Armadale to Kyle of Lochalsh
‘Over the seas to Skye’ was the theme for the early morning as we loosed our lines at Inverie to sail over the Sound of Sleat to Armadale on the island’s southernmost tip. The object of our visit was the Clan Donald Centre, with its splendid museum and colorful gardens. Armadale still has a ferry connection – too wide here for a bridge – with Mallaig on the mainland, where The Jacobite train terminates on the West Highland Railway from Fort William. The museum has an excellent section dealing with the Lordship of the Isles, a mediaeval polity that saw a fusion of Norse and Gaelic traditions in the western and northern isles of Scotland. For a time, the MacDonalds of Skye were powerful leaders of the Lordship of the Isles. The gardens contain some remarkable specimen trees, including a Sitka Spruce of considerable girth, brought to the estate by that formidable Scottish plant collector David Douglas. A short distance along the coast from the Clan Donald centre is the island’s Gaelic College, a new building where a variety of courses are taught in the medium of Scottish Gaelic in an admirable attempt to stem the tide of language loss in the Hebrides, the last stronghold of the language in Scotland.
Our midday sail was remarkable for sightings of birds and marine life. Seals and porpoises, terns and shearwaters were to be seen feeding in the productive waters generated by the tidal race through the narrowing channel. The Gaelic for ‘narrows,’ gives us the word ‘kyle’ and Kyle of Lochalsh is situated at the narrowest point between the Skye and the mainland. Controversially, a bridge was opened here in 1995 and the ferry terminals on either side have been bypassed. A railway station still serves the town with direct services along a scenic single track line that runs to Inverness.
In the afternoon, some hardy walkers set off to explore the Red Cuillin, returning to Skye via the new bridge. Following the afternoon’s exertions, the climbers’ hostelry at Sligachan provided traditional refreshments. Alternatively, there was a guided visit to the iconic castle of Eilean Donan followed by a tour of the picturesque village of Plockton, a fishing village created to employ highlanders displaced from the land.
Our day ended with the Captain’s Farewell Dinner, in which a course of haggis was served, after the Ode to the Haggis had been recited and the famous Scottish delicacy paraded around the dining room to the accompaniment of the bagpipes.
