloriously sunny and would have been absolutely smashing enjoyed from the sea. But so it was not meant to be. Pumps take days to fix when you live on an island and have to order the part from the mainland and wait for it to arrive. And we can't know for sure if the pump excuse is really true, but we were not going sailing, even if it was not true.So we decided to follow plan B and make our way south on the Sleat peninsular to Armadale castle. We arrived at Armadale at opening and made our way on to the grounds before anyone else had arrived. It's an absolute "must stop" if you are visiting Skye, because this place is gorgeous and has the best museum around. Bar none.
There are the ruins of the old Armadale Castle, home of--but who else?--the MacDonald chiefs. A beautiful shell of a speciman, we walked around the castle, and took in the views out over the sea towards the highlands (Mallaig to be exact). Then we walked around the best castle garden grounds we've seen. Well kept and well planted, the grounds are a marvelous collection of trees and plants from all over the world--aoo fo wich seem to like the weather here.Beyond this is the Clan MacDonald Center--an homage to Clan MacDonald throughout the world. The most beautifully exhibited little museum I've EVER seen, Dave and I had a great time taking in the full exhibit and learning all about the clan MacDonald and Scottish history, in general. Like the interesting tidbit about one of Napoleon's officers being called the French MacDonald--having been a second generation Frenchman of Scot heritage. Who'd have thought? And I wasn't very "up" on my Jacobite history, and the exhibition filled me in. I learned about the clan changes that came about 200 years ago from the feudal system to the crofting, or farming, system. The lands worked by clansmen for their chiefs were becoming too crowded, so the chiefs divided up land an gave families their own land to work. Hence the birth of crofting. It was the beginning of the breakdown of the clan system becuase clansmen had more freedom and were more independant from one another. They no longer relied on the chief and each other for basic needs. Anyway, we also learned that the name MacDonald came from the grandson of the famous celtic hero Somerled. Somerled's grandson's name was Donald, and "mac" means "son of". There was a large immigraiton of MacDonalds to North Carolina in the mid 1700s. From what I can glean from the exhibition, taxes were becoming more oppressive and th epopulation too large, so people left in droves and headed for a new, uncertain life in America (though some left for Canada and others for Australia). The Argyl Colony was established in North Carolina and even the famed Jacobean heroine Flora MacDonald (of Bonnie Prince Charlie fame) made her way from Skye and ended up in North Carolina. She and her husband cultivated a plantation there until their loyalities to the British crown led North Carolina authorities to "reposess" , as it were, the plantation sending them, eventually, back to Scotland were she later died. Dave and I remember having seen a painting by an 18th or 19th Century artist done of a Cherokee Indian Chief in Scottish clan garb. While in this museum we came across lineage trees, one of which showed that a MacDonald clan chief had married a Cheroke princess. I had spent years wondering about that particular painting and now the mystery was solved with a conclusion more interesting than I could have imagined! So we left Armadale with heads full of newly found knowledge and headed out toward the much anticipated Talisker distillery.Talisker is Skye's only distillery. in fact, most of Scotland's distilleries are not on islands (excepting Islay which has many of the most peaty versions of whiskey) but on the mainland. David had been waiting to visit here for months. Talisker lies on Loch Harport in the Minginish peninsular area of Skye. It was traditionally known for its "sweet water" which came forth from a plethora of underground springs. Many people historically noted the "curative" ( I use this word loosely) powers of the water. But this idea stuck and gave the future whiskey--which used the water in its making--its name "water of life" or aqua vitae, in Latin. In all whiskey production the most important ingredient is the quality of the spring water used. The other ingredients used in the creation of a whiskey are barley and yeast, though (in my opinion) peat is the ingredient which really makes a whiskey. Peat is a coal like piece of earth dug out of the ground about 1 foot down. It has a very smokey scent, and it is this peat which is smoked to give whiskey its smokey, earthy flavor. Talisker is one of the peaty whiskey and one of my favorites. I'm not much for whiskey, in general, but I love Talsiker because it's made well and tastes fabulous with a splash of spring water added in. If you've never had it, try it. It's like drinking in the land. It's unlike anything you'll ever drink. So we lined up for the tour. It was another "not to be missed" stop on Skye and being that we had never been to a distillery before, we found that we thoroughly enjoyed our tour and learning how whiskey is made. It's a very intense process, so I'll leave it for you to learn for yourself. But i will say that the end product is delicious (if not truly the aqua vitae). After a wee tasteing we remembered we were hungry and so headed down to The Old Inn pub in the village of Carbost just below Talisker for some fish and chips. It's a great food stop if you are here around lunch or dinner. After thoroughly filling up we got back in our trusted Vauxhall and headed for the Cuillin mountain range, just beyond us. At the recommendation of our receptionist/host at Toravaig House, we headed down the one lane road to Glenbrittle beach at the base of the Cuillins.
The name Cuillins came from the mythic Irish giant Cuchullin. Over the years the name became Cuillin, though many locals still refer to the mountains as Cuchullins. The Cuillins are the larest mountain range in the UK. Their peaks are dark, jagged and dramatic, and usually covered in a veil of fog. Today, however, we were unusally graced with really warm sunshine and no clouds over the range.I was able to snap some lovely shots. We were eager to stretch our legs so we parked at the sea shore and took the VERY well marked trail up to the base of the Black Cuillins. There's a natural dividing line between the red and black Cuillins, being the natural color of each. One is more blackish gray, the other more rusty colored. Though locals call the red Cuillins the red hills, and don't really consider them part of the Cuillins themself. We headed towards the darker and more dramatic mountains of the black Cuillins. The trail was lovely and had ben well prepared by a trail service like TRAILS in the US. So, no sinking in the bogs! Yeah! Dry feet and terrific views, lots of sun. I couldn't be happier.We were determined to hike only till we wanted to hike no more, and so the hike was free and easy and our elevation gain was splendid. Glenbrittle beach below is a terrifically large beach and the scenery around the Cuillins stunning in its own right.In Colorado, one spends so much time hiking in to a mountian base in order to climb it, but here in Skye the mountains fall at your feet, so hiking them is easy--no wasted time hiking to them. You are there. After our hike we got back into the car and headed home for dinner and rest. We dined at the sister hotel to Travaig House--Duisdale House Hotel. In the midst of refurbishment, the food was delicious none the less. They seated us by the window, in their restaurant's solarium, where we had views of their lovely garden and out to the highland mountains across the sea. We had the best mussels we've ever had and a "to die for" duck confit which I could have eaten a bowl of. It was yummy. A great conclusion to our day. We curled into bed bellies full and warm ready for a good night of sleep.

Day Three--Over the Bridge to Skye

This morning after breakfast we headed off again back over Loch Linnhe on the ferry to make our journey to Skye. Technically there are two ways to get to Skye from Strontian, but we chose to retrace our steps back over the ferry, towards Fort William and then over land and "over the bridge to Skye". We went this way partly because I wanted to see the Eileen Donan castle along the route to the Skye bridge, and partly, on my part, because I didn't want to drive those single lane roads again going in the opposite direction. My nerves just couldn't take it this morning. In the ferry que we noticed so many people smoking. Maybe I just don't notice it in America, but I'm appauled by how many Scots smoke. It's a filthy habit and we notice that most people who smoke look older than they are, mainly because their hair is brittle, teeth yellow, and face ashen and dull in color. But enough ranting. Dismissing the smokers we were again taken with the raw beauty of the place--and how beautiful all the white washed houses are against their muted background. They glow, and I think it's one of my favorite things about Scotland--the white houses and towering mountains around them.They always look clean and new. Another thing we were remined of after just a couple of days here: That Scots are much more friendly than English people. Of course, there are always exceptions, but both of us have lived in England and have found the English wanting in kindness and hospitality. The Scots, on the other hand, have always proves enjoyable and gracious. And this was just confirmed again to us during our stay at Kilcamb where there were alot of English visitors, as well as in the ferry que, where the Brits were just tacky to us. But alas, I digress. We stopped in Fort William--the biggest town in the Highlands--for Dave to get some hard-to-find whiskeys. From there we headed up north and then west towards the Skye bridge, stopping only for a peek at Eileen Donan castle near Dornie. It's been made famous as the most photographed castle in Scotland, as well as the castle used in the film The Highlander and most recently in Elizabeth: The Golden Age. On an island in Loch Duich, the castle is accessible by a bridge. Originally built in the 13th century, it was fully destroyed in the mid-1700s and lay in ruin until a member of Clan MacRae bought it and restored it to be a family home where they lived until the 1980s. Anyway, the really interesting part about the castle is that it was originally built during a time of intense feuding between clans. Most castles in the west of Scotland were built near the ocean or lochs in strategic positions which would aid the ruling party in a given area against invading hords. They were usually placed on promitories which allowed full view of all those ships coming and going through the lochs and sea. Even foreign ships trafficked these waters, as evidenced in a Spanish ship being sunk in a storm off the coast of the Ardamurchan peninsular near the mouth of a loch (sunk with Spanish gold on board and never recovered). And of course, before that, there were the Vikings. But again I digress. So, after departing Eileen Donan we decided to head over the bridge and to Skye. We had meant to make it to Plockton to takes some pics and tour around, given that Plockton is the back drop of the BBC show Hamish MacBeth, but alas we were starving and not willing to make the extra trip without food first. Starving, and 3:00pm, we stopped off the main A87 road into Skye and ate at a lovely restaurant named Alba, after the dark haired highland cattle from Skye.They had the freshest, most delicious food I think we've had, to date. In fact, it's my favorite kind of good: inexpensive home cooking that knocks the socks off overpriced uneventful gourmet food. Not to mention it's just plain comforting comfort food. i started with a Gaelic coffee, which is--for all of you who've never had one--a delicious concoction of full cream, whiskey and coffee (and sugar, of course). It was the best Gaelic coffee I've had since Lough Inach Lodge in Connemara, Ireland. Dave had Talisker whiskey neat. Talisker is the only whiskey distillery on Skye, and also one of Dave and I's favorite (very convenient). We hope to make it to their distillery on Monday or Tuesday. So back to Alba. For our appetizer we had the Scottish Broth--not like the canned Campbell's soup version--but a real, thick delicious soup of barley (a Scottish staple), lamb, veggies, and broth. It reminded me of the soup a dear Scot friend made for me when I was in high school, home sick with mononeucleosis. It was comfort food then, and it's comfort food now. After devouring the soup between us, Dave had the freshest fish and chips I've ever tasted, and I had a special scallop and haddock pie with a divine cheesy cream sauce. Need I say more? The owner, Caroline Knox, was so kind, and after a "wee" chat about our kids we shuffled off towards Toravaig House on the Sleat peninsular of Skye. But not before Dave visited the Alba farm shop to buy some fresh local cheese for our hiking snacks. If you ever make it to Skye, you really have to try Alba in Breakish village--it's worth the stop. So on to Torvaig. Dave and I could have stayed at Kinloch Lodge, just a few miles north of Torvaig House, but the prices were astronomical. Claire MacDonald, the owner of Kinloch, is one of Scotland's most reputed chefs. She kind of redefined Scottish fare, and has opened a great lodge and restaurant to share her hospitality with others. However, tempting as it was, it was either 2 days there, or 6 days elsewhere. We chose elsewhere. So just down south of Kinloch is Torvaig House. A lovely little 4 star guest house with 7 rooms. Here, too, they are known for their food, so we got a dinner, bed and breakfast rate to make sure we enjoyed it every night. The house is near Knoch Bay and Armadale at the bottom of the Sleat peninsular.After we settled in and unpacked we decided to walk off our late lunch to the ruins of Knock Castle. Knock Castle dates back to the late Medieval era and was built by Clan MacLeod. It is also known as Castle Camus, a former stronghold of the MacDonalds. By 1689 it was left to decay. Supposedly the castle is haunted by a "green lady"--but we never saw her. The trail to the castle was accessed through walking on other people's properties. I am continually impressed with the openness of Scots and Irish to let others use their land to reach somewhere else. When we were last in Ireland we hiked through other's properties and no one questioned it or gave us funny looks or made comments. But when I was in England I wouldn't have even thought about such a thing! I'd have been yelled out and probably chased with a bat! And here no one looked twice with us opening their gates and letting ourselves on their land to walk. But now back to Knock Castle.There is hardly anything left of the castle. But it was well worth the walk to stand high on the rocks and look over the sea and feel the rain fall and again think about the people who lived here before. We went back for dinner at Torvaig, and had a four course meal. I noticed that almost every menu we've seen has some sort of jelly on it. Very strange, indeed. A texture I've not found to my liking. In fact, I find it awful. Just can't stomach it. But all in all, the food was good and we enjoyed it. We'll see what tomorrow holds.